I. Introduction to Mapping Jordan

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is home to many important religious sites including Mount Nebo (where Moses looked over the Holy Land), Bethany Beyond the Jordan (where Jesus was baptized), Machaerus (the palace where John the Baptist was beheaded), Umm Qais (where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Gadarene Swine), and finally Pella (where the Bible says Jacob wrestled with God all night in the form of an angel). Starting from the Ancient World, the land that is known today as modern Jordan was home to the City of Jericho in 9000 BCE, and since then, its terrain has hosted the Ain Ghazal, Hyksos, Egyptian Pharaohs, an invasion of the Sea People, Alexander the Great, and the Roman Empire. In 718 CE, Jordan was ruled by the Abbasids, then the Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and the Ottomans. After that, it was under British Colonial Rule until 1946. In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, Jordan played an active political role in the Middle East based on its geographical location.

The rich and complicated history of Jordan is difficult to capture in a concise, and cohesive manner. For my research, I turned to maps as a tool to discuss this complex and evolving past, through its various eras and unique politics, in an accessible way that makes conceptual sense. I found that indeed, this vibrant history is best depicted in the maps of Jordan.

Maps can be used to uncover lost civilizations, they depict the world in a simple way, while helping users visualize borders and geographies. Maps capture politics, as well as religious and cultural norms. They show us graphical descriptions of a past in a way that is sometimes a lot clearer than written history. On maps, boundaries are forced, and politics are made explicit. More than written history, maps force exaggerations, through representations of the world in lines, colors and keys.  Through my research into maps, I was able to break Jordan’s history into four main periods:

1. The Ancient Bible Period: From around the 6^th century with the Madaba Map which is one of the oldest mosaic pieces of ancient cartography. It is interesting to note that many of the maps, especially in the ancient Bible period focus on Palestine as the spiritual-religious center, with the East of the Jordan (the area of modern Jordan today) underplayed in importance.
2. The Early Modern Period: In the 16^th century, European maps depict the Holy Lands as a location of salvation. This is represented in maps such as Ventetian Bologni Zalteri’s 1569 map.
3. The Ottomans and 19th Century Maps: The administrative divisions of the Ottomans coincided with an elevation in scientific methodology in cartography. This period marked the beginning of the age where maps drifted towards the historical and more accurate.
4. British Colonial Rule: This was marked by T.E. Lawrence who created a hypothetical map ultimately prophesizing the creation of what was then known as Transjordan, which eventually became today’s Jordan.

Throughout these vastly varying political regimes, the natural landscape of Jordan was unchanged. In this essay, I will explore how the interpretation of physical landscapes on man-made maps varies according to the mapmaker. Despite cartography being framed as a science, maps are unique, and change based on the mapmaker and how they are influenced by scholarship, culture, and art, amongst other things. Despite maps being considered objective in their reflections of realities on the ground, through my research I will look at maps as political tools that reflect the construct of a world that is biased based on the cartographer’s own age, mirroring features important to their worldview, insulated from natural realities and topographical truths. This is especially true with how the Jordan River is reflected historically in certain maps. I will zoom in on certain maps to look at their history of discovery, preservation and how they were made, as their stories influence cartographers that came after them.