Posted
on November 14, 2014
Like
many other nations in the world, the Arabic nation of Jordan still
has a king. His name is not,
however, King Hussein – it's King Abdullah II. King Hussein was the
present king's father, but he died in 1999.
So
why is Jordan celebrating their king's dad's birthday today?
King
Hussein ruled during the Cold War and during a time of incredible
tension between Arab countries and Israel. Yet during that tense
time, Hussein put his efforts toward peace, education, empowerment
for women and girls, and socioeconomic growth. Under Hussein's
leadership, Jordan was the second Arab country to recognize Israel,
and he was a part of peace efforts. Former Prime Minister of the U.K.
Tony Blair said of Hussein, “He
was an extraordinary and immensely charismatic persuader for peace.
At the peace talks in America when he was extremely ill, he was
there, talking to both sides, urging them forward, telling them
nothing must stand in the way of peace."
Hussein's
fourth wife, Queen Noor, continues the work of improving the lives of
Jordanians, including improving education and conditions for women
and girls.
Learn
about Jordan
It
used to be the Emirate of Transjordan. Now it is the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan. It is one of the freest economies in its region
and is classified as a country of “high human development.” You
can probably tell: that's a good thing! Of course, these praises for
Jordan are partly through Hussein's efforts on behalf of his country.
I
always love ancient things, and so it's no surprise that one of my
favorite things about Jordan is the archeological city of Petra,
which is carved into reddish rocks.
Only
about 2% of Jordan's land can be farmed! That is because most of the
country is desert. It does, however, border on the Dead Sea and the
Gulf of Aqaba, at the northern tip of the Red Sea.
 |
| Gulf of Aqaba |
The
Gulf of Aqaba is pretty normal sea + coast sort of stuff.
But the Dead Sea is not really a sea at all, because it doesn't connect directly to an ocean. Instead of being a sea, it is a large hypersaline lake. That means it's really, really, really, really salty.
And it's really low – it's the lowest part of Earth that is on land!
Did
you know that it is really easy to float in super salty water?
Did
you know that the Dead Sea is more than 8 times saltier than the
ocean?
 |
| Lying among the salt formations... |
Did
you know that almost no plants or animals can live in such salty
water? Almost no microbes, even! (A few kinds of bacteria and fungi
do live there – but compared to almost everywhere else on Earth,
the Dead Sea is very, very dead!)
The
Dead Sea has salt formations in it, and it also spits up
pebbles and blocks of black asphalt! Weird, huh?
 |
| Asphalt |
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