Greek silver coins probably reached Jordan around the fifth century BC, but coins weren’t issued in Jordan until the Nabataean King Aretas II (87-62) began issuing coins from his capital of Petra. Northern Jordan fell under Roman control around 64 BC and Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom in AD 106. Locally produced denarii and Syrian tetradrachms circulated in Jordan until the fall of Rome when Byzantine coins began to supplant Roman coins. Jordan fell under Islamic rule under the Umayyads (661-750) and Islamic coins began to be used in Jordan in the 680s. Islamic coins from Syria, Iraq and Egypt circulated in Jordan until the British occupied it in 1918.
Jordan became the Emirate of Transjordan on April 11, 1921, and the Kingdom of Transjordan on May 25, 1946. Transjordan became an independent constitutional state in 1927, although the British mandate did not end and independence did not come until March 22, 1948. Jordan, as it was called from April 3, 1949, formally annexed the West Bank of the Jordan River in April 1950 after hostilities with the newly created state of Israel had ceased in 1949.
Ottoman Empire Piastres (XOTP) circulated in Jordan while it was part of the Ottoman Empire. Egyptian Pounds (EGP) circulated in Jordan from 1918 until November 1, 1927 when the Palestine Pound (PSP) was created. The Palestine Pound was issued by the Palestine Currency Board.
After Israel created its own currency, the Palestine Currency Board became the Jordan Currency Board. The Jordanian Dinar (JOD) replaced the Palestinian Pound on July 1, 1950 at par with the Palestine Pound. On October 1, 1965, The Jordanian Central Bank was established to become the sole note-issuing authority in Jordan. The Egyptian Pound was divisible into 100 Piastres, the Palestine Pound was divisible into 1000 Mils, the Jordanian Dinar was divisible into 10 Dirhams or 1000 Fils until 1993, and has been divisible into 10 Piastres or 1000 Fils since 1993. |
