The land of present-day Jordan has been inhabited for more than a million years; the 'Ain Ghazal statues, found near Amman and dating to about 7250 BC, are among the oldest large human figures ever discovered. In antiquity the region was home to the biblical kingdoms of Edom, Moab and Ammon, and later to the Nabataeans, whose rock-carved capital at Petra flourished from about the 4th century BC as a hub of the incense and spice trade.
The area later became part of the Roman and Byzantine empires, leaving cities such as Jerash, Umm Qais and Pella, and in the 7th century it was incorporated into the early Islamic caliphates, whose desert castles still dot the eastern plains. During the First World War the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, led by Sharif Hussein of Mecca and his Hashemite sons, ended four centuries of Ottoman rule.
After the war the Emirate of Transjordan was established on 11 April 1921 under Emir Abdullah I, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan gained full independence from the United Kingdom on 25 May 1946. King Abdullah II has reigned since 1999, and the country has since developed into a stable modern state while preserving its extraordinary layered heritage.