A symbol of the Kingdom's
roots in the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, the
Jordanian flag was officially Adopted on April
16th, 1928. The seven-pointed Islamic star set
in the center of the crimson triangle represents
the unity of the Arab people in Jordan. |
Even non-historians of the Middle East are familiar
with the unusual designation of TransJordan in reference
to the area that we now know of as the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan. The short answer as to how it
got this name can be given by the name itself…referring
to the lands east of the River Jordan.
At its inception in 1921, the Emirate of Transjordan
had fewer than 400,000 inhabitants, of who about
20 percent lived in four towns each having populations
of from 10,000 to 30,000. Most were either farmers
in village communities or living pastoral nomadic
and semi-nomadic lives. British officials handled
the problems of defense, finance, and foreign policy,
leaving internal political affairs to King Abdullah
(Grandfather of the current King).
In 1923 Britain recognized Transjordan as a national
state and prepared it for independence. Under British
sponsorship, Transjordan made measured progress
along the path to modernization. Roads, communications,
education, and other public services slowly but
steadily developed, although not as rapidly as in
Palestine, which was under direct British administration.
In 1930, with British help, Jordan launched a campaign
to stamp out tribal raiding among the Bedouins.
A British officer, John Bagot Glubb (better known
as Glubb Pasha), came from Iraq to be second in
command of the Arab Legion.
Abdullah was a faithful ally to Britain during
World War II. Units of the Arab Legion served with
distinction alongside British forces in 1941 overthrowing
a pro-Nazi regime that had seized power in Iraq
and defeating the Vichy French in Syria.
The Black Iris, Jordan's
national flower, has evolved in a harsh environment
to match the black eyes of Jordan's remote sheperds. |
By 1947 Palestine was one of the major trouble
spots in the British Empire, requiring a presence
of 100,000 troops to maintain peace and a huge maintenance
budget. On February 18, 1947, Foreign Minister Ernest
Bevin informed the House of Commons of the government's
decision to present the Palestine problem to the
UN.
After war broke out and by the end of 1948, the
areas held by the Arab Legion and the Gaza Strip,
held by the Egyptians, were the only parts of the
former Mandate of Palestine remaining in Arab hands.
The population of Transjordan before the war was
about 340,000. As a result of the war, about 500,000
Palestinian Arabs took refuge in Transjordan or
in the West Bank.
In December 1948, Abdullah II took the title of
King of Jordan and in April 1949 he directed that
the official name of the country be changed to the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a name found in the
1946 constitution but not until then in common use.
Abdullah continued to search for a long-term, peaceful
solution with Israel, although for religious and
security reasons he did not favor the immediate
internationalization of Jerusalem. On July 20, 1951,
Abdullah was assassinated as he entered the Al Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem for Friday prayers. His grandson,
fifteen-year-old Prince Hussein, was at his side.
Before the king’s guard killed the assassin,
he also fired at Hussein. The assassin was a Palestinian
reportedly hired by relatives of a former mufti
of Jerusalem and a bitter enemy of Abdullah, who
had spent World War II in Germany as a pro-Nazi
Arab spokesman.
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Jordan 
