The late Ottoman defended landscapes along the Hijaz railway in southern Jordan

Abstract

The Hijaz Railway was built to transport hajj pilgrims from Damascus to Medina and Mecca. This paper examines railway landscapes in the south of Jordan and how they were militarized by a garrison at Maʿan and troops at smaller stations. Fieldwork has shown an extensive defended landscape surrounding the railway, but a date for constructing these fortifications was previously unknown. This paper demonstrates that the railway was lightly defended when constructed (1900–1908), however, after the capture of Aqaba in July 1917, and the establishment of a British base there, the Ottomans rapidly defended the landscapes with a series of forts, earthworks and trench systems. These defences are among the last constructed by the Ottoman Empire. They are some of the best-preserved early 20th-century CE military defences in the Middle East. They are not, however, protected and are subject to damage from industry and looting.