Acre, Israel

• 1. Ancient Foundations And Early Settlements

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  The earliest discovered settlement at Acre dates to around 3000 BC during the Early Bronze Age. This initial community appears to have been abandoned after a few centuries, possibly due to inundation of its surrounding farmland by the Mediterranean Sea. Archaeologists later found that a large town was established during the Middle Bronze Age between 2000 and 1550 BC. This urban center has remained continuously inhabited since then, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth. Egyptian execration texts from the 18th century BC record an early ruler named Tūra-′Ammu associated with the site. The ancient town originally sat atop Tel ′Akkō or Tell al-Fuħħār, located east of the present city and north of the Na'aman River. In antiquity, this location formed an easily protected peninsula directly beside the former mouth of the Na'aman or Belus river. By the Late Bronze Age, Acre appeared in records as Aak among the conquests of the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III. During the Amarna Period between 1353 and 1336 BC, turmoil in Egypt's Levantine provinces generated letters concerning the rulers of Acco. King Biridiya of Megiddo complained to Amenhotep III or Akhenaten about the king of Acre releasing a captured Hapiru leader Labaya of Shechem instead of delivering him to Egypt. Excavations at Tel ′Akkō have shown that this period involved industrial production of pottery, metal, and other trade goods.

• 2. Crusader Stronghold And Medieval Battles

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  After four years of siege, the city capitulated to the forces of King Baldwin I of Jerusalem following the First Crusade in 1104. The Crusaders made the town their chief port in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and used it as a vital link for advancing into the Levant. By the 1130s, Acre had a population of around 25,000 people, matching only Jerusalem in size within the Crusader kingdom. Around 1170, it became the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, making the kingdom of Jerusalem appear enormously wealthy to western observers. An English contemporary noted that Acre provided more for the Crusader crown than the total revenues of the king of England. In the late 12th century, Jewish explorer Benjamin of Tudela recorded around 200 Jewish families living in Acre. Their commercial prominence under Crusader rule attracted Jewish immigrants including scholars from Europe. By the late 13th century, sources suggest the Jewish community may have accumulated enough wealth to own slaves. Acre remained in Muslim hands until unexpectedly besieged by King Guy of Lusignan in August 1189. This siege was unique since the Frankish besiegers were themselves besieged by Saladin's troops. It was not captured until July 1191 when forces of the Third Crusade led by King Richard I of England and King Philip II of France arrived to aid King Guy. During the siege, German merchants from Lübeck and Bremen founded a field hospital which became the nucleus of the chivalric Teutonic Order. Upon the Sixth Crusade, the city was placed under the administration of the Knights Hospitaller military order. Acre served as the de facto capital of the remnant Kingdom of Jerusalem starting in 1192.

• 3. Ottoman Revival And Napoleonic Siege

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  Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, Acre appeared in the census of 1596 with only 81 households and 15 bachelors all identified as Muslim. They paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products including wheat, barley, cotton, goats, beehives, water buffaloes, plus occasional revenues and market tolls totaling 20,500 Akçe. English academic Henry Maundrell found it a ruin in 1697 save for a khan built and occupied by French merchants called Khan al-Ilfranj. Towards the end of the 18th century, Acre revived under the rule of Daher al-Umar who made the city capital of his autonomous sheikhdom. Daher rebuilt Acre's fortifications using materials from the city's medieval ruins before dying outside its walls during an offensive against him by the Ottoman state in 1775. His successor Jazzar Pasha further fortified the walls when he virtually moved the capital of the Saida Eyelet to Acre where he resided. About 1780, Jazzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony despite protests from the French government. Both rulers undertook ambitious architectural projects building several caravanserais, mosques, public baths and other structures. The Al-Jazzar Mosque was built out of stones from ancient ruins of Caesarea and Atlit. Under Jazzar, Acre thrived becoming the third largest city in Ottoman Syria with an estimated population of twenty thousand. In 1799 Napoleon appeared before Acre but after a siege lasting two months from March to May was repulsed by Turks aided by Sir Sidney Smith and British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city on the 20th of March 1799 using only infantry and small-calibre cannons. This strategy failed leading to his retreat two months later on the 21st of May.

• 4. Mandate Era And Demographic Shifts

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  At the beginning of the Mandate period, the 1922 census recorded 6,420 residents in Acre including 4,883 Muslims, 1,344 Christians, 102 Bahá'ís, 78 Jews and 13 Druze. The 1931 census counted 7,897 people while the 1945 census showed 12,360 total inhabitants. Acre's fort was converted into a jail where members of the Jewish underground were held during their struggle against Mandate authorities among them Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Shlomo Ben-Yosef, and Dov Gruner. Gruner and Ben-Yosef were executed there before other Jewish inmates were freed by Irgun members who broke into the jail on the 4th of May 1947. Over 200 Arab inmates also escaped during this operation. In the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Acre was designated part of a future Arab state. On the 18th of March, four technicians from the Palestine Electric Company and five British soldiers were killed when an Arab ambush exploded a mine outside the Moslem cemetery east of Acre. Before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War broke out, the Carmeli Brigade's 21 Battalion commander repeatedly damaged the Al-Kabri aqueduct furnishing Acre with water. When Arab repairs restored water supply, they resorted to pouring flasks of typhoid and dysentery bacteria into the aqueduct as part of Operation Cast Thy Bread. At some time in late April or early May 1948, Jewish forces cut the town's electricity supply responsible for pumping water causing a typhoid epidemic to break out. Israel's Carmeli forces attacked on May 16 after delivering an ultimatum that unless inhabitants surrendered they would destroy them to the last man. The town notables signed surrender instruments on the night between 17 and the 18th of May 1948. About three-quarters of the Arab population numbering 13,510 of 17,395 were displaced while 60 bodies were found.

• 5. Archaeological Discoveries And Urban Excavations

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  Excavations at Tell Akko began in 1973 under the direction of Moshe Dothan who published interim reports from the first season in 1976. In 2012, archaeologists excavating at the foot of the city's southern seawall found a quay and other evidence of a 2,300-year-old port. Mooring stones weighing 250 to 300 kilograms each were unearthed at the edge of a 5-meter long stone platform chiseled in Phoenician style thought to be an installation helping raise military vessels from water onto shore. Under the citadel and prison of Acre, archaeological excavations revealed a complex of halls built and used by the Knights Hospitaller. The current city level sits 8 meters above the Crusader era placing the fortress deep underground. This complex includes six semi-joined halls, one recently excavated large hall, a dungeon, refectory dining room and remains of an ancient Gothic church. The courtyard spans 1,200 square meters surrounded by arches supporting stairs to an upper level. The northern wing houses nine long halls across two floors used as warehouses and rainwater reservoirs fed from the fortress roof featuring 10-meter-high barrel vaults with external stone walls 3.5 meters thick. The Sugar Refinery Hall was a three-story building containing hundreds of clay vessels used for sugar production. In March 2017, marine archaeologists from Haifa University announced discovery of a crusader ship wreck with treasure dating back to 1062, 1250 AD. Excavators teams also unearthed ceramic bowls and jugs from Syria Cyprus and southern Italy along with 30 golden florin coins identified by Robert Kool of the IAA.

• 6. Religious Diversity And Pilgrimage Sites

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  Today there are roughly 48,000 people living in Acre with 32% of the population being Arab among Israeli cities. In 2000, 95% of residents in the Old City were Arab though only about 15% of current Arab population descends from families who lived there before 1948. In 2022 demographic data showed 56.5% Jewish, 29.5% Muslim, 2.7% Christian, 0.2% Druze and 11.1% counted as other. Acre is home to Bahá'ís and serves as the holiest city of the Bahá'í Faith receiving many pilgrims every year. The final years of Bahá'u'lláh's life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí just outside Acre even though he remained formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. Bahá'u'lláh died on the 29th of May 1892 in Bahjí where his Shrine contains remains and marks the spot where he died. Other Bahá'í sites include the House of ′Abbúd where Bahá'u'lláh and family resided and the Garden of Ridván where he spent end of life. In 2008, Bahá'í holy places in Acre and Haifa were added to UNESCO World Heritage List. Among sacred sites in Acre's Old City, Muslim mosques are most numerous with El-Bahr Mosque built in 1586 lying near port historically encompassing bathhouse café warehouses and shops. The most prominent is El-Jazzar Mosque built in 1781 featuring green dome and tall slender minaret visible across Old City. It stands as Israel's largest mosque outside Jerusalem and largest built in Palestine during Ottoman rule. Christian churches concentrate mostly in southwestern part of Acre's Old City including Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral built before 1631 considered oldest Christian church there. Near lighthouse stands Saint John the Baptist Church a Franciscan church built in 1737 renovated in 1947 serving as only active Roman Catholic church in Acre.