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Whereas the traditional form of settlement in this region is the beit sh’ar (camel hair tent) permanent dwellings are on the increase owing to the growth of cultivation and the pull factor exerted by the roads linking Jordan with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. A further factor is the pull exerted by the need to belong to a state in order to benefit from its services. The growing awareness of the need for education and health services has therefore encouraged pastoralists to become sedentary.
The greatest concentration of settlements lies along the Syrian border where there is better access to water supplies and land suitable for cultivation. As one progresses south and east the conditions become increasingly arid such that the two largest settlements, Azraq and Safawi, are both transport service centres. Azraq occurs where the main road east from Amman splits to go to either Iraq or Saudi Arabia; Safawi is located where two main roads from Amman converge – one via Azraq, the other via Mafraq.
Azraq:
The town of Azraq has a split personality. Where the three roads converge the settlement pattern (Azraq al-Janub - often referred to as Azraq Shishan) is very different to the pattern a little further north along the road on the basalt area (Azraq al-Shimali - often referred to as Azraq Druze). The first is essentially a linear service centre that has grown haphazardly to service the flows of traffic (mainly lorries) and is inhabited by an immigrant Chechen population (post Russian military & religious persecution; 1898 onwards). The cultivated land runs in strips from the rear of the properties (mainly garage-type retail outlets).
The other, older settlement, is focused on the water supply seeping out from the basalt lava flows and even has a 3rd C. Roman fort at its heart, which later became the headquarters for T.E.Lawrence prior to the Arab Revolt (1916-18). It has more of a garden feel to it. The village is occupied by a Druze population originally both farmers and fishermen. The fishing died with the oasis. The combined population is around 6,000 people and now includes many Palestinian and Syrian refugees who arrived in the 1950's followed by a more recent influx of Iraqis.
Azraq is also the location for a Royal Jordanian Air Force base, the Azraq Wetland Reserve, the Shaumari Reserve and a very smart Lodge run by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN).
An Safawi:
Safawi is the location of the BRDC Field Centre where our studies are based. It is a former pumping station on the former Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline built by the British. Latterly it provides accommodation for the Royal Jordanian Air Force base, which lies close by. The town lies a short distance from the Centre and is essentially a linear settlement providing services for passing traffic. It is also the home of one of many IT centres established around Jordan by HM King Abdullah II to enable rural communities to learn the rudiments of the technology.
The Northern Villages:
One successful project of the BRDC has been the linking together of these villages into clusters so that they may benefit from communal purchases, equipment and activities to the benefit of all. This has included a dairy, a camel farm, a co-operative farm and research into the improvement of the rangelands for grazing. Our studies focus on the cluster that includes the village of Um Quttain, which has many buildings and water cisterns dating back to Roman and Nabatean times, many of which are in ruins. A recent innovation has been the creation among the ruins of the Badia Centre for Ecological Education designed to inform people of the nature of the indigenous fauna – mostly reptilian.
