MAPS OF HISTORY · HISTORY OF · Jordan

ONE LAND · 8 ATLASES

Jordan, on the map of history

What was Jordan before it was Jordan? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.

Nabataea (mod. Jordan) · The Rise and Fall of Rome, 264 BC – AD 476

Nabataea: the caravan kingdom of Petra, rich on incense tolls — its capital carved into rose-red sandstone at the junction of the frankincense roads from Arabia. A client of Rome for 170 years (Nabataean cavalry helped Titus besiege Jerusalem), it was annexed politely as “Arabia” in AD 106, Trajan’s other, bloodless conquest; the Via Nova Traiana then paved its spine from Bostra to the Red Sea. Its desert customs posts taxed the eastern luxury trade at rates — a quarter of value, by one papyrus — that paid a surprising share of the empire’s revenue.

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Oultrejordain (mod. Jordan) · The Crusades, 1095–1291

Oultrejordain, “beyond the Jordan,” was the desert lordship guarding the caravan and army roads between Egypt and Syria. From its castles at Kerak and Montreal the notorious Reynald of Châtillon raided toward Mecca and Medina — provocations that helped harden Saladin’s resolve to destroy the kingdom that tolerated him.

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Ayyubid Transjordan (mod. Jordan) · The Mongol Empire, 1206–1294

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Jordan · The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848

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Transjordan (Ottoman Empire) · The Great War, 1914–1918

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Jordan · The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945

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Jordan · The Cold War, 1945–1991

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Jordan · The Decolonization of Africa, 1945–1994

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