Irbid
IRBID
Largest city in northern Jordan.
Located 53 miles (85 km) north of the capital city, Amman, Irbid is the third-largest city in Jordan (population 267,200 in 2003) and the traditional administrative capital for the northern province.
Known during the Roman Empire as Arbila, Irbid was counted among the ten towns of the Decapolis—a commercial federation of towns in Judea, Jordan, and Syria during the first century b.c.e.
When reconsolidating their rule over Jordan in the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire's representatives in Damascus made Irbid the seat of the subgovernorate of Ajlun, the first district in Jordan to be ruled directly by the Ottomans. As such, Irbid became the home of some of Jordan's first public institutions. Irbid continued to serve as the capital of Ajlun during the emirate of Transjordan and of today's governorate of Irbid.
As an administrative and commercial center, Irbid has undergone considerable population growth, particularly since the 1950s. Irbid is also home to Yarmuk University, one of Jordan's three public universities.
see also jordan; yarmuk university.
michael r. fischbach