Israel is a democratic state in the Middle East on the southeast coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This ancient land, which became the cradle of Christianity and a place for the development of well-known biblical events. Now it is a beautiful country, carefully preserving its rich history and dynamically developing.
The population of Israel and Tel Aviv
The population of Israel is 8.45 million people and is 99th in the world. In terms of population density of 387 people per square kilometer, the country is in 34th place. The capital of Israel, Jerusalem, is the largest city in the country, as well as one of the oldest in the world, with a population of 890, 000.
The second most populated city in Israel is Tel Aviv - the population here is about half a million people. The city is a major financial, economic, cultural and tourist center. Gush Dan - an agglomeration that includes Tel Aviv and the Central District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, has approximately 3.2 million people.
2015: interesting facts
In 2015, the population of Tel Aviv was 432, 892 people, of which 214, 189 were men and 218, 703 were women.
According to age groups:
- 0-9 years old - 58 950 people
- 10-19 years old - 38, 279 people.
- 20-29 years old - 62 353 people
- 30-39 years - 91 982 people.
- 40-49 years old - 54, 657 people
- 50-59 years - 40, 465 people
- 60-69 years old - 41, 640 people
- 70+ years old - 44 566 people
Ethnic groups:
- Jews - 91%.
- Arabs - 4%.
- Others - 5%.
City character
The character of Tel Aviv often contrasts with Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is portrayed as a city in constant motion, a city of the present, with deep historical roots. It is a thriving, vibrant, modern and multicultural city. He gathered on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea people of various nationalities, languages and cultures who understand each other perfectly and live on the same wavelength. Jerusalem, by contrast, is considered eternal, holy, and conservative. This difference is reflected in the well-known saying: “Jerusalem prays, Haifa works, Tel Aviv rests.” This is not to say that the life of the city is woven from one only rest - it is always on the move, but the fact that the people of Tel Aviv knows a lot about relaxation is a fact.
The foundation of Tel Aviv
The city was founded on April 11, 1909, when a group of Jewish residents of Jaffa and nearby agricultural settlements founded a society with the intention of building a modern Jewish city in the Holy Land. On this day, dozens of families gathered on the sand dunes on a beach outside Jaffa to allocate land for the new Jewish quarter, which they called Ahuzat Bait, later known as Tel Aviv.
Since families could not decide how to distribute the land, they held a lottery to ensure a fair separation. One of the prominent figures in the city of Arich Weiss proposed using shells of white and black colors, collected by the number of families participating in the distribution. Names were written on white shells, and plots of land on black. One after another, 66 Jewish families, drawing shells from two caps, got their part of the Holy Land, one after another. Thus began the construction of the "first Jewish city."
What is Jaffa (Yafo)
One of the oldest port cities in the world, originating in the time of Noah, corresponds to its name, which translates from Hebrew as “beautiful”. During the reign of King Solomon, the port of Jaffa served as a gateway for the import of cedars from Lebanon, which were used to build the First Temple. Thanks to its favorable trading position, the city for thousands of years has been a welcome acquisition, for the right of possession of which many world powers fought. In April 1950, ancient Jaffa was officially merged with the young Tel Aviv and a single municipality was created - Tel Aviv-Yafo. Being a suburb of Tel Aviv at present, Jaffa maintains its independence and represents the tourist and cultural center of Tel Aviv. Mostly the Arab population lives here, and over the past 300 years, many new quarters have appeared. This ancient city, like a stone statue, keeps eternal secrets, in search of a solution to which Jaffa is visited annually by thousands of tourists. Its narrow streets are saturated with the atmosphere of antiquity, and the architecture that has been preserved for a long time creates indescribable color.
But let's go back to the time when the foundation of Tel Aviv was laid near Jaffa.
Tel Aviv Development
How many people were in Tel Aviv at the time of its founding? We already mentioned the lottery, in which 66 families took part, where each family, by honest choice, got their own land and started building a new Azut Bait district under the guidance of the future mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff. Thus, the seashell lottery marked the birthday of Tel Aviv. On May 21, 1910, the city got its current name when, at a community meeting, Menahem Shenkin proposed renaming the Ahuzat Bait region to Tel Aviv, and with a majority of votes, the city received its melodic name, which in Hebrew means "hill of spring." Tel Aviv is often mistakenly considered the capital of Israel, but there is an explanation for this, because during the year and 7 months it performed this function and the most important events in the history of Israel took place here.
