Establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan

Establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan refers to the government that was set up in Transjordan on 11 April 1921, following a brief interregnum period.

Abdullah, the second son of Sharif Hussein (leader of the 1916 Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire), arrived from Hejaz by train in Ma'an in southern Transjordan on 21 November 1920. His stated aim was fighting the French in Syria, after they had defeated the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria during the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920.^[1]

Transjordan then was in disarray and widely considered to be ungovernable with its dysfunctional local governments.^[2] Abdullah spent almost four months with his base in Ma'an, which he left in late February arriving in Amman on 2 March 1921.^[3] Following the Cairo Conference and Abdullah's meeting with Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill in Jerusalem, the Emirate of Transjordan was established on 11 April 1921.^[4]