Geographical regions vs. metropolitan areas
Geographically, the governorates of
Jordan are located in one of three regions (aqalim): the North Region, Central Region and the South Region. The three geographical regions are not distributed by area or populations, but rather by geographical connectivity and distance among the population centres. The South Region is separated from the Central Region by the Mountains of
Moab in
Karak Governorate. The population centres of the Central and North Region are separated geographically by the mountains of
Jerash Governorate. Socially, the population centres of
Amman,
Salt,
Zarqa and
Madaba form together one large metropolitan area in which business interactions in these cities are under the influence of
Amman, while the cities of
Jerash,
Ajloun, and
Mafraq are mostly under the influence of the city of
Irbid. ==The 12 governorates==