Editing Emirate of Transjordan (section)

==Establishment of the Emirate==
{{further|Timeline of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan}}
[[File:The high commissioner's first visit to Transjordan, in Es-Salt..jpg|right|thumb|Herbert Samuel's proclamation in [[Salt, Jordan|Salt]], August 1920, for which he was admonished by Curzon]]
[[File:Meetings of British, Arab, and Bedouin officials in Amman, Transjordan, April 1921.png|right|thumb|British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel reads a speech in front of a crowd, April 1921]]

{{History of Jordan}}

===Arab Revolt and Kingdom of Syria===
During [[World War I]], Transjordan saw much of the fighting of the [[Arab Revolt]] against Ottoman rule. Assisted by the British army officer [[T. E. Lawrence]], the [[Sharif of Mecca]] [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Hussein bin Ali]] led the successful revolt which contributed to the Ottoman defeat and [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|breaking up of its empire]]. Ottoman forces were forced to withdraw from [[Aqaba]] in 1917 after the [[Battle of Aqaba]]. In 1918 the British Foreign Office noted the Arab position East of the Jordan, Biger wrote: "At the beginning of 1918, soon after the southern part of Palestine was conquered, the Foreign Office determined that Faisal’s authority over the area that he controls on the Eastern side of the Jordan river should be recognized. We can confirm this recognition of ours even if our forces do not currently control major parts of Transjordan.’"<ref>{{cite book |first=Gideon |last=Biger |title=The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840–1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUqRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-76652-8 |access-date=25 May 2019 |archive-date=21 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221115007/https://books.google.com/books?id=wUqRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA170 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In March 1920, the Hashemite [[Arab Kingdom of Syria|Kingdom of Syria]] was declared by [[Faisal bin Hussein]] in Damascus which encompassed most of what later became Transjordan. At this point, the sparsely inhabited southern part of Transjordan was claimed by both Faisal's Syria and his father's [[Kingdom of Hejaz]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/husayn_ibn_ali_king_of_hejaz |title=Husayn ibn Ali, King of Hejaz |date=27 February 2017 |website=1914-1918-online |access-date=23 May 2019 |quote=..the Ottoman collapse in November 1918 opened the way for their triumphal entry into Damascus – an occasion that Husayn marked by annexing Ma‘an and its hinterland (including Aqaba) to the Hejaz. |archive-date=23 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523234048/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/husayn_ibn_ali_king_of_hejaz |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the provision of mandate to France and Britain at the [[San Remo conference]] in April, the British appointed Sir [[Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel|Herbert Samuel]] High Commissioner in Palestine from 1 July 1920 with a remit over the area west of the Jordan.{{sfn|Rudd|1993|p=278}}

===The path to an Emirate===
{{see also|Interregnum (Transjordan)|Abdullah's entry into Transjordan}}
After the French ended the Kingdom of Syria at the [[battle of Maysalun]], Transjordan became, for a short time, a [[no man's land]]<ref name=Bentwich>[[Norman Bentwich]], England in Palestine, p51, "The High Commissioner had ... only been in office a few days when Emir Faisal ... had to flee his kingdom" and "The departure of Faisal and the breaking up of the Emirate of Syria left the territory on the east side of Jordan in a puzzling state of detachment. It was for a time no-man's-land. In the Ottoman regime the territory was attached to the Vilayet of Damascus; under the Military Administration it had been treated a part of the eastern occupied territory which was governed from Damascus; but it was now impossible that that subordination should continue, and its natural attachment was with Palestine. The territory was, indeed, included in the Mandated territory of Palestine, but difficult issues were involved as to application there of the clauses of the Mandate concerning the Jewish National Home. The undertakings given to the Arabs as to the autonomous Arab region included the territory. Lastly, His Majesty's Government were unwilling to embark on any definite commitment, and vetoed any entry into the territory by the troops. The Arabs were therefore left to work out their destiny."</ref><ref name="PG"/> or, as Samuel put it, "..left politically derelict".<ref>{{cite book |last=Pipes |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Pipes |title=Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3PsAb1uV94C&pg=PA28 |date=26 March 1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-536304-3 |pages=28– |access-date=20 May 2019 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019192415/https://books.google.com/books?id=J3PsAb1uV94C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Edward W. Said |author2=Christopher Hitchens |title=Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wELzivMr_-cC&pg=PA197 |year=2001 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-85984-340-6 |pages=197– |access-date=20 May 2019 |archive-date=29 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629160903/https://books.google.com/books?id=wELzivMr_-cC |url-status=live }}</ref>
In August 1920, Sir Herbert Samuel's request to extend the frontier of British territory beyond the [[River Jordan]] and to bring Transjordan under his administrative control was rejected. The British Foreign Secretary, [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], proposed instead that British influence in Transjordan should be advanced by sending a few political officers, without military escort, to encourage [[Jerash Local Government|self-government]]<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5010?lang=en |title=The Hashemites and the Creation of Transjordan Nadine Méouchy Norig Neveu and Myriam Ababsa |chapter=The Hashemites and the Creation of Transjordan |date=2013 |website=Publications de l’Institut français du Proche-Orient |series=Contemporain publications |pages=212–221 |publisher=Presses de l’Ifpo |isbn=9782351594384 |access-date=24 May 2019 |archive-date=14 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214035739/https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5010?lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref> and give advice to local leaders in the territory. Following Curzon's instruction Samuel set up a meeting with Transjordanian leaders where he presented British plans for the territory. The local leaders were reassured that Transjordan would not come under Palestinian administration and that there would be no disarmament or conscription. Samuel's terms were accepted, he returned to Jerusalem, leaving Captain [[Alec Kirkbride]] as the British representative east of the Jordan<ref>Avi Shlaim (2007) p 11</ref><ref name="MS">Martin Sicker, (1999) Reshaping Palestine: From Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831–1922 p 158.</ref> until the arrival on 21 November 1920 of [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], the brother of recently deposed king Faisal, marched into [[Ma'an]] at the head of an army of 300 men from the Hejazi tribe of [['Utaybah]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor=4282995 |title=Abdallah's Greater Syria Programme |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=172–189 |last1=Porath |first1=Y. |year=1984 |doi=10.1080/00263208408700579}}</ref> Without facing opposition Abdullah and his army had effectively occupied most of Transjordan by March 1921.{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=48|ps=: "Abdullah's arrival in Ma’an on 21 November threatened to disrupt Samuel's cosy arrangement. According to reports, Abdullah had a force of 300 men and six machine guns."}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sicker |first1=Martin |title=Reshaping Palestine: From Muhammad Ali to the British Mandate, 1831–1922 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWBxUi5fVS0C |access-date=26 February 2012 |year=1999 |pages=159–161 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |quote=In January 1921, it was reported in Kerak that Abdullah was advancing toward the town at the head of his army. Kirkbride appealed to Samuel for instructions. The political officer had a total force of only 50 Arab policemen at his disposal and quite simply did not know what to do. Several weeks later he received the following reply from Jerusalem: “It is considered most unlikely that the Emir Abdullah would advance into territory which is under British control... Two days later Abdullah’s troops marched into British-controlled [[Moab]]. Unable to stop him, Kirkbride decided to welcome him instead. With Abdullah's arrival, the National Government of Moab went out of existence. Buoyed by his easy success, he decided to proceed to Amman. By the end of March 1921, Abdullah and his small army had effectively occupied most of Trans-Jordan unopposed... There seemed to be only two options. Either the British army had to be sent in to evict him or the French had to be allowed to cross the frontier to accomplish the task. Both courses of action were considered to be completely unacceptable. The government was simply not prepared to go to the expense of sending an army to fight in a territory of such marginal importance as Trans-Jordan, and it was equally inconceivable that British policy would permit French intervention and occupation of the area. There was, however, another alternative, which was suggested by Churchill. He observed that it was most important that the government of Trans-Jordan be compatible with that of Iraq because British strategy called for a direct overland link between Egypt and the Persian Gulf, which would have to cross both territories. Since in the meantime Feisal had been given the throne of Iraq, it might well serve British purposes to make his brother, Abdullah, ruler of Trans-Jordan or to appoint an indigenous leader approved by him. |isbn=9780275966393 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011113520/https://books.google.com/books?id=TWBxUi5fVS0C |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Relationship with Palestine===
{{main|Mandate for Palestine}}
In early 1921, prior to the convening of the Cairo Conference, the Middle East Department of the [[Colonial Office]] set out the situation as follows:
<blockquote>Distinction to be drawn between Palestine and Trans-Jordan under the Mandate. His Majesty's Government are responsible under the terms of the Mandate for establishing in Palestine a national home for the Jewish people. They are also pledged by the assurances given to the Sherif of Mecca in 1915 to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs in those portions of the (Turkish) vilayet of Damascus in which they are free to act without detriment to French interests. The western boundary of the Turkish vilayet of Damascus before the war was the River Jordan. Palestine and Trans-Jordan do not, therefore, stand upon quite the same footing. At the same time, the two areas are economically interdependent, and their development must be considered as a single problem. Further, His Majesty's Government have been entrusted with the Mandate for "Palestine". If they wish to assert their claim to Trans-Jordan and to avoid raising with other Powers the legal status of that area, they can only do so by proceeding upon the assumption that Trans-Jordan forms part of the area covered by the Palestine Mandate. In default of this assumption Trans-Jordan would be left, under article 132 of the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], to the disposal of the principal Allied Powers. Some means must be found of giving effect in Trans-Jordan to the terms of the Mandate consistently with "recognition and support of the independence of the Arabs".<ref>[''Memorandum drawn up in London by Middle East Department Prior to Palestine Conference'']. Report on Middle East Conference held in Cairo and Jerusalem, Appendix 2, p. 30. June 1921, CO935/1/1</ref></blockquote>
{{multiple image|align=left
| total_width=450|height1=120|height2=120|height3=120
| image2 = British Government memorandum regarding Article 25 of the Palestine Mandate with respect to Transjordan, 25 March 1921.jpg
| width2 = 225
| caption2 = 25 March 1921 proposal, approved a week later, to include Transjordan via Article 25: <small>"On the assumption that&nbsp;... provision is made in some way in final political arrangements as regards Trans-Jordania for its inclusion within the boundaries of Palestine as eventually fixed, but under a form of administration different from that of Palestine, however undesirable it may be for His Majesty's Government themselves to propose alterations of the mandates at this stage, they were inclined to view that when the "A" mandates come to be considered by the Council of the League it would be wise in this case to propose to that body the insertion...after article 24 of the Palestine mandate..."</small>{{efn|Klieman writes: "Accordingly, Churchill cabled the Colonial Office on 21 March, asking whether the Cairo proposals would necessitate any special provisions being made in the two mandates...Upon receipt of this cable informal consultation took place between the Colonial Office legal adviser and the assistant legal adviser to the Foreign Office. Their suggestion, on the 25th by Shuckburgh, was that...a clause be inserted in each of the mandates&nbsp;... [Footnote:] The first draft of Article 25 was originally worded "to postpone the application of such provisions," but was altered at Shuckburgh's initiative since "'postpone' means, or may be taken to mean, that we are going to apply them eventually""{{sfn|Klieman|1970|p=123}}}}
| image1 = Cair Conference 12 March memo regarding Transjordan.jpg
| width1 = 225
| caption1 = 12 March 1921 British memorandum explaining the situation of Transjordan: <small>"His Majesty's Government have been entrusted with the Mandate for 'Palestine'. If they wish to assert their claim to Trans-Jordan and to avoid raising with other Powers the legal status of that area, they can only do so by proceeding upon the assumption that Trans-Jordan forms part of the area covered by the Palestine Mandate. In default of this assumption Trans-Jordan would be left, under article 132 of the Treaty of Sèvres, to the disposal of the principal Allied Powers."</small>{{sfn|Klieman|1970|p=115}} From 12 to 25 March 1921, the inclusion of Transjordan in the mandate was formulated by the British government.{{sfn|Klieman|1970|p=115–125}}
| alt1 = See caption
| alt2 = See caption
}}
The [[Cairo Conference (1921)|Cairo Conference of March 1921]] was convened by [[Winston Churchill]], then Britain's Colonial Secretary. With the mandates of Palestine and Iraq awarded to Britain, Churchill wished to consult with Middle East experts. At his request, [[Gertrude Bell]], Sir Percy Cox, T. E. Lawrence, Sir [[Kinahan Cornwallis]], Sir Arnold T. Wilson, Iraqi minister of war [[Jaafar Al-Askari|Jaʿfar alAskari]], Iraqi minister of finance [[Sassoon Eskell|Sasun Effendi (Sasson Heskayl)]], and others gathered in Cairo, Egypt. An additional outstanding question was the policy to be adopted in Transjordan to prevent anti-French military actions from being launched within the allied British zone of influence. The Hashemites were Associated Powers during the war, and a peaceful solution was urgently needed. The two most significant decisions of the conference were to offer the throne of Iraq to emir Faisal ibn Hussein (who became [[Faisal I of Iraq]]) and an emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan) to his brother Abdullah ibn Hussein (who became [[Abdullah I of Jordan]]). The conference provided the political blueprint for British administration in both Iraq and Transjordan, and in offering these two regions to the sons of Hussein bin Ali, Churchill stated that the spirit, if not the letter, of Britain's wartime promises to the Arabs might be fulfilled. After further discussions between Churchill and Abdullah in Jerusalem, it was mutually agreed that Transjordan was accepted into the Palestine mandatory area as an Arab country apart from Palestine with the proviso that it would be, initially for six months, under the nominal rule of the emir Abdullah and that it would not form part of the [[Homeland for the Jewish people|Jewish national home]] to be established west of the River Jordan.<ref name=Ingrams>{{cite book |last=Ingrams |first=Doreen |author-link=Doreen Ingrams |title=Palestine Papers, 1917-1922: Seeds of Conflict |pages=116–117 |publisher=[[George Braziller]], Inc. |year=1973 |edition=1st |isbn=0807606480 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lo0CAAAAMAAJ |access-date=10 December 2021 |archive-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112201455/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lo0CAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Lustick>{{Cite book |author=[[Ian Lustick|Lustick, Ian]] |title=For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel |year=1988 |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |page=[https://archive.org/details/forlandlordjewis0000lust/page/37 37] |isbn=978-0-87609-036-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/forlandlordjewis0000lust/page/37}}</ref>{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=53|ps=: "Abdullah began by suggesting the unification of Palestine and Transjordan under an Arab ruler, or the unification of Transjordan and Iraq. Both ideas were firmly squashed. In the end he agreed to take responsibility for Transjordan alone for a period of six months. .........It was further agreed that no British troops would be stationed there... With this agreement, the division of the Fertile Crescent into separate states dominated by either Britain or France was completed. Despite the short term nature of the arrangement, Transjordan proved to be a lasting creation. For Abdullah himself his six months lasted a lifetime.}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Louis |first1=William Roger |author-link=Wm. Roger Louis |title=The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945–1951 |year=1985 |pages=348 |publisher=Clarendon Press |quote=In return for providing a rudimentary administration and obviating the need for British military occupation, Abdullah in March 1921 gained assurance from Churchill, then Colonial Secretary, that no Jews would be allowed to settle in Transjordan. That guarantee effectively created Transjordan as an Arab country apart from Palestine, where the British commitment to a "national home" remained a delicate problem between Abdullah and the British. |isbn=9780198229605 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PA348 |access-date=26 February 2012 |archive-date=1 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101175900/https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PA348 |url-status=live }}</ref> Abdullah was then appointed Emir of the Transjordania region in April 1921.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/422/ |title=Amir Abdullah's Bodyguard on Camels with Red, Green and White Standard at Far Left |website=[[World Digital Library]] |date=April 1921 |access-date=2013-07-14 |archive-date=5 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005135102/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/422/ |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:First elections in Transjordan 1929.jpg|thumb|The [[1929 Transjordanian general election|first general election in Transjordan]] took place on 2 April 1929]]

On 21 March 1921, the Foreign and Colonial office legal advisers decided to introduce Article 25 into the [[Mandate for Palestine]],<ref>[[Klieman, Aaron S.]] (1970). ''Foundations of British Policy in the Arab World: The Cairo Conference of 1921''. Johns Hopkins, {{ISBN|0-8018-1125-2}}, pp. 228–230: "In September, 1920, Lord Curzon had instructed his representatives in Paris to leave the eastern boundary of Palestine for subsequent definition. While treating Transjordan as a separate entity from the Damascus state, formed by the French after Maysalun, the foreign secretary wished to avoid any “definite connection” between it and Palestine, thus leaving the way open for the establishment there, “should it become advisable,” of some form of independent Arab government. In November Hubert Young maintained that Great Britain would have difficulty refuting the contention that in 1915 Sir Henry McMahon had pledged to acknowledge the independence of the Arabs in Transjordan, although Palestine had been intentionally excluded. The Zionists, however, simultaneously argued for the incorporation of Transjordan into Palestine... The occasion of the Cairo Conference offered an opportunity to clarify the matter. As Lloyd George and Churchill both agreed, the solution consisted of treating Transjordan as “an Arab province or adjunct of Palestine” while at the same time “preserving [the] Arab character of the area and administration.”... Despite the objection from Eric Forbes Adam in the Middle East Department that it was better not to raise the question of different treatment publicly by suggesting new amendments or additions to the mandates, the legal officers of the Colonial and Foreign offices, meeting on 21 March 1921, deemed it advisable, as a matter of prudence, to insert in advance general clauses giving the mandatory “certain discretionary powers” in applying the Palestine and Mesopotamia mandates to Transjordan and Kurdistan respectively"</ref> which brought Transjordan under the Palestine mandate and stated that in that territory, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' those articles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish national home. It was approved by Curzon on 31 March 1921, and the revised final draft of the mandate (including Transjordan) was forwarded to the League of Nations on 22 July 1922.<ref>Klieman, Aaron S. (1970). ''Foundations of British Policy in the Arab World: The Cairo Conference of 1921''. Johns Hopkins, {{ISBN|0-8018-1125-2}}, pp. 228–234.</ref><ref>[https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C7AAE196F41AA055052565F50054E656 10 August 1922] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916132453/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/C7AAE196F41AA055052565F50054E656 |date=16 September 2014 }}: "The Palestine Order in Council. ...The 10th day of August, 1922. ...And whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, [the Balfour Declaration]... ''Power to exclude Territories to East of Jordan from application of any part of Order.'' 86.	This Order In Council Shall Not Apply To Such Parts Of The Territory Comprised In Palestine To The East Of The Jordan And The Dead Sea As Shall Be Defined By Order Of The High Commissioner. Subject To The Provisions Of Article 25 Of The Mandate, The High Commissioner May May Make Such Provision For The Administration Of Any Territories So Defined As Aforesaid As With The Approval Of The Secretary Of State May be prescribed. ... Given at Our Court at Saint James's this Fourteenth day of August, 1922, in the Thirteenth Year of Our Reign."</ref> In August 1922, the British government [[Transjordan memorandum|presented a memorandum]] to the League of Nations stating that Transjordan would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement, and this memorandum was communicated to the League on 12 August and approved by it on 16 September.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

===Establishment===
Abdullah established his government on 11 April 1921.<ref name="Bacik2008">{{cite book |author=Gökhan Bacik |title=Hybrid sovereignty in the Arab Middle East: the cases of Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HKrAxzMDoywC&pg=PA76 |access-date=9 April 2011 |year=2008 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-60040-9 |page=76 |archive-date=22 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622234051/http://books.google.com/books?id=HKrAxzMDoywC&pg=PA76 |url-status=live }}</ref> Britain administered the part west of the Jordan as Palestine, and the part east of the Jordan as Transjordan.<ref name="UN">[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/2fca2c68106f11ab05256bcf007bf3cb!OpenDocument 12 August 1922] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523184335/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/2fca2c68106f11ab05256bcf007bf3cb!OpenDocument |date=23 May 2008 }} Britain is given the Mandate of the League of Nations to Administer Palestine.</ref> Technically they remained one mandate, but most official documents referred to them as if they were two separate mandates. The [[Constitution of Mandatory Palestine|Palestine Order in Council, 1922]], which established the legal basis for the Mandatory Government in Palestine, explicitly excluded Transjordan from its application apart from giving the High Commissioner some discretionary power there.<ref>Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, Extraordinary Issue, September 1, 1922, pages 11 and 16; [https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/C7AAE196F41AA055052565F50054E656 Clause 86] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321115605/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/C7AAE196F41AA055052565F50054E656 |date=21 March 2019 }}.</ref> In April/May 1923 Transjordan was granted a degree of independence with Abdullah as ruler and [[St John Philby]] as chief representative.<ref>Avi Shlaim (2007) p 14.</ref>

The [[Hashemite]] [[emir]] [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], elder son of Britain's wartime Arab ally Hussein bin Ali, was placed on the throne of Transjordan. The applicable parts of the Mandate for Palestine were stated in a decision of 16 September 1922, which provided for the separate administration of Transjordan. The government of the territory was, subject to the mandate, formed by Abdullah, brother of King Faisal I of Iraq, who had been at Amman since February 1921. Britain recognized Transjordan as an independent government on 15 May 1923, and gradually relinquished control, limiting its oversight to financial, military and foreign policy matters. This affected the goals of [[Revisionist Zionism]], which sought a state on both banks of the Jordan. The movement claimed that it effectively severed Transjordan from Palestine, and so reduced the area on which a future Jewish state in the region could be established.{{sfn|Wasserstein|2008}}<ref name="MakingofJordan">{{cite web |url=http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_transjordan.html |title=Jordan – History – The Making of Transjordan |first=Business Optimization Consultants |last=B.O.C. |access-date=1 March 2003 |archive-date=21 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921111449/http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_transjordan.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Borders===
The southern border between Transjordan and Arabia was considered strategic for Transjordan in order to avoid being [[Landlocked country|landlocked]], with intended access to the sea via the [[Port of Aqaba]]. The southern region of [[Ma'an Governorate|Ma'an]]-[[Aqaba Governorate|Aqaba]], a large area with a small population of just 10,000,{{sfn|Wilson|1990|loc=p. 229 (footnote 70)}} was [[Occupation of Ma'an|administered by OETA East (later the Arab Kingdom of Syria, and then Mandatory Transjordan) and claimed by the Kingdom of Hejaz]].{{sfn|Leatherdale|1983|pp=41–42}}{{sfn|Baker|1979|p=220}} In OETA East, Faisal had appointed a [[kaymakam]] (or sub-governor) at Ma'an, whereas the kaymakam at Aqaba, who "disregarded both Husein in Mecca and Feisal in Damascus with impunity" had been instructed by Hussein to extend his authority to Ma'an.{{sfn|Leatherdale|1983|pp=41–42}} This technical dispute did not rise to any form of open struggle, and the Kingdom of Hejaz was to take de facto control after Faisal's administration was defeated by the French.{{efn|Baker explained that "The British had moved in to take advantage of the situation created by Husain's presence in Aqaba and pressed for the annexation of the Hejaz Vilayet of Ma'an to the mandated territory of Transjordan. This disputed area, containing Maan, Aqaba and Petra, had originally been part of the Damascus Vilayet during Ottoman times, though boundaries had never been very precise. It was seized first by the Army as it pushed north from Aqaba after 1917 and had then been included in O.E.T.A. East and, later, in Faisal's kingdom of Syria. Husain, however, had never accepted this and had stationed a Vali alongside Faisal's administrator, but the two men had worked in harmony so that the dispute never came to an open struggle. After Faisal's exile, the French mandate boundary had excluded this area and the British then considered it to be part of the Syrian rump which became Transjordan, though nothing was done to realise that claim, so Hejaz administration held de facto control. Britain had, however, made its position clear in August 1924 when it cabled Bullard: "Please inform King Hussein officially that H.M.G. cannot acquiesce in his claim to concern himself directly with the administration of any portion of the territory of Transjordan for which H.M.G. are responsible under the mandate for Palestine""{{sfn|Baker|1979|p=220}}}} Following the 1924–25 [[Saudi conquest of Hejaz]], Hussein's army fled to the Ma'an region, which was then formally announced as annexed by Abdullah's Transjordan. Ibn Saud privately agreed to respect this position in an exchange of letters at the time of the [[Treaty of Jeddah (1927)|1927 Treaty of Jeddah]].{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=100}}

The [[Negev]] region was added to Palestine on 10 July 1922, having been conceded by British representative John Philby "in Trans-Jordan's name".{{efn| Biger described this meeting as follows: "Sovereignty over the Arava, from the south of the Dead Sea to Aqaba, was also discussed. Philby agreed, in Trans-Jordan's name, to give up the western bank of Wadi Arava (and thus all of the Negev area). Nevertheless, a precise borderline was still not determined along the territories of Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Philby's relinquishment of the Negev was necessary, because the future of this area was uncertain. In a discussion regarding the southern boundary, the Egyptian aspiration to acquire the Negev area was presented. On the other hand the southern part of Palestine belonged, according to one of the versions, to the sanjak (district) of Ma'an within the vilayet (province) of Hejaz. King Hussein of Hijaz demanded to receive this area after claiming that a transfer action, to add it to the vilayet of Syria (A-Sham) was supposed to be done in 1908. It is not clear whether this action was completed. Philby claimed that Emir Abdullah had his father's permission to negotiate over the future of the sanjak of Ma'an, which was actually ruled by him, and that he could therefore 'afford to concede' the area west of the Arava in favour of Palestine. This concession was made following British pressure and against the background of the demands of the Zionist Organization for direct contact between Palestine and the Red Sea. It led to the inclusion of the Negev triangle in Palestine's territory, although this area was not considered as part of the country in the many centuries that preceded the British occupation."{{sfn|Biger|2004|p=181; Biger references 10 July 1922 meeting notes, file 2.179, CZA}}}} Abdullah made a request for the Negev to be added to Transjordan in late 1922, and again in 1925, but this was rejected.{{sfn|Biger|2004|p=184}}

The location of the Eastern border between Transjordan and Iraq was considered strategic with respect to the proposed construction of what became the [[Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline]].{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=100}} It was first set out on 2 December 1922, in a treaty to which Transjordan was not party to – the [[Uqair Protocol of 1922|Uqair Protocol]] between Iraq and Nejd.{{sfn|Amadouny|2012|p=132-133}} It described the western end of the Iraq-Nejd boundary as "the Jebel Anazan situated in the neighbourhood of the intersection of latitude [[32nd parallel north|32 degrees north]] longitude [[39th meridian east|39 degrees east]] where the Iraq-Najd boundary terminated", thereby implicitly confirming this as the point at which the Iraq-Nejd boundary became the Transjordan-Nejd boundary.{{sfn|Amadouny|2012|p=132-133}} This followed a proposal from Lawrence in January 1922 that Transjordan be extended to include [[Wadi Sirhan]] as far south as [[Dumat al-Jandal|al-Jauf]], in order to protect Britain's route to India and contain Ibn Saud.{{sfn|Amadouny|2012|p=132-133; Amadouny cites Lawrence, 'Transjordan-Extension of Territory', 5 January 1922, CO 733 33}}

France transferred the District of Ramtha from Syria in 1921.<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael R. Fischbach |title=State, Society, and Land in Jordan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_WAgDMWsyb8C&pg=PA66 |year=2000 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-11912-4 |pages=66– |access-date=25 May 2019 |archive-date=29 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929035410/https://books.google.com/books?id=_WAgDMWsyb8C&pg=PA66 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Population===
[[File:Amman, Transjordan in 1940.jpg|thumb|right|Amman in 1940]]
With respect to the demographics, in 1924 the British stated: "No census of the population has been taken, but the figure is thought to be in the neighbourhood of 200,000, of whom some 10,000 are Circassians and Chechen; there are about 15,000 Christians and the remainder, in the main, are Moslem Arabs."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/A87D21F4E57F2D0F052565E8004BACE0 |title=Mandate for Palestine – Report of the Mandatory to the League of Nations (31 December 1924) |website=unispal.un.org |access-date=6 August 2017 |archive-date=8 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508143009/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/A87D21F4E57F2D0F052565E8004BACE0 |url-status=live }}</ref> No census was taken throughout the British mandate period, but the population was estimated to have grown to 300,000 – 350,000 by the early 1940s.<ref name="BeaumontBlake2016">{{cite book |author1=Peter Beaumont |author2=Gerald Blake |author3=J. Malcolm Wagstaff |title=The Middle East: A Geographical Study, Second Edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yE_7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA408 |date=14 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-24030-3 |pages=408– |access-date=6 August 2017 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801083916/https://books.google.com/books?id=yE_7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA408 |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ March 1921 British estimate of Transjordan population
! '''Territory'''
! '''Population'''
|-
| [[Ajloun]], comprising [[Irbid]], [[Jerash]] and the Bani Hasan country and the bedouins Mafraq
| 100,000
|-
| Balqa', comprising [[Al-Salt]], [[Amman]] and [[Madaba]]
| 80,000
|-
| [[Al-Karak]], including [[Tafilah]] 
| 40,000
|-
| [[Ma'an]], [[Aqaba]], and [[Tabuk, Saudi Arabia|Tabuk]] (today in [[Saudi Arabia]])
| 10,000
|-
| '''Total'''
| '''230,000'''
|-class="sortbottom"
| colspan="3" span style="font-size:70%;" align=left|Estimates by [[FitzRoy Somerset, 4th Baron Raglan|FitzRoy Somerset]] and [[Frederick Peake]], 14 March 1921, CO 733/15{{efn|From "Observations on Dr. Weizmann's letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies with Reference to Transjordania," Major Somerset and Captain Peake, 14 March 1921, CO 733/15. Wilson notes that the letter was written to refute Weizmann's 1 March 1921 letter to Churchill<ref>The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann, Series A, Vol. 10, p. 161</ref> in which Weizmann argues for the inclusion of Transjordan in the Jewish National Home area: "The beautiful Trans-Jordanian plateaux... lie neglected and uninhabited, save for a few scattered settlements and a few roaming Bedouin tribes."{{sfn|Wilson|1990|p=229 (footnote 70)}}}}
|}

===Defence===
The most serious threats to Abdullah's position in Transjordan were repeated [[Ikhwan raids on Transjordan|Wahhabi incursions]] by the [[Ikhwan]] tribesmen from [[Najd]] in modern [[Saudi Arabia]] into southern parts of his territory. The emir was powerless to repel those raids by himself, and had to appeal for help to the British who maintained a military base with a small [[RAF|air force]] at Marka, close to [[Amman]].{{sfn|Salibi|1998|p=104}} The British military force was the primary obstacle against the [[Ikhwan]] between 1922 and 1924, and was also utilized to help Abdullah with the suppression of local rebellions at [[Kura Rebellion|Kura]],{{sfn|Salibi|1998|pp=104–105}} and later by [[Adwan Rebellion|Sultan Adwan]], in 1921 and 1923 respectively.{{sfn|Salibi|1998|p=107}}