Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jordan gained full independence on the 25th of May 1946, the day the Transjordan parliament ratified the Treaty of London, which had been signed on the 22nd of March 1946. That date is now celebrated as Jordan's Independence Day, a national public holiday.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a semi-constitutional monarchy in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. It was established as an emirate on the 11th of April 1921 under Abdullah, the second son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, and elevated to a kingdom on the 25th of May 1946 with Abdullah as its first king.
Jordan has only 97 cubic metres of water per person per year, placing it at the Falkenmark Classification threshold for absolute water scarcity. Its two main surface water sources, the Jordan and Yarmuk rivers, are shared with neighbouring countries, and the large influx of Syrian refugees since 2010 has worsened the strain on water resources.
As of 2015, Jordan hosted an estimated 2.1 million Palestinian refugees, most holding Jordanian citizenship, and 1.4 million Syrian refugees. The country has also taken in Iraqis, Lebanese, Libyans, Yemenis, and others fleeing conflict since as early as 1948.
Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel on the 26th of October 1994, following negotiations agreed to at the 1991 Madrid Conference. It is one of only three Arab nations to have signed such a treaty with Israel.
Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, founded by nomadic Arabs who established an independent state in 169 BC. The city flourished in the first century AD, driven by its extensive water irrigation systems and control of regional trade routes. Its most elaborate structure, Al-Khazneh, is believed to be the mausoleum of Nabataean King Aretas IV and remains Jordan's most popular tourist attraction.