# Azraq, Jordan

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"Azraq" redirects here. For the villages in Iran, see [Azraq, Iran](/source/Azraq,_Iran_(disambiguation)). For nature reserve, see [Azraq Wetland Reserve](/source/Azraq_Wetland_Reserve).

**Azraq** (Arabic: الأزرق) is a small town in [Zarqa Governorate](/source/Zarqa_Governorate) in central-eastern [Jordan](/source/Jordan), 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of [Amman](/source/Amman). The population of Azraq was 9,021 in 2004.[1] The [Muwaffaq Salti Air Base](/source/Muwaffaq_Salti_Air_Base) is located in Azraq.

## History

### Prehistory

[Archaeological](/source/Archaeology) evidence indicates that Azraq has been occupied for hundreds of thousands of years,[2] with the oldest known remains dating to the [Lower Palaeolithic](/source/Lower_Palaeolithic), around 500–300,000 years ago.[3] The spring-fed oasis provided a more or less constant source of water throughout this period, and probably acted as a [refugium](/source/Refugium_(population_biology)) for humans and other animals at times when the surrounding area dried out.[4] The oasis itself changed as the climate fluctuated: at times a permanent lake, a [marsh](/source/Marsh), or a seasonal [playa](/source/Dry_lake).[4]

Animals found in Lower Palaeolithic layers at the Shishan Marsh site include a large elephant (probably the extinct *[Palaeoloxodon recki](/source/Palaeoloxodon_recki)*), a smaller elephant (probably *[Elephas hysudricus](/source/Elephas_hysudricus),* the ancestor of the living [Asian elephant](/source/Asian_elephant)), the extinct [narrow-nosed rhinoceros](/source/Narrow-nosed_rhinoceros), [camels](/source/Camel), [lions](/source/Lion), [wild horse](/source/Wild_horse), an [ass](/source/Asinus) (either *[Equus heimonius](/source/Onager)* or *[Equus hydruntinus](/source/Equus_hydruntinus)*), [gazelles](/source/Gazelle), [aurochs](/source/Aurochs), and [wild boar](/source/Wild_boar).[5] Protein residue analysis of tools at the site suggests that the people there butchered ducks, camels, bovines (probably [aurochs](/source/Aurochs)), [equines](/source/Equus_(genus)) and rhinoceros (probably the narrow-nosed rhinoceros).[6]

During the [Epipalaeolithic](/source/Epipaleolithic_(Levant)) period the oasis was also an important focus of settlement.

### Later history

Azraq has long been an important settlement in a remote and now-arid desert area of Jordan. The strategic value of the town and its castle ([Qasr Azraq](/source/Qasr_Azraq)) is that it lies in the middle of the Azraq oasis, the only permanent source of fresh water in approximately 12,000 km2 (4,600 sq mi) of desert. The town is also located on a major desert route that would have facilitated trade within the region.

[Nabatean](/source/Nabatean) period settlement activity has also been documented in the area. [Qasr Azraq](/source/Qasr_Azraq) was built by the Romans in the 3rd century AD, and was heavily modified in the Middle Ages by the [Mamluks](/source/Mamluk_Empire). In the [Umayyad](/source/Umayyad) period a water reservoir was constructed in southern Azraq.

During the [Arab Revolt](/source/Arab_Revolt) in the early 20th century, Qasr Azraq was an important headquarters for [T. E. Lawrence](/source/T._E._Lawrence).[7][8]

The [Azraq refugee camp](/source/Azraq_refugee_camp), sheltering [refugees of the Syrian Civil War](/source/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War), was opened in 2014 and is located 20 km (12 mi) west of Azraq.[9] The site had been previously used during the [Gulf War](/source/Gulf_War) of 1990–91 as a transit camp for displaced Iraqis and Kuwaitis.[10]

## Demographics

According to the Jordan National Census of 2004, the population of Azraq was 9,021, of whom 7,625 (84.5%) were Jordanian citizens. 4,988 (55.3%) were males, and 4,033 (44.7%) females. The next census was conducted in 2014.

## Historical sites

- [Qasr al-Azraq](/source/Qasr_al-Azraq)
- [Qasr Kharana](/source/Qasr_Kharana)

## Wildlife reserve

Azraq is also the site of one of Jordan's seven [protected nature reserve areas](/source/Nature_reserves_in_Jordan) (set up by the [Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature](/source/Royal_Society_for_the_Conservation_of_Nature)): the Azraq Wetlands Reserve in Azraq al-Janoubi (South Azraq).

The separate and larger [Shaumari](/source/Shaumari_(Jordan)) reserve is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of the town.

## See also

- [Azraq Wetland Reserve](/source/Azraq_Wetland_Reserve)
- [Desert castles](/source/Desert_castles), of which the Azraq oasis has two: [Qasr Azraq](/source/Qasr_Azraq) and Qasr Ain es-Sil
- [Druze in Jordan](/source/Druze_in_Jordan)

The fictional character "Oryx" From the game [Rainbow Six Siege](/source/Rainbow_Six_Siege) was born in Azraq.

## References

1. [Department of Statistics-Jordan 2004 Census](http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home/census2004/cen04_3.pdf/table_3_1.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110722071314/http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home/census2004/cen04_3.pdf/table_3_1.pdf) 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine

1. Garrard, Andrew; Byrd, Brian; Betts, Alison (1 January 1986). ["Prehistoric Environment and Settlement in the Azraq Basin: An Interim Report on the 1984 Excavation Season"](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/lev.1986.18.1.5). *Levant*. **18** (1): 5–24. [doi:10.1179/lev.1986.18.1.5](https://doi.org/10.1179/lev.1986.18.1.5). [ISSN 0075-8914](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0075-8914)

1. Copeland, Lorraine (1988). ["Environment, chronology and Lower-Middle Paleolithic occupations of the Azraq Basin, Jordan"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41492296). *Paléorient*. **14** (2): 66–75. [doi:10.3406/paleo.1988.4456](https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1988.4456). [ISSN 0153-9345](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0153-9345). [JSTOR 41492296](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41492296)

1. Cordova, Carlos E.; Nowell, April; Bisson, Michael et al. (June 2013). ["Interglacial and glacial desert refugia and the Middle Paleolithic of the Azraq Oasis, Jordan"](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618212031928). *Quaternary International*. **300**: 94–110. [Bibcode:2013QuInt.300...94C](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013QuInt.300...94C). [doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.019](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.019). [ISSN 1040-6182](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1040-6182)

1. Pokines, James T.; Lister, Adrian M.; Ames, Christopher J. H.; Nowell, April; Cordova, Carlos E. (March 2019). ["Faunal remains from recent excavations at Shishan Marsh 1 (SM1), a Late Lower Paleolithic open-air site in the Azraq Basin, Jordan"](https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033589418001138/type/journal_article). *Quaternary Research*. **91** (2): 768–791. [Bibcode:2019QuRes..91..768P](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019QuRes..91..768P). [doi:10.1017/qua.2018.113](https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2018.113). [ISSN 0033-5894](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0033-5894)

1. Nowell, A.; Walker, C.; Cordova, C.E.; Ames, C.J.H.; Pokines, J.T.; Stueber, D.; DeWitt, R.; al-Souliman, A.S.A. (September 2016). ["Middle Pleistocene subsistence in the Azraq Oasis, Jordan: Protein residue and other proxies"](https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0305440316301005). *Journal of Archaeological Science*. **73**: 36–44. [doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.07.013](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2016.07.013)

1. Lawrence, T.E. (1935). [*Seven Pillars of Wisdom*](https://archive.org/details/sevenpillarsofwi00lawr). Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp. [414](https://archive.org/details/sevenpillarsofwi00lawr/page/414), 434–436, 559, 582–587.

1. Faulkner, Neil (2016). *Lawrence of Arabia's War: The Arabs, the British and the Remaking of the Middle East in WWI*. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 273, 367–368, 426. ISBN 9780300226393.

1. Hadid, Diaa & Akour, Omar (30 April 2014). ["Azraq Refugee Camp Opens For 130,000 Syrians Fleeing War"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/syrian-refugees-azraq_n_5239130.html). *[The Huffington Post](/source/The_Huffington_Post)*. [Associated Press](/source/Associated_Press)

1. Oddone, Elisa (30 April 2014). ["Azraq Refugee Camp officially opened"](http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/azraq-refugee-camp-officially-opened). *[The Jordan Times](/source/The_Jordan_Times)*

## Further reading

- Janssens, Sylvie & Thill, Zack (8 July 2013). ["Water in Azraq (Jordan): a fluid link between state and society"](https://journals.openedition.org/jda/5018). *Journal des anthropologues. Association française des anthropologues*. '***(132–133): 317–338. [doi:10.4000/jda.5018](https://doi.org/10.4000/jda.5018). [ISSN 1156-0428](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1156-0428)***

## External links

- [Photos of Azraq](https://acor.digitalrelab.com/index.php?s=filter=place_name:Azraq%20(Jordan)) at the [American Center of Research](/source/American_Center_of_Research)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Azraq, Jordan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azraq%2C_Jordan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azraq%2C_Jordan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.