History of Tel Aviv

It is hard to believe that this vivacious, sophisticated Mediterranean city has not yet celebrated its first centenary. Born out of the sands, the modern metropolis of Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, when a small group of Jewish families moved from the overcrowded and hostile Arab town of Jaffa to a selected desert spot, where the construction of Tel Aviv began. Since then, the city has sprung up beside the Mediterranean coast at a dizzying speed. Its first-generation residents are as old as the city itself.

Tel Aviv is named after the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl’s inspirational Zionist novel Altneuland (Old New Land). The Hebrew, Tel Aviv, combines the ideas of antiquity (‘Tel’, an ancient site) and radiant newness (‘Aviv’, springtime). Tel Aviv’s astonishing diversity is shown not only in the array of distinct neighbourhoods that merge together, but also in the extremes of ‘old’ and ‘new’.

Early Jaffa

Although mentioned several times in the Bible and developed as Jerusalem’s principal seaport during Temple times, Jaffa gives little sense of its long history. At 4,000 years old, Jaffa is the oldest port in the world. However, the Israelites lost the port to the Egyptians in 1468 BC, while Jewish sages and scholars remained in the area up to the 13th century, when the Mamaluks killed the city’s inhabitants.

From the 8th century through to 1917, Jaffa was under Arab rule, apart from a short spell when the Crusaders came and took power. From 1840 onwards, Jews began to resettle in Jaffa, and by the end of the century, due to the birth of Zionism and anti-Jewish pogroms in Eastern Europe, boatloads of immigrants began to arrive.

Birth of a new city

Overcrowding in Jaffa encouraged some Jews to move out in 1886 and build a new neighbourhood, Neve Tzedek, to the north. In 1909, 60 families bought a plot of land stretching from Neve Tzedek to the banks of the Yarkon River, some six miles away. The land consisted of sand dunes overlooking the Mediterranean. The families called their new town the ‘housing project’, to be renamed Tel Aviv a year later.

In 1921, anti-Jewish riots broke out in Jaffa in response to the growing number of Jewish immigrants. This convinced many Jews to leave Jaffa and settle in Tel Aviv. By 1926, Tel Aviv’s population had swollen to 40,000 residents, and the first town hall had been built. By the 1930s, it was home to more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Post WWII

Throughout the war years, Tel Aviv was a centre for Zionist resistance against Britain’s anti-immigration policy. In 1947, the UN voted to give Jews a homeland in Israel and on the 14 May, 1948, Israel declared its statehood. War began, and many of Jaffa’s Arab population fled. In 1950, the Tel Aviv municipality united Tel Aviv and Jaffa as joint cities. By the mid-1960s, Tel Aviv had a population of 400,000, many of whom were Jewish immigrants. In a short time, Tel Aviv has absorbed tens of thousands of refugees from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, and turned them into free citizens.

Modern Tel Aviv

Today, a third of Israel’s population have made this bustling metropolis their home, and Tel Aviv is a vibrant modern city that is best known for its sun-drenched beaches, pumping nightclubs, designer shopping, crowded street markets and high culture. Younger generations compare their hometown to New York City - the ceaseless energy and enterprise, the lively avenues, big squares and buzzing nightlife all excuse this exaggerated comparison. However, the noisy, extrovert way of life; the miles of utilitarian modern apartments and the warm humid climate all place Tel Aviv firmly as an East Mediterranean hotspot.