Jordan - Country history and economic development

1920. The League of Nations places Palestine and Transjordan under a British mandate following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

1946. Britain's mandate over Transjordan comes to an end, and Emir Abdullah is declared king.

1948. The state of Israel is created under the British mandate in Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians flee Arab-Israeli fighting to the West Bank and Jordan.

1950. Jordan annexes the West Bank of the Jordan River.

1951. King Abdullah is assassinated by a Palestinian gunman in Jerusalem.

1952. Hussein is proclaimed king after his father, Talal, is declared mentally unfit to rule.

1957. British troops complete their withdrawal from Jordan.

1963. Political parties are banned.

Household Consumption in PPP Terms
Country	All food	Clothing and footwear	Fuel and power a	Health care b	Education b	Transport & Communications	Other
Jordan	32	6	17	5	8	8	23
United States	13	9	9	4	6	8	51
Egypt	44	9	7	3	17	3	17
Israel	23	6	11	2	6	8	44
Data represent percentage of consumption in PPP terms.
a Excludes energy used for transport.
b Includes government and private expenditures.
SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000.

1967. Israel takes control of Jerusalem and the West Bank during the Six-Day War, and there is a large in-flux of refugees into Jordan.

1970. Major clashes break out between government forces and Palestinian guerrillas resulting in thousands of casualties in a civil war remembered as Black September.

1976. The Amman Financial Market opens for business. Non-Jordanian Arabs are permitted to buy shares in Jordanian firms without limit.

1989. First general election since 1967 is contested only by independent candidates because of the ban on political parties in 1963.

1991. The Gulf War begins. Jordan comes under severe economic and diplomatic strain as a result of the Gulf crisis following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

1992. Political parties are legalized.

1993. The World Bank agrees to restructure Jordan's debt.

1994. Jordan signs a peace treaty with Israel ending the 46-year official state of war.

1996. Food price riots occur after subsidies are removed under the economic plan supervised by the International Monetary Fund.

1997. Jordan signs an association agreement with the European Union that aims to establish a free trade zone over the next 12 years. Iraq agrees to supply Jordan with 4.8 million tons of crude oil at a considerable discount from market price.

1998. King Hussein is treated for lymphatic cancer in the United States.

1999. King Hussein returns home and is put on a life support machine. He is pronounced dead on 7 February. More than 50 heads of state attend his funeral. Hussein's son, Crown Prince Abdullah ibn al-Hussein, is sworn in as king.

1999. Jordan joins the World Trade Organization.

2000. The government bans public protests following clashes between demonstrators and police during anti-Israeli protests.