ABSTRACT
Jordan is part of the Levant, a term referring to the countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean. This region has provided biogeographic and trade links among Europe, Asia, and Africa. The natural environment in Jordan is mainly semidesert land, but despite this and the limited area of its territories (89,322 km2), it is home to four distinct, highly diverse biogeographic regions: the Mediterranean Region, the most fertile part of Jordan and home to most of its main cities and towns; the Irano-Turanian Region, which is phytogeographically a narrow strip of variable width that surrounds the Mediterranean ecozone on the east, south, and west; the Badia Region, a biogeographic region consisting of the stretch of the Eastern Desert encompassing almost 75% of Jordan's area; and the Sudanian (or Subtropical or Afrotropical) Region, located in the Jordan Rift Valley between the town of Karama, some 40 km north of the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the south. This biogeographic classification closely corresponds with the geographic classification presented in Chapter 1, where the country is said to have three distinct geographic regions: the Jordan Rift Valley, the Highlands, and the Badia.
