A chronology of key events: 1948 - State of Israel created in British-mandate Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians flee Arab-Israeli fighting to West Bank and Jordan.
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Petra: Ancient capital of Nabatean kingdom
Fabled "rose-red city" was rediscovered in 1812
Valley is enclosed by sandstone cliffs
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1950 - Jordan annexes West Bank. 1951 20 July - King Abdullah assassinated by Palestinian gunman angry at his apparent collusion with Israel in the carve-up of Palestine. 1952 11 August - Hussein proclaimed king after his father, Talal, is declared mentally unfit to rule. 1957 - British troops complete their withdrawal from Jordan. 1967 - Israel takes control of Jerusalem and West Bank during Six-Day War, major influx of refugees into Jordan. 1970 - Major clashes break out between government forces and Palestinian guerrillas resulting in thousands of casualties in civil war remembered as Black September. 1972 - Attempted military coup thwarted. 1974 - King Hussein recognises PLO as sole legitimate representative of Palestinian people. 1986 - Hussein severs political links with the PLO and orders its main offices to shut. Hussein backs uprising 1988 - Hussein publicly backs the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israeli rule.
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King Hussein ruled Jordan for 46 years
Enthroned in 1953
Married four times, fathered 11 children
Died 7 February 1999
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1989 - Rioting in several cities over price increases. 1989 - First general election since 1967, contested only by independent candidates because of the ban on political parties in 1963. 1990 - Jordan comes under severe economic and diplomatic strain as a result of the Gulf crisis following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Peace deal signed 1994 - Jordan signs peace treaty with Israel, ending 46-year official state of war. 1996 - Food price riots after subsidies removed under economic plan supervised by the International Monetary Fund. 1997 - Parliamentary elections boycotted by several parties, associations and leading figures. 1998 - King Hussein treated for lymphatic cancer in United States. 1999 January - After six months of treatment King Hussein returns home to a rousing welcome, but flies back to the US soon after for further treatment. King Hussein dies 1999 February - 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.
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Amman is one of world's oldest continuously inhabited cities
Population: 1.3 million
Built on seven hills
Known in ancient times as Rabbath-Ammon and Philadephia
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1999 7 February - Crown Prince Abdullah ibn al-Hussein is sworn in as king. 2000 September - A military court sentences six men to death for plotting attacks against Israeli and US targets. 2001 March - King Abdullah and presidents Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt inaugurate a $300m (£207m) electricity line linking the grids of the three countries. 2002 January - Riots erupt in the southern town of Maan, the worst public disturbances in more than three years, following the death of a youth in custody. 2002 August - Spat with Qatar over a programme on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV which Jordan says insulted its royal family. Jordan shuts down Al-Jazeera's office in Amman and recalls its ambassador in Qatar. 2002 September - Jordan and Israel agree on a plan to pipe water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea. The project, costing $800m, is the two nations' biggest joint venture to date.
Kingdom's close ties with the US are unpopular among some Jordanians
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2002 October - Senior US diplomat Laurence Foley is gunned down outside his home in Amman, in the first assassination of a Western diplomat in Jordan. Scores of political activists are rounded up. 2003 June - First parliamentary elections under King Abdullah II. Independent candidates loyal to the king win two-thirds of the seats. 2003 August - Bomb attack on Jordan's embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad kills 11 people, injures more than 50. 2003 September - Jordan's Central Bank retracts its decision to freeze accounts belonging to leaders of Hamas. 2003 October - A new cabinet is appointed following the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb. Faisal al-Fayez is appointed prime minister. The king also appoints the three female ministers.
2004 February - Jordan's King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launch the Wahdah Dam project at a ceremony on the River Yarmuk. Terror 2004 April - Eight Islamic militants are sentenced to death for killing a US government official in 2002. Authorities seize cars filled with explosives and arrest several suspects said to be linked to al-Qaeda and planning chemical bomb attack on intelligence services HQ in Amman. 2005 March - Jordan returns its ambassador to Israel after a four-year absence. Amman recalled its envoy in 2000 after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising. 2005 April - A new cabinet is sworn in, led by Prime Minister Adnan Badran, after the previous government resigns amid reports of the king's unhappiness over the pace of reforms. 2005 August - Three missiles are fired from the port of Aqaba. Two of them miss a US naval vessel; a third one lands in Israel. A Jordanian soldier is killed.
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HOTEL BLASTS
Suicide bombings at three Amman hotels killed 60, including members of a wedding party
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2005 November - Sixty people are killed in suicide bombings at three international hotels in Amman. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility. Most of the victims are Jordanians. A day of mourning is declared. 2006 8 June - Iraq's prime minister announces that Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been killed in an air strike. 2006 August - King Abdullah criticises the United States and Israel over the fighting in Lebanon. 2006 September - A gunman opens fire on tourists at the Roman amphitheatre in Amman, killing a British man. 2007 July - First local elections since 1999. The main opposition party, the Islamist Action Front, withdraws after accusing the government of vote-rigging. 2007 November - Parliamentary elections strengthen position of tribal leaders and other pro-government candidates. Fortunes of the opposition Islamic Action Front decline. Political moderate Nader Dahabi appointed prime minister. 2008 August - King Abdullah visits Iraq. He is the first Arab leader to visit the country since the US invasion in 2003. 2009 July - Military tribunal sentences an Al-Qaeda militant to death for his involvement in the 2003 killing of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman. 2009 December - King Abdullah appoints new premier to push through economic reform.
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