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2000 BCE
ANTIQUITY
During antiquity, the Jordanians had several *diverse ethnicities, languages, and religions. The Ancient *Egyptians expanded across the *Levant (Asian region). The *Israelites were descendants of the ancient Hebrews and spoke *Hebrew. *Polytheism (the belief in more than god) was also incorporated into many religions. The Ancient *Egyptians were *Polytheistic. The *Israelites were the opposite of *Polytheistic, they were *Monotheistic (the belief in one god) -
633
Islam expands toward the Middle East
Following the advent of *Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century, *Islam expanded towards eastern regions through trade that was encouraged by the development of the maritime Silk Roads. This impacted Jordan's religion immensely. In time this made *Islam, or more specifically *Sunni Muslim, the most predominant religion in Jordan. Another factor was in 633 A.D when the territory of modern Jordan, among the first to come under the sway of Islam, was penetrated by Muslim armies. -
700
The Arabic Language spreads
In the 7th century, *nomadic tribes started to leave the Arabic Peninsula, the Arabic language spread. *Inter-marriage between Arabs and native tribes also led to further dialect variations. The rapid growth of the Arabic language also happened as a result of the Islamic Conquests that also took place in the 7th century C.E. Through these conquests, the Arabic language made its way into the Middle East. -
Today
Today, there are several types of ethnicities, languages, and religions in Jordan. These include *Semitic, *Hebrew, *Aramaic,*Arabic, and *Sunni Muslims (one of two major branches of Islam). *Semitic languages are spoken all throughout Jordan today. *Arabic, *Hebrew, and *Aramaic are all considered *Semitic languages. Well over 90% of the Jordan population are *Arabs, making it Jordan’s main ethnicity. The official language in Jordan is *Arabic. The main religion in Jordan is *Sunni Muslim.