Short answers, pulled from the story.
Archaeological excavations indicate that Jaffa was settled as early as the Early Bronze Age I period during the 4th millennium BCE. This era left behind numerous potsherds hinting at a community embedded in ancient trade routes between Egypt and Byblos.
Mythology attributes the name to Yafet, one of the sons of Noah who built it after the Flood, while Hellenist tradition links it to Iopeia or Cassiopeia mother of Andromeda. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Iopa daughter of Aeolus god of the wind and Egyptian sources referred to it as Yapu.
French troops under Napoleon captured Jaffa on the 7th of March 1799 and granted their soldiers two days to sack the city resulting in massacres and looting. Napoleon ordered the massacre of 2,100 Ottoman prisoners of war before many more died from an epidemic of bubonic plague that broke out soon afterwards.
The government decided on the permanent unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on the 4th of October 1949 but actual unification was delayed until the 16th of June 1950 due to opposition from Tel Aviv mayor Israel Rokach. The unified city was renamed Tel Aviv-Yafo on the 19th of August 1950 to preserve the historical name Jaffa.
In early stages of the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 CE Cestius Gallus sent forces to Jaffa where the city was destroyed and 8,400 inhabitants were massacred. Subsequently Jews expelled from neighboring regions used it to disrupt maritime commerce between Egypt and Syria before Romans led by Vespasian approached and killed those who fled to sea or reached shore.