Jordan Governorates

Jordan is a country of two halves, a small, densely settled north and west and a vast desert east and south, and its twelve governorates are cut to match: a cluster of small ones around Amman and Irbid, and a few enormous ones that fill the rest of the map. They are the tier above the districts, and the right first step before the fifty-two districts inside them.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Planning region: North, Central and South
In the game: 12 governorates

Start

What you are looking at

The twelve muhafazat. Ma'an in the south and Mafraq in the north-east are each larger than all the others put together would suggest from their population, while Jerash and Ajloun are two small governorates in the green hills north of Amman. Aqaba holds the country's only coast, a short stretch on the Red Sea.

The governorates are the districts of Jordan Districts dissolved, so the borders of the two maps match exactly.

The groups are the three planning regions the country sorts its governorates into: the north (Irbid, Ajloun, Jerash and Mafraq), the centre (Amman, Balqa, Zarqa and Madaba) and the south (Karak, Tafilah, Ma'an and Aqaba).

How to place one

Start with Amman. It is the capital, in the middle of the populated west, and every central governorate is placed by which side of it it is on.
Learn the northern cluster. Irbid, Ajloun and Jerash are small and packed against each other, with Mafraq spread across the whole of the north-east behind them.
Follow the Dead Sea down. Balqa, Madaba, Karak and Tafilah run in a line along the Rift Valley from north to south.
Finish in the desert. Ma'an is the largest, and Aqaba is the small governorate on the coast at its southern tip.

Every governorate, by region

North4 governorates: Ajloun, Irbid, Jerash, Mafraq
South4 governorates: Aqaba, Karak, Ma'an, Tafilah
Central4 governorates: Amman, Balqa, Madaba, Zarqa

Worked examples

Amman

The capital

Amman is a governorate of its own, around the capital and the largest city in the country. It sits in the middle of the populated west, with Zarqa to the north-east, Balqa to the north-west and Madaba to the south-west.

Jerash

The small ones in the north

Jerash is among the smallest governorates, a pocket of hills between Irbid, Ajloun and Mafraq. It is easy to miss because it is so much smaller than the governorates around it.

Ma'an

The biggest of them

Ma'an is the largest governorate by area, a wide block of desert that runs from the Saudi border to the edges of the central highlands.