The Jordan–Saudi Arabia border is 731 km (454 mi) in length and runs from the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

in the south-west to the tripoint with

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in the north-east.

Description

The border starts in the south-west at Gulf of Aqaba, and then consists of nine straight lines that proceed broadly north-eastwards to the Iraqi tripoint. The abruptly

concave Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon A simple polygon that is not convex is called concave, non-convex or ...

section of the boundary in the north is apocryphally named "Winston's Hiccup", also referred to as "Churchill's Sneeze" (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: حازوقة وينستون).

History

At the start of the 20th century, the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

controlled what is now Jordan, with the interior regions further south consisting of loosely organised Arab groupings, occasionally forming emirates, most prominent of which was the

Emirate of Nejd and Hasa The Emirate of Nejd and Hasa was the second iteration of the Third Saudi State from 1913 to 1921. It was a monarchy led by the House of Saud.Madawi Al-Rasheed. (2002). ''A History of Saudi Arabia''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University ...

ruled by the al-Saud family.

Madawi Al-Rasheed Madawi al-Rasheed, (; born ) is a British citizen of Saudi origin and a professor of social anthropology. Al-Rasheed has held a position at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies in King's College London and as a Visiting Professor a ...

. ''A History of Saudi Arabia''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp. 40. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 ...

, supported by Britain, succeeded in removing the Ottomans from most of the Middle East. In the period following this, Ibn Saud managed to expand his kingdom considerably, eventually proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. As a result of the secret 1916 Anglo-French

Sykes–Picot Agreement The Sykes–Picot Agreement () was a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from Russia and Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. T ...

, Britain gained control of the southern half of the Ottoman Syria Vilayet, with the north going to France (as the Mandate of Syria). The southern half of the vilayet (roughly equivalent to modern western Jordan) was contested between Britain, the newly formed

Arab Kingdom of Syria The Syrian Arab Kingdom (, ') was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized monarchy existing briefly in the territory of Bilad al-Sham, historical Syria. It was announced on 5 October 1918 as a fully independent Arab constitutional government with the perm ...

, the

Kingdom of Hejaz The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz (, ''Al-Mamlakah al-Ḥijāziyyah Al-Hāshimiyyah'') was a state in the Hejaz region of Western Asia that included the western portion of the Arabian Peninsula that was ruled by the Hashemite dynasty. It was self ...

, and the Zionists in the

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

, resulting in a confused period in which the region was essentially an ungoverned space. Eventually, in 1921, Britain declared a mandate over the region, creating the

Emirate of Transjordan The Emirate of Transjordan (), officially the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921,Emir (and future King) Abdullah I. The southern border between Transjordan and Arabia was considered strategic for Transjordan to avoid being

landlocked A landlocked country is a country that has no territory connected to an ocean or whose coastlines lie solely on endorheic basins. Currently, there are 44 landlocked countries, two of them doubly landlocked (Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan), and t ...

, with intended access to the sea via the

Port of Aqaba The Port of Aqaba is the only port in Jordan, and is owned by Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) and has 12 terminals operated by five operators: the Aqaba Company for port management and operation; Aqaba Container Terminal; Industrial Port Co ...

. The southern region of

Ma'an Ma'an () is a city in southern Jordan, southwest of the capital Amman. It serves as the capital of the Ma'an Governorate. Its population was approximately 41,055 in 2015. Civilizations with the name of Ma'an have existed at least since the Nab ...

Aqaba Aqaba ( , ; , ) is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the administrative center of the Aqaba Governorate. The city had a population of 148, ...

, a large area with a population of only 10,000, was administered by

Occupied Enemy Territory Administration The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a joint British, French and Arab military administration over the Levantine provinceswhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesbetween 1918 and 1920, set up on 23 October ...

(OETA) East (later the Arab Kingdom of Syria, and then Mandatory Transjordan) and claimed by the

. In OETA East, Faisal had appointed a ''

kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by #Names, many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been reta ...

'' (sub-governor) at Ma'an; the ''kaymakam'' at Aqaba, who "disregarded both Husein in Mecca and Feisal in Damascus with impunity", had been instructed by Hussein to extend his authority to Ma'an. This technical dispute did not become an open struggle, and the Kingdom of Hejaz was to take ''de facto'' control after Faisal's administration was defeated by the French. After the 1924–25

Saudi conquest of Hejaz The Saudi conquest of Hejaz or the also known as the Hejaz-Nejd War, was a campaign by Abdulaziz al-Saud of the Saudi Sultanate of Nejd to take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz in 1924–25, ending with conquest and incorporation of Hejaz ...

, Hussein's army fled to the Ma'an region (which was then formally announced as annexed by Abdullah's Transjordan). In 1925 Britain and Ibn Saud signed the Treaty of Hadda, which created a border between Jordan and Saudi territory consisting of six straight lines. Crucially, this border gave Transjordan a short outlet on the Gulf of Aqaba. The border was later confirmed by the 1927 Treaty of Jeddah. In the early 1960s, discussions were held which resulted in a treaty on 9 August 1965; thus creating the current boundary alignment of nine lines, as well as granting Jordan a slightly increased coast (by 18 km) along the Gulf of Aqaba.

'Winston's Hiccup'

The

urban myth Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

of the 'Winston Hiccup' arose based on an account of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

(then serving as the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

) boasting in his later years that he had created the British protectorate of Transjordan in 1921 "with the stroke of a pen, one Sunday afternoon in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

"; some stories purport that this drawing of the boundary took place following a "particularly

liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

lunch". According to Warren Dockter, it likely stems from “a misquote from Churchill's speech in the House of Commons on 24 March 1936 when Churchill declared, 'The Emir Abdullah is in TransJordania where I put him one Sunday afternoon at Jerusalem.'” Churchill was in Jerusalem for the

Cairo Conference Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

between Friday 25 March and Wednesday 30 March 1921; he was to have his first meeting with Abdullah on Monday 28 March. The borders between Transjordan and the

Sultanate of Nejd The Sultanate of Nejd (, ') was the third iteration of the Third Saudi State, from 1921 to 1926. It was a monarchy led by the House of Saud, and a legal predecessor of modern-day Saudi Arabia. This version of the Third Saudi State was created ...

(the predecessor of Saudi Arabia) were not, in fact, discussed at the 1921 Cairo Conference. In July 1922, Ibn Saud's Wahabi forces took Jauf, and in September Abdullah's forces took Kaf. The hiccup was first sketched out in October 1922 by the Colonial Office during Abdullah's visit to London. The first formal definition of the boundary between Transjordan and

Nejd Najd is a historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes most of the central region of Saudi Arabia. It is roughly bounded by the Hejaz region to the west, the Nafud desert in al-Jawf to the north, ad-Dahna Desert in al-Ahsa to th ...

was the result of negotiations between the British Government and the Sultan of Nejd starting in 1922, negotiated further at the failed 1923-24 Kuwait Conference, and concluded with the Al Hadda Agreement on November 2, 1925. Sir Gilbert Clayton conducted the talks with the sultan as British representative; Churchill had no involvement in the Al Hadda Agreement during which time he was the British

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

. The “hiccup” resulted from giving the strategic Wadi Sirhan region, and its then primary settlement of Kaf, which had previously been occupied by Abdullah at the urging of the British, to the Sultanate of Nejd. The 1925 treaty did not create the sharp triangular point in the "hiccup" but instead a short north–south segment of 9.24 km along the 37th meridian east.Agreement with the Sultan of Nejd Regarding Certain Questions Relating to the Nejd- Trans-Jordan Frontier. Signed at Bahra-Camp, November 2, 1925. ''League of Nations'' Treaty Series No. 1423, 1927, p435.

Kamal Salibi Kamal Suleiman Salibi () (2 May 19291 September 2011)

Jordan

* Mudawwara

Saudi Arabia

* Al-Haditha * Al Fiyad * Al Isawiyah * An Nabk * Halat Ammar *

Haql Ḥaql () or Ḥaqal () is a city in the northwest of Saudi Arabia near the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, adjacent to Aqaba across the Jordanian border. The coasts of Egypt, Israel, and Jordan can be seen from Haql. Haql is a small city and it is ...

* Qurayyat * Qullayib Khudr * Tubarjal *

Turaif Turaif (Arabic: طريف) is a city and governorate in northern Saudi Arabia. It is part of the Northern Borders Province and is located near the border with Jordan. Overview Turaif is one of the cities that were established due to the presence o ...

Border Crossings

There are currently three official border crossings:(2012) Carole French, ''Bradt Guide Book to Jordan'', pg. 54 * Umari * Mudawwara * Durra Border Crossing

Notes

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Winston's Hiccup in ''A Jordan travel guide'' by Matthew Teller
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan-Saudi Arabia border International borders Emirate of Transjordan Winston Churchill