1946: Transjordan gains its independence from a British mandate.
1950: Adopts the name Jordan in 1950.
1953-1999 King Hussein was a pragmatic leader who successfully navigated competing pressures from the major powers of the US, USSR, and UK, various Arab states, Israel, and a large internal Palestinian population.
1967: Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel in the war.
1970: Defeats Palestinian rebels who attempted to overthrow the monarchy in 1970.
1988: King Hussein permanently relinquished Jordanian claims to the West Bank.
1989: King hussein reinstates parliamentary elections and initiated a gradual political liberalisation.
1992: Political parties were legalised in 1992.
1994: King Hussein signs a peace treaty with Israel.
1999: King Abdullah II, King Hussein’s eldest son, assumed the throne following his father’s death in February. Since then, he has consolidated his power and implemented some economic and political reforms.
2000: Jordan acceded to the World Trade Organisation.
2001: Begins participation in the European Free Trade Association in 2001.
2003: Jordan staunchly supported the ouster of Saddam in Iraq and, following the outbreak of insurgent violence in Iraq, absorbed thousands of displaced Iraqis.
2007: Municipal elections were held in July under a system in which 20 per cent of seats in all municipal councils were reserved by quota for women.
2010: Parliamentary elections were last held in November and saw independent pro-government candidates win the vast majority of seats.
2011: Beginning in January in the wake of unrest in Tunisia and Egypt, as many as several thousand Jordanians staged weekly demonstrations and marches in Amman and other cities throughout Jordan to push for political reforms and protest government corruption, rising prices, rampant poverty, and high unemployment.
Source CIA factbook
