Salṭ, Al-

Al-Salṭ

Al-Salṭ, also spelled Salt orEs-Salt, town, west-central Jordan. It is on the old main highway (often called the Al-Salṭ Road) leading from Amman to Jerusalem. The town is situated in the Al-Balqāʾ highland, about 2,600–2,750 feet (about 790–840 metres) above sea level, and is built on two hills, one of which has the ruins of a 13th-century fortress.

The town was known as Saltus in Byzantine times and was the seat of a bishopric. It was later destroyed by the Mongols and then was rebuilt by the Mamlūk sultan Baybars I (reigned 1260–77). In the early 1830s Al-Salṭ was again destroyed, by the Egyptian viceroy Ibrāhīm Pasha during his campaigns against Palestine. After World War I it was at Al-Salṭ that Sir Herbert Samuel, British high commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan, announced to the Transjordanian sheikhs and notables that the British favoured self-government for the country (August 1920).

The town is an agricultural market and an administrative centre. The chief crops produced in the vicinity are grapes (for raisins), olives, and grains; tanning extract is produced from sumac bushes. In 1966 a pharmaceutical factory was opened at Al-Salṭ. Pop. (2011 est.) 88,900.