Balqa
Encyclopedia
Balqa' is one of the governorates
Governorates of Jordan
||The country of Jordan is divided into 12 governorates .-References:...

 of Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

. It is located northwest of Amman
Amman
Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, Jordan's capital.

The governorate has the fourth largest population of the 12 governorates of Jordan, and is ranked 10th by Area. It has the third highest population density in the kingdom after Irbid Governorate
Irbid Governorate
Irbid or Irbed is one of the governorates of Jordan. It is located north of Amman, Jordan's capital. The capital of the governorate of Irbid is the city of Irbid...

 and Jerash Governorate.

History

The historical name Balqa was applied to the entire area of the eastern plateau of the Jordan valley as early as the 7th century when Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

’ brother Theodore fought an early campaign against the Arabs on the approaches to southern Syria.
During World War I, the British army led by General Allenby entered Salt on 24th of March 1918, in the Battles for Amman
First Transjordan attack on Amman (1918)
The First Transjordan attack on Amman was part of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. Between 21 and 30 March 1918, three separate engagements occurred which together form the First Transjordan attack...

 campain, marking the end of a 500-year Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 rule.

On March 21, 1968, the town of Karameh near Shouna al-Janubiyya was the site of Battle of Karameh
Battle of Karameh
The Battle of Karameh was fought on March 21, 1968 in the town of Karameh, Jordan, between the Israel Defense Forces and combined forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Army...

, between Israel and Jordan, which was one of the largest military confrontations in the period between the six-day war in 1967, and Yom-Kippur war in 1973.

Administrative Divisions

The capital of Balqa' Governorate is Salt
Salt, Jordan
Salt 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...

. Other cities in the governorate are Mahis
Mahis
Mahis is a Jordanian town located in the Balqa Governorate north west from the governorate's capital citySalt, and 10 km west of Amman. Its population exceeds 14,000. Most of the population of Mahis descends from the Al-Abbadi tribe...

, Fuhais
Fuhais
Fuheis is a town in the Jordanian governorate of Balqa, just 20 kilometers northwest of Amman.A town of 20,000 residents, Fuheis is the only remaining overtly Christian dominated settlement in Jordan...

 and, Ain el Basha
Departments of Balqa Governorate by population (2004)
Department Arabic name population (2004) Administrative Center
1 Capital Department (Al-Qasaba) لواء قصبة اﻟﺴﻠﻂ 109,877 Salt
Salt, Jordan
Salt 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...

2 Shuna al-Janubiyya Department ﻟﻮاء اﻟﺸﻮﻧﺔ اﻟﺠﻨﻮﺑﻴﺔ 38,757 Shuna al-Janubiyya
3 Deir Alla Department ﻟﻮاء دﻳﺮ ﻋﻼ 46,481 Deir Alla
Deir Alla
Deir Alla , is the site of an ancient Near Eastern town thought to be Pitru/Pethor.-History:...

4 Ain Al basha Department ﻟﻮاء ﻋﻴﻦ اﻟﺒﺎﺷﺎ 128,949 Ain Al basha
5 Fuheis and Mahis Department ﻟﻮاء ﻣﺎﺣﺺ واﻟﻔﺤﻴﺺ 22,290 Fuheis

Economy

Due to its fertile mountains, the governorate's economy is based on agriculture, and a light industry, mainly the Cement factory in Fuheis by the Jordan Cement Factories Ltd- Lafarge. Some pharmaceutical industries are based in Salt, such as the Arab Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Arab Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
The Arab Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company is a pharmaceuticals and healthcare company based in Jordan. Its headquarters are located in Amman. APM was founded in 1962 and it operates two main production facilities, in Al Salalem and Buhayra...

 company.

Al-Balqa` Applied University
Al-Balqa` Applied University
Al-Balqa` Applied University is a government-supported university located in Salt, Jordan, was founded in 1997, a distinctive state university in the field of Bachelor and Associate degree Applied Education, at the capacity of more than 21,000 student distributed into 10,000 at the Bachelor...

is the only university in the governorate .
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