Amman
Government
Amman (Arabic: عمان, ʿ Ammān DMG ) is the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and counts 1.919 million inhabitants ( 2010 census ). It is a modern city where Muslims and Christians (10%) live together. Today's financial capital began to grow into a city only after the establishment of Israel as a result of the influx of refugees from the West Bank.
Climate
Origin of the name
On behalf of the city's memory lives on in those already mentioned in the Old Testament tribe of the children of Ammon, and their state of Ammon.
History
The known origins date back to biblical times. Here the city as the biblical Rabbah is known. The Ammonites designated themselves as Rabbat -Ammon. It extended time like Rome on seven hills. Today, the town stretches over nineteen hills.
After the conquest by Alexander the Great, the city came first under Ptolemaic rule; King Ptolemy II Philadelphus gave her the new name Philadelphia, and this name remained valid for about 900 years. From 218 BC it belonged to the Seleucid Empire; after the campaign of Pompey was the southernmost member of the Decapolis.
The real heyday began after the inclusion in the province of Arabia Petraea under Emperor Trajan. From this time the towering ruins of the citadel, the Forum and the theater, one of the best preserved buildings of antiquity, which is still used today originate. At the time of Marcus Aurelius, a monumental temple of Hercules was built on the middle terrace of the citadel; in the Christian- Byzantine period was completed on a three-nave church, for which the temple of Hercules had to serve as a quarry.
In the year 635, the Arabs conquered the city; on the upper terrace of the citadel was the Qasr, a part of Omayyadenpalastes; today he crowns the Citadel. With the relocation of the residence from Damascus to Baghdad in the year 750 of the descent of the city, which was, therefore, largely forfeited in the Middle Ages began. As late as the turn of the 20th century Amman was a village of about 2000 inhabitants.
1921 Abdallah ibn Husain I. chose Amman as seat of government of the newly created Emirate of Transjordan, from which later emerged the Kingdom of Jordan. The place was inhabited at that time the majority of Zirkassiern and had a population of around 5,000. Late twenties had this roughly doubled to 10,000.
Amman remained a small city until it began to grow rapidly due to the influx of Palestinian refugees in 1948.
Beirut's decline in the 1970s and 1980s, Amman has allowed to rise into the leading commercial center of the Middle East. The settlement in the valley of the Wadi Amman has since developed into a city of millions. On and on she grabs her along arterial roads in the surrounding hill country: villages such as el- Quweisme or Khirbet es- Suk, in the 1980s, yet independently, are now included in fact in the urban area.
Culture and sights
Significant historical and cultural sites include the Roman theater impressively well-preserved and the citadel hill in the city center.
The Jordan Archaeological Museum has important, world significant archaeological finds from the Middle East. Outstanding are the plaster with plastic over-molded skull of excavation at Tell es-Sultan, in today's Jericho from the preceramic Neolithic ( 7220 BC to 5850 BC). In addition, you can see a copper scroll from Qumran.
In the heart of the old town is the Souk (Arabic السوق ), a traditional Arab bazaar. On modern limestone and concrete buildings past pushes dense traffic, the street scene dominated western clothes, and in the shops of the city and the Jebel Amman are European consumer goods of all kinds available.
The most famous Mosques are the Abu Darwish Mosque, King Abdullah Mosque and the King Hussein Mosque.
The Royal Automobile Museum contains a collection of historic vehicles of the royal family.
A museum for contemporary art represents the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
Economy and infrastructure
Amman has two airports. The older Marka International Airport was initially only regionally, now only used by the military, the international airport "Queen Alia International " was opened in 1983.
Twinning
- Paris, France since 1987
- Khartoum, Sudan since January 2, 1993
- Istanbul, Turkey since November 28, 1997
- São Paulo, Brazil since 1997
- Bucharest, Romania since 1999
- Tunis, Tunisia since 1999
Sons and daughters of the town
- Abdullah II, King of Jordan
- Garabed Antranikian, German biologist
- Aun Shawkat al - Chasauneh, Jordanian diplomat and jurist
- Faisal al - Fayiz, Jordanian politicians
- Fayez al - Tarawneh ( born 1949 ), Jordanian politicians
- Khaled Mardam -Bey, Jordanian software developers
- Abd ar -Rahman Munif, Arabic writers
- Sana Salou ( born 1955 ), Palestinian professor of communications engineering
- Omar Yaghi (born 1965 ), Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Raja Amasheh (* 1982 ), a professional boxer