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Concept
Jaffa
Summary
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo (יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa (يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, is an ancient Levantine port city founded by the Canaanites that is now part of southern Tel Aviv, Israel. Sitting atop a naturally elevated outcrop on the Mediterranean coastline, it was a strategic location that exchanged hands repeatedly in ancient Near East history, and was also contested during the Crusades, when it presided over the County of Jaffa and Ascalon.
The city of Jaffa is associated with the 1192 Battle of Jaffa and subsequent Treaty of Jaffa, a truce between Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, as well as a later 1129 peace treaty. In 1799, Napoleon also sacked the town in the Siege of Jaffa, and in the First World War the British took the city in the 1917 Battle of Jaffa, and under their watch, as part of Mandatory Palestine, ethnic tensions culminated in the 1921 Jaffa riots.
As an Arab majority city in the Ottoman era, Jaffa became known starting from the 19th century for its expansive orchards and fruits, including its namesake Jaffa orange. It was also a hub for journalistic activities in the early 20th century, where the Falastin newspaper was established. After the 1948 Palestine War, most of its Arab population fled or were expelled, and the city became part of then newly established state of Israel, and was unified into a single municipality with Tel Aviv in 1950. Today, Jaffa is one of Israel's mixed cities, with approximately 37% of the city being Arab.
The town was mentioned in Egyptian sources and the Amarna letters as Yapu. Mythology says that it is named for Yafet (Japheth), one of the sons of Noah, the one who built it after the Flood. The Hellenist tradition links the name to Iopeia, or Cassiopeia, mother of Andromeda. An outcropping of rocks near the harbor is reputed to have been the place where Andromeda was rescued by Perseus. Pliny the Elder associated the name with Iopa, daughter of Aeolus, god of the wind. The medieval Arab geographer al-Muqaddasi referred to it as Yaffa.
Official source
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