Aqaba, Jordan, IN ONE DAY 11 December 2021. العقبة الأردن | The Red Sea, history & culture.

Aqaba is well known for gorgeous coral reefs which are popular with divers, in addition to the vast historical and cultural experiences the city has to offer. It is worth noting that Aqaba has recently become a popular holiday destination, owing to budget airlines offering direct international flights to the city.

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The first settlements in the Aqaba area are 6,000 years old and it has been inhabited ever since. The old name of the settlement was Elath or Ailath, which is also used for Eilat, the Israeli counterpart of the city, located just west of Aqaba across the border. The name Aqaba
originates from al-Aqaba Aylah, meaning the mountain pass to Ayla.

The strategic location of Aqaba at the northeastern tip of the Red Sea between the continents of Asia and Africa, has made its port important over the course of thousands of years. Its strategic location and proximity to copper mines made it a regional hub for copper production and trade in the Chalcolithic period. The city became a bishopric under Byzantine rule and later became a Latin Catholic titular see after Islamic conquest around AD 650, when it became known as Ayla. The name Aqaba is late medieval. The Great Arab Revolt's Battle of Aqaba, depicted in the film Lawrence of Arabia, resulted in victory for Arab forces over the Ottomans.

Aqaba's location next to Wadi Rum and Petra has placed it in Jordan's golden triangle of tourism, which strengthened the city's location on the world map and made it one of the major tourist attractions in Jordan. The city is administered by the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, which has turned Aqaba into a low-tax, duty-free city, attracting several mega projects like Ayla Oasis, Saraya Aqaba, Marsa Zayed and expansion of the Port of Aqaba. They are expected to turn the city into a major tourism hub in the region.

Excavations a few kilometres north of modern day Aqaba city, revealed inhabited settlements from c. 4000 BC during the Chalcolithic period, with thriving copper production on a large scale. This period is largely unknown due to the absence of written historical sources.

Aqaba offers a sociable stopover en route to the diving clubs to the south and the big destinations of Wadi Rum and Petra to the north. A day or two is enough to take in all the major sites of the city, like the historically important Ancient Islamic City of Ayla, and the Aqaba Fortress. The late Roman church known as the Aqaba Church, from AD 293 - 303 is possibly the oldest ruins of a church in the world.

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