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Zarqa

File:الزرقاء_خلال_حظر_التجول_نيسان_٢٠٢١.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Zarqa () is the capital of Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Its name means "the blue (city)". It had a population of 635,160 inhabitants in 2015, and is the second most populous city in Jordan after Amman.

OverviewAI-generated

Zarqa is a city in Jordan, situated within the Zarqa Governorate, of which it serves as the capital. The municipality covers an area of 60 square kilometers and has a population of 481,300. Established in 1902, the city is located at an elevation of 619 meters above sea level. It operates in the UTC+02:00 time zone and is twinned with the cities of Oran and Sfax.

The official name of the city is الزرقاء. While historical records note its association with the Emirate of Transjordan, it is currently part of Jordan. The city’s administrative structure includes the Zarqa Governorate, and it is categorized under the main topic of Zarqa.

Synthesized by Vinony from 49 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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22°clear sky
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7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality
الزرقاء
Region
الزرقاء
Country
الأردن
Population
792,665
Timezone
Asia/Amman

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

53US AQIModerate
PM2.5
11.3 µg/m³
PM10
20.0 µg/m³
As of 2026-08-11 03:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

Settlement.name
Zarqa
Settlement.native_name
الزرقاءAz-zarqā
Settlement.settlement_type
City
Settlement.image_caption
Counter-clockwise from top: View of Zarqa, Jabal Tariq quarter, The Zarqa Chamber of Commerce
Settlement.image_flag
Flag Of Zarqa Municipality.png
Settlement.pushpin_map
Jordan
Settlement.pushpin_label
Zarqa
Settlement.subdivision_type
Country
Settlement.subdivision_type1
Governorate
Settlement.subdivision_name1
Zarqa Governorate
Settlement.established_title
Settled
Settlement.established_date
1902
Settlement.established_title2
Municipality
Settlement.established_date2
1929
Settlement.government_type
Municipality
Settlement.leader_title
Mayor
Settlement.leader_name
Hijazi Assaf
Settlement.area_total_km2
60

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Understand

Zarqa is regarded as Jordan's third largest urban settlement but now part of the ever-growing urban sprawl of Amman.

Zarqa is Jordan's industrial centre. It is home to over 50% of Jordanian factories. The growth of industry in the city is the result of low real estate costs and proximity to the capital Amman.

There are three universities in Zarqa, the largest of which is Hashemite University. The other two are Al-Balqa` Applied University and Zarqa University. Other community colleges and research centres are based in Zarqa such as the Al-Zarqa Educational & Investment Centre.

In September 2020, massive explosions occurred at an army munitions depot for mortars near Zarqa, caused by an electric short circuit.

Get in

Bus rapid transit is the most convenient and cheapest way to reach Zarqa from Amman.

Zarqa is connected by the Hejaz Railway to Amman to the south and to Syria to the north. A new railway is under construction to connect Amman with Zarqa.

Zarqa lies on the international highway that connects Saudi Arabia with Syria and on the international Amman-Baghdad highway.

See

thumb|right|The Faculty of Engineering in the Zarqa University

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

14 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Geography
  • Climate
  • Demographics
  • Districts of Greater Zarqa Municipality
  • Economy and infrastructure
  • Transportation
  • Industry
  • Education
  • Twin towns
  • Notable people
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

Zarqa () is the capital of Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Its name means "the blue (city)". It had a population of 635,160 inhabitants in 2015, and is the second most populous city in Jordan after Amman.

==History== thumb|left|The Zarqa train station of the Ottoman-built Hejaz railway. Although the area has been inhabited since the 1st century, the city was only established in 1902. Chechen immigrants founded Zarqa because they had been displaced by the wars between the Ottoman and Russian Empires and the simultaneous Circassian genocide. They settled along the river. At that time, a station on the Hejaz railway was built in the new settlement. The railway station turned Zarqa into an important hub. On 10 April 1905, the Ottoman governor issued a decree authorizing Chechen immigrants to own the land on which they had settled. The population then grew rapidly. On 18 November 1928, the new Jordanian government issued a decree to establish the first municipal council for Zarqa.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Zarqa” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (16)

On the map

3 mapped locations