Aqaba

The city of Aqaba, known centuries before Christ as Elath, Ailath or Ayla, was a strategic point from its beginnings. Already in the tenth century BC, King Solomon made use of this space to transport to other places copper, extracted in the mines of Wadi Araba. Chinese ceramics and Ethiopian coins have also been found in the area, which accounts for the commercial nature of this enclave.

A similar use was given by the civilizations that later dominated Ayla: Egyptians, Nabataeans and, above all, Romans from 106 AD, as well as their Byzantine heirs. The existence of several churches, some of them really old (III century), would confirm its good position and dynamism, with its own bishopric. The city fell into Arab hands around 630, becoming in the following centuries a place of obligatory passage for the Egyptians on pilgrimage to Mecca.

However, Aqaba entered a phase of great decline from the eleventh century. First, by a devastating earthquake in the middle of that century. And secondly because the great trade routes began to have Baghdad as their epicenter, relegating this route to a secondary role.

In the twelfth century, the conquest of Baldwin I’s crusaders and the subsequent reconquest by Saladin’s troops also did not help to create a climate of stability for trade, so that Aqaba was relegated to little more than a fishing village.

The Ottomans, dominators of the area for almost five centuries, did not reverse the situation of the city (despite important projects such as the expansion of its Fort), which saw how two alternative communication routes were opened: for trade, through the Suez Canal, operational since the mid-nineteenth century, and for pilgrims to Mecca, with the Hejaz railway at the beginning of the twentieth century (although its period of operation was fleeting).

However, Aqaba would feature prominently in another historical episode in Jordan: the Arab Rebellion. The Ottoman Empire had given it a strategic military role, but it was taken by the British and Arabs (with a key role of Thomas Edward Lawrence or Lawrence of Arabia), in one of the most transcendental chapters of that movement.

When Jordan’s independence came in 1946, Aqaba’s coastline was only about 14 km long, something that neighboring Saudi Arabia certainly did not recognize. But in 1965, King Hussein made an exchange of land, which earned him official recognition and the expansion of the Jordanian coast: another 12 km, in exchange for 6,000 km2 in the desert.

At present, Aqaba is a prosperous city that advances thanks to the important tourism that stops here, largely of premium level. This can be seen in the high concentration of private urbanizations, resorts and hotels that exist, especially in the coastal area, where other spaces of the highest level are located, such as its marina and its water park. In parallel, its strategic location on the Red Sea highlights the importance of Aqaba in other sectors, such as logistics thanks to its goods port, or real estate, thanks to its new developments.