Until the early 20th century, Jordan was part of Palestine, most of which is now the State of Israel. The area is home to one of the oldest civilizations in the world - archaelogical finds from the west bank of the Jordan River have been dated at around 9000 BC. From 3000 BC the area was inhabited by the Canaanites and Amorites, and after them the armies of Sargon, king of Sumer and Akkad. Around 1800 BC Abraham led a group of nomads from Mesopotamia and settled in the mountains of Canaan (which roughly corresponds to present-day Israel). By 1023 BC the Israelites had formed a kingdom, led by Saul and then David, who captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. The unstoppable Roman Empire took Israel in 63 BC and placed it under the control of a series of consuls, including Herod the Great and Pontius Pilate. It was at this time that Jesus was believed to have lived and preached in the area. The increasing insanity of the Empire under Caligula prompted a series of Jewish uprisings, which lasted for years but were finally crushed when Jerusalem was razed and the province of Palestine decreed. This defeat marked the end of the Jewish state and the beginning of the Diaspora, the scattering of the Jewish people.

In 331 AD Emperor Constantine became a Christian and gave his official stamp of approval to the previously illegal religion. Suddenly everyone wanted to know about the Holy Land, and a rash of buildings, including the churches of the Holy Sepulcher and the Nativity, sprang up all over Palestine to mark sites of religious importance. But Christianity's hold over the country was not to last long - in 638 AD Jerusalem fell to Caliph Omar and was declared a Holy City of Islam, on the grounds that the Prophet Mohammed had ascended to heaven from atop the Temple Mount. Christians around the world raised their hackles at this desecration, and by 1099 they'd scrounged together a crusading army and occupied Jerusalem, murdering everyone they could get their hands on and beginning nearly 100 years of Christian rule. But by 1187 the Muslims again had the upper hand - after decades of Christian/Muslim scuffling, the Islamic Mamluks knocked over the last Crusader stronghold in 1291.

The next 500 years were some of the quietest Palestine has seen. Empires rose and fell, and control of the country changed hands with monotonous regularity, eventually coming to rest in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Much of desert Jordan sidestepped all this change and remained a Bedouin stronghold.

When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after WWI, Britain took control of Palestine and created the state of Transjordan, under the rule of King Abdullah.

Bible stories, lost cities, Lawrence of Arabia - Jordan has romantic associations up to its eyeballs.

More than that, it's one of the most welcoming, hospitable countries in the world. Where else could you leave your belongings on the street for hours at a time, and find them there when you get back? Where else do total strangers with nothing to sell invite you into their homes?

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Culture

Despite the region's rich tradition of music, literature and arts, the comparatively modern nation of Jordan could not boast much in the way of a distinctive arts and literature until the 1980s. Jordan's emergence as a centre of contemporary arts was recognised by UNESCO, which chose Amman as its Arab Cultural Capital for 2002.

Architecture is the predominant visual art in the Arab world, partly because Islam forbids the depiction of living things. Throughout Jordan you will find spectacular mosques, ancient ruins from the Roman Empire and earlier, and magnificent mosaics. The Qusayr 'Amra is notable for its frescoes, one of which shows a nude woman bathing - an unusual art form for this part of the world. The Qur'an is one of the finest examples of classical Arabic writing, while the Al-Mu'allaqaat is an even older collection of Arab poetry. One of the best-known works of Arab literature is Alf Layla wa Layla, A Thousand and One Nights, a collection of tales from several centuries and countries. Bedouin artworks include silver jewellery, colourful textiles and a wide range of knives.

There isn't much sign of traditional Arabic music in Jordan, but you will find an interesting hybrid of Arab-style singers backed up by orchestras of western and traditional instruments everywhere you go. The Bedouin are still hanging on to their musical traditions, with groups of men singing trance-like chants to accompany a lone belly-dancer.

Hospitality is a cornerstone of Arab life. It is commonplace for Jordanian families, particularly desert dwellers, to welcome strangers into their home. The tradition developed from the harshness of desert life - without food, water and shelter from strangers, most desert travellers would die. Wherever you go in Jordan, you are likely to hear the word, 'Welcome', and you will frequently be invited into people's homes for food or a cup of tea.

The pine forests of the north give way to the cultivated slopes of the Jordan Valley, covered in cedar, olive and eucalypt. Further south, towards the Dead Sea, vegetation can't survive and the landscape is dominated by mud and salt flats.

The desert regions of the country support the usual desert fauna - camels, desert fox, sand rats, hares and jerboas - while the hills to the north-east of the Dead Sea are home to boars, badgers and goats. Jordan is particularly noted for its aquatic life, and the Gulf of Aqaba has a huge variety of tropical fish and coral. The country's biggest sanctuary is the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve in the east, where gazelle and oryx, once common throughout Jordan, have been reintroduced.