Al-ʿAqabah, port town, extreme southwestern Jordan. It lies on the Gulf of Aqaba, an inlet of the Red Sea, just east of the Jordan-Israel frontier on the gulf. It is Jordan’s only seaport. Because of freshwater springs in the vicinity, it has been settled for millennia; King Solomon’s port and foundry of Ezion-geber lay nearby.
Originally called Ayla by the Arabs, the present name is an abbreviation of ʿAqabat Ayla, the “pass of Ayla” through the mountains to the north (now occupied by the highway to Maʿān), which was improved for traffic as early as the 9th century ad. In Roman times Al-ʿAqabah was, under Trajan’s rule (ad 98–117), garrisoned by a Roman legion and was the southern terminus of a trade route leading from Syria. Under Byzantine rule it became the seat of a bishopric in the early 4th century. Conquered by Muḥammad in 630/631, it became an important way-station for Egyptian Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca. The town was taken by the crusaders (12th century) and finally returned to Muslim rule in 1183. Al-ʿAqabah declined under Ottoman rule; at the beginning of the 20th century it was only a small village. Its pilgrim traffic had largely disappeared following the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) and the completion of the Hejaz Railway (1908).
A strategic fortified Turkish outpost in World War I, Al-ʿAqabah was bombarded by the British and French navies and captured by Arab irregulars led by T.E. Lawrence in July 1917. After the war the status of Al-ʿAqabah was in dispute; Britain claimed an outlet on the Gulf of Aqaba for its newly created protectorate of Transjordan (technically part of the Palestine mandate), while the Kingdom of Hejaz based a counterclaim to the town and regions to the north on the former political subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire. When King Ibn Saʿūd conquered the Hejaz (1925), the British placed Al-ʿAqabah and the Maʿān district under Transjordanian authority; this de facto situation continued when Jordan became fully independent (1946). Saudi Arabia had never agreed to these frontiers, which were a matter of dispute until 1965. Then, a boundary agreement between the two states was signed, giving Saudi Arabia desert territories in the interior that were formerly part of Jordan; in return, the Saudis officially recognized Al-ʿAqabah as part of Jordan and gave Jordan an additional frontage on the Gulf of Aqaba of about 10 miles (16 km).
Al-ʿAqabah’s harbour, somewhat improved by the British in World War II, was greatly modernized under independent Jordan; deepwater facilities were opened in 1961. The port’s principal export is Jordanian bulk phosphates; imports are chiefly manufactured goods. Pop. (2004) 80,059.