Tafilah (, ), also spelled Tafila, is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

with a population of 27,559 people in southwestern

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, located southwest of

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

. It is the capital of Tafilah Governorate. It is well known for having green gardens which contain

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

and fig trees, and grape-vines. Tafilah was first built by the

Edomites Edom (; Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the ...

and was called Tophel. There are more than 360 natural springs in the Tafilah nahia, including the natural

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

of Dana and hot natural springs at Afra and Burbeita. There are two phosphate and limestones mines in the Tafilah nahia, which are one of the country's main income sources.

History

Iron Age to Crusader period

The oldest state formation in Tafilah and South Jordan was the kingdom of

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

, and Tafilah lies on the ruins of the Edomite city of Tophel. The capital of Edom was

Bozrah Busaira (; also Busayra, Busairah or Buseirah) is a town in Tafilah Governorate, Jordan, located between the towns of Tafilah (Tophel) and Shoubak and closer to the latter. Bozrah ( ; also Botsra, Botzrah, Buzrak) is a Hebrew Bible, biblical cit ...

, now known as Busairah, 23 km to the south of Tafilah. Tafilah was later annexed by the

Nabatean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petra ...

kingdom, which had its capital at

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

. Following the Roman invasion, it was ruled by the

Ghassanids The Ghassanids, also known as the Jafnids, were an Tribes of Arabia, Arab tribe. Originally from South Arabia, they migrated to the Levant in the 3rd century and established what would eventually become a Christian state, Christian kingdom unde ...

, under

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

authority. Tafilah then came under

Muslim rule The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is p ...

, interrupted for a brief period of time by Crusader rule.

Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule

During the

Arab Revolt The Arab Revolt ( ), also known as the Great Arab Revolt ( ), was an armed uprising by the Hashemite-led Arabs of the Hejaz against the Ottoman Empire amidst the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On the basis of the McMahon–Hussein Co ...

, in January 1918, Tafilah and the region around it were captured in the Battle of Tafilah, thanks to what was described as a "brilliant feat of arms", by Arab troops under the command of T. E. Lawrence, Jaafar Pasha Al-Askari, and Prince Zeid bin Hussein.

Population

In 1961, there were 4,506 inhabitants in Tafila. By 2015, the population had grown to 27,559, resulting in a growth rate of 512.5% from 1961 to 2015.

Education

There is one university in Tafilah, Tafila Technical University. Founded in 1986 as a university college, it expanded to a university in 2005. The university as of the academic year 2009/2010 includes six colleges.

Districts

The city of Tafilah is organized into six districts: * 'Ayes (منطقة العيص) * Baqee' (منطقة البقيع) * Wadi Zaid (منطقة وادي زيد) * Aima (منطقة عيمة) * Al Hussein (منطقة الحسين ) * Ain Baida (منطقة العين البيضاء) * Mansoura (منطقه المنصورة)

Economy

Agriculture

The region's economy depends partially on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. The towns in the governorate are mostly located at elevations exceeding 1000m above sea level, with Tafilah at 940m

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, and the governorate receives an average annual rainfall of 240 mm.

Natural Resources

Tafilah Governorate is rich in

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

. Reserves in the governorate are estimated at one million tons of

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and half a million tons of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

, and

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

. Which Tafilah and Jordan economy depends on.

Tourism

Although Tafilah is rich in history, it attracts fewer tourists compared to other Jordanian cities. The main reason is that Tafilah is off the major tourist routes and highways that do not pass through or near the city. The two main highways connecting northern and southern

through Tafilah Governorate are the Jordan Valley Highway (Highway 65) and the Desert Highway (Highway 15) which are far from Tafilah City; to reach Tafilah from the Desert Highway, travelers must take Tafilah Highway ( Highway 60) west at Jurf Al Darawish. On 26 May, 2025, Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan spoke about developing the area, emphasizing its tourist potencial and the government plans to launch major investment projects over the next four years in sectors such as water, energy, railways, infrastructure, transportation, and housing to stimulate economic growth and job creation. Tafilah and its surrounding areas offer several tourist attractions: * Afra Hot Springs: located northwest of Tafilah City, about away. * Dana Biosphere Reserve: with a history dating back hundreds of years, this site offers a unique experience as it is home to 703

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

species, 215 species of

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, 38 species of

mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

and endangered species like the Nubian Ibex. Visitors can stay at hotels or camps nearby the site. Jordan Eco & Nature. Jordan Tourism Board, 2006. * Khirbet Al Darieh: located north of Tafilah City, beside the King's Highway (Highway 35), about away. * Sela Castle, also known as the Ruins of Sela: near the district of Ain Al Baida, about km away.

Climate

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tafila, At- Populated places in Tafilah Governorate