Amman (UK: /əˈmɑːn/ ⓘ ə-MAHN, US: /ɑːˈmɑːn/ ah-MAHN; Arabic: عَمَّان, romanized: ʿAmmān, pronounced [ʕaˈmːaːn])[5][6] is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center.

[8] The earliest evidence of settlement in Amman dates to the 8th millennium BC in 'Ain Ghazal, home to the world's oldest statues of the human form.

[10] Amman witnessed rapid growth after its designation as Transjordan's capital in 1921, receiving migrations from different Jordanian and Levantine cities, and later several successive waves of refugees: Palestinians in 1948 and 1967; Iraqis in 1990 and 2003; and Syrians since 2011.

In the Hebrew Bible, the town is referred to as Rabbaṯ Bənē ʿAmmōn (רַבַּת בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן) or simply Rabbā (רַבָּה),[17] and it appears in English translations as "Rabbath Ammon".

Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Macedonian ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who reigned from 283 to 246 BC, renamed the city "Philadelphia" (Ancient Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια; literally: "brotherly love"), after himself, after occupying it.

[22] ʿAin Ghazal is well known for a set of small human statues found in 1983, when local archeologists stumbled upon the edge of a large pit containing them.

Rabat Amman provided several natural resources to the region, including sandstone and limestone, along with a productive agricultural sector that made it a vital location along the King's Highway, the ancient trade route connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia.

During the war, Joab, the captain of King David's army, laid siege to Rabbah, Hanun's royal capital, and destroyed it (2 Samuel 12:26–28, 1 Chronicles 20:1–2).

[32] One of the most original monuments in Jordan, and perhaps in the Hellenistic period in the Near East, is the village of Iraq al-Amir in the valley of Wadi Al-Seer, southwest of Amman, which is home to Qasr al-Abd ('Castle of the Slave').

Other nearby ruins include a village, an isolated house and a fountain, all of which are barely visible today due to the damage brought by a major earthquake that hit the region in the year 362.

[39] Likewise, in 985, the Jerusalemite historian al-Muqaddasi described Amman as the capital of Balqa,[39] and that it was a town in the desert fringe of Syria surrounded by villages and cornfields and was a regional source of lambs, grain and honey.

[40] Furthermore, al-Muqaddasi describes Amman as a "harbor of the desert" where Arab Bedouin would take refuge, and that its citadel, which overlooked the town, contained a small mosque.

[42] In 1166 Philip joined the military order of the Knights Templar, passing on to them a significant part of his fief including the castle of Ahamant[43] or "Haman", as it is named in the deed of confirmation issued by King Amalric.

[46] During the Mamluk era (late 13th–early 16th centuries), the region of Amman was a part of Wilayat Balqa, the southernmost district of Mamlakat Dimashq (Damascus Province).

[51] From then until 1878, Amman was an abandoned site periodically used to shelter seasonal farmers who cultivated arable lands in its vicinity and by Bedouin tribes who used its pastures and water.

[9] Amman began to be resettled in 1878, when several hundred Muslim Circassians arrived following their expulsion from the North Caucasus by the Russian Empire during the events of the Russo-Circassian War.

Their settlement was a partial manifestation of the Ottoman statesman Kamil Pasha's project, which did not materialize, to establish the Amman Province (vilayet) which, along with other sites in its vicinity, would become Circassian-populated townships guaranteeing the security of the Damascus–Medina highway.

[56] By 1908 Amman contained 800 houses divided between three main quarters, Shapsug, Kabartai and Abzakh, each called after the Circassian groupings which respectively settled there, a number of mosques, open-air markets, shops, bakeries, mills, a textile factory, a post and telegraph office and a government compound (saraya).

[56] Kurdish settlers formed their own quarter called "al-Akrad" after them, while a number of townspeople from nearby al-Salt and al-Fuheis, seeking to avoid high taxes and conscription or attracted by financial incentives, and traders from Najd and Morocco, had also moved to the town.

[58] The city's demographics changed dramatically after the Ottoman government's decision to construct the Hejaz Railway, which linked Damascus and Medina, and facilitated the annual Hajj pilgrimage and trade.

Its function as the capital of the country attracted immigrants from different Levantine areas, particularly from al-Salt, a nearby city that had been the largest urban settlement east of the Jordan River at the time.

On 9 November 2005, Al-Qaeda under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's leadership launched coordinated explosions in three hotel lobbies in Amman, resulting in 60 deaths and 115 injured.

Amman is the base city for the international Arab Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East, serving clients in more than 600 branches in 30 countries on five continents.

The recent construction of a public transportation system and a national railway, and the expansion of roads, are intended to ease the traffic generated by the millions of annual visitors to the city.

[91][92] In a report by Dunia Frontier Consultants, Amman, along with Doha, Qatar and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are the favored hubs for multinational corporations operating in the Middle East and North Africa region.

During the 2004 Amman Message conference, edicts from various clergy-members afforded the following schools of thought as garnering collective recognition: Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, Shafi'i, Ja'fari, Zahiri, Zaydi, Ibadi, tassawuf-related Sufism, Muwahhidism and Salafism.

A total of 16 historic churches are located in Umm ar-Rasas ruins in Al-Jeezah district; the site is believed to have initially served as Roman fortified military camps which gradually became a town around the 5th century AD.

It contains much of the valuable archeological findings in the country,[122] including some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Neolithic limestone statues of 'Ain Ghazal, and a copy of the Mesha Stele.

[124] The city has become one of the most popular destinations for expatriates and college students who seek to live, study, or work in the Middle East or the Arab world in general.

[36] Successive waves of refugees to the city has led to the rapid construction of new neighborhoods, but Amman's capacity for new or widened roads remains limited despite the influx.