Salt, Jordan

Salt ( As-Salt — pronounced As-Sult or As-Sàlt) is an ancient agricultural town and administrative centre in west-central Jordan. It is on the old main highway leading from Amman to Jerusalem. Situated in the Balqa highland, about 790–1100 metres above sea level, the town is built in the crook of three hills, close to the Jordan River valley. One of the three hills (Jebal Al Qal'a) is the site of a 13th century ruined fortress. It is the capital of the Balqa Governorate.

The Greater Salt Municipality has about 97,000 inhabitants (2006).

History

Salt's heyday was in the late 19th century when traders arrived from Nablus to expand their trading network eastwards beyond the River Jordan. As a result of the influx of newcomers this period saw the rapid expansion of Salt from a simple peasant village into a town with many architecturally elegant buildings, many built in the Nablusi style from the attractive honey-coloured local stone. A large number of buildings from this era survive as of 2009.

After World War I, the town was the site which Herbert Samuel, British high commissioner for Palestine, chose to make his announcement that the British favoured a Hejazi Hashimite ruled entity in the East Bank of the Palestine mandate (modern Jordan) (which was granted in 1921).

When Prince Abdullah I rise to power, As-Salt seemed to be the city that would be chosen as the capital of the new kingdom since most of the industry and commerce flowed through here. Salt was the smallest city in TransJordan and has no high schools. Prince Abdullah 2 picked the city as the capital of his emerging emirate but changed his mind and moved his compound and entourage to Amman when he and the notables of Salt had a disagreement. Amman which was a small city of only 20,000 people then city experienced rapid growth.

Metropolitan Districts

Agriculture

Wadi Shu'aib (Valley of Jethro) is one of the largest agricultural sites in Salt city, a valley with large agricultural areas. It is named after one of the prophets in Islam (as well as Christianity and Judaism), Shoaib (Jethro), who was the father-in-law of Moses and one of the descendants of Ibrahim (Abraham). Most privately owned farms are located in this valley; the primary crops are grapes, olives and fruit-bearing trees.

Tourism

It was at that time that the Ottomans established a regional administrative base in Salt and encouraged settlement from other parts of their empire. As the town’s status increased, many merchants arrived and, with their newly acquired wealth, built the fine houses that can still be admired in Salt today.

These splendid yellow sandstone buildings incorporate a variety of local and European styles. Typically, they have domed roofs, interior courtyards and characteristic tall, arched windows. Perhaps the most beautiful is the Abu Jaber mansion, built between 1892 and 1906, which has frescoed ceilings, painted by Italian artists, and is reputed to be the finest example of a 19th century merchant house in the region.

Tightly built on a cluster of three hills, Salt has several other places of interest, including Roman tombs on the outskirts of town and the Citadel and site of the town’s early 13th century Ayyubid fortress which was built by al- Ma’azzam Isa, the nephew of Saladine soon after 1198 AD. There is also a small museum and a handicraft school where you can admire the traditional skills of ceramics, weaving, silk-screen printing and dyeing. Salt’s Archaeological & Folklore Museum displays artifacts dating back to the Chalcolithic period to the Islamic era as well as other items relating to the history of the area. In the folklore museum there is a good presentation of Bedouin and traditional costumes and everyday folkloric items.

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