In which country is the ancient city of Petra located?

In which country is the ancient city of Petra located? The answer is Jordan. Petra lies in southern Jordan, in the Ma'an Governorate, among mountains east of the Arabah Valley. Its dramatic buildings were carved into rose-colored sandstone, giving it the nickname “Rose City.”

The Nabataeans, an Arab people who settled the region by about the fourth century BC, made Petra the capital of their kingdom. The city prospered because it stood near major incense and caravan routes linking Arabia, the Levant, and the Mediterranean. Sophisticated dams, cisterns, channels, and pipelines allowed its inhabitants to collect and control scarce desert water.

Petra later became part of the Roman Empire in AD 106, when Nabataea was annexed as the province of Arabia Petraea. Earthquakes and changing trade routes contributed to its decline. It became internationally famous in the modern era after Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited it in 1812. Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.