Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ; ), usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city
in Israel, with an estimated population of 393,900.The city is situated on the Israeli
Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of 51.8 square kilometres (20.0 sq mi).
It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, home
to 3.15 million people as of 2008.The city is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality,
headed by Ron HuldaiTel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient
port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ, Yafo; Arabic: ????, Yaffa). The growth of Tel
Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which was largely Arab at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa
were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment
of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage
Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings.
Tel Aviv is classified as a beta+ world city being a major economic hub and the
richest city in Israel, home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and many corporate offices
and research and development centers. Its beaches, bars, caf?s, restaurants, upscale
shopping, great weather and cosmopolitan lifestyle have led to it being a popular
tourist destination for domestic and overseas visitors alike, and given way to its
reputation as a "Mediterranean metropolis that never sleeps". It is the country's
financial capital and a major performing arts and business center. Tel Aviv's urban
area is the Middle East's second biggest city economy, and is ranked 42nd among
global cities by Foreign Policy's 2008 Global Cities Index. It is also the most
expensive city in the region, and 17th most expensive city in the world. New York-based
writer and editor David Kaufman called it the "Mediterranean’s New Capital of Cool".
The name Tel Aviv (literally "Spring Mound") was chosen in 1910 from among many
suggestions, including "Herzliya". Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl's
book Altneuland ("Old New Land"), translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. Sokolow
took the name from Ezekiel 3:15: "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv,
that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed
among them seven days. This name was found fitting as it embraced the idea of the
renaissance of the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for "spring", symbolizing
renewal, and tel is an archaeological site that reveals layers of civilization built
one over the other. Theories vary about the etymology of Jaffa or Yafo in Hebrew.
Some believe that the name derives from yafah or yofi, Hebrew for "beautiful" or
"beauty". Another tradition is that Japheth, son of Noah, founded the city and that
it was named for him. The name is also transliterated as Tel-Abib in the King James
Bible.
Urban development
The Second Aliyah led to further expansion. In 1906, a group of Jews, among them
residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Arye Weiss and banded together
to form the Ahuzat Bayit (lit. "homestead") society. The society's goal was to form
a "Hebrew urban centre in a healthy environment, planned according to the rules
of aesthetics and modern hygiene. The urban planning for the new city was influenced
by the ideas of the Garden city movement. In 1908, the group purchased 5 hectares
(12 acres) of dunes northeast of Jaffa. Following this purchase,Meir Dizengoff,
who later became Tel Aviv's first mayor, decided to join Ahuzat Bayit. His vision
for Tel Aviv involved peaceful co-existence with the Arabs.
Worker carrying bricks in Tel Aviv, 1920-1930
In April 1909, sixty-six Jewish families gathered on a desolate sand dune on what
is now Rothschild Boulevard to parcel out the land by lottery using seashells. The
lottery was organised by Akiva Arye Weiss, the president of the association. Weiss
had an original idea, the names of the families were inscribed on white shells and
the plot number on shells of a different color. Within a year, Herzl, Ahad Ha'am,
Yehuda Halevi, Lilienblum, and Rothschild streets were built; a water system was
installed; and 66 houses (including some on six subdivided plots) were completed.
At the end of Herzl Street, a plot was allocated for a new building for the Herzliya
Hebrew High School, founded in Jaffa in 1906. On May 21, 1910, the name Tel Aviv
was adopted. Tel Aviv was planned as an independent Hebrew city with wide streets
and boulevards, running water at each house and street lights.
By 1914, Tel Aviv had grown to include more than 100 hectares (247 acres), including
several new neighborhoods. However, growth halted in 1917 when the Ottoman authorities
expelled the Jews of Jaffa. A report published in The New York Times by United States
Consul Garrels in Alexandria, Egypt described the incident where Jaffa deportation
of early April 1917. The orders of evacuation were aimed chiefly at the Jewish population.
Tel Aviv continued to grow in 1926 . At the same time, cultural life was given a
boost by the establishment of the Ohel Theater and the decision of Habima Theatre
to make Tel Aviv its permanent base in 1931. Tel Aviv gained municipal status in
1934.
The population rose dramatically during the Fifth Aliyah when the Nazis came to
power in Germany. As the Jews fled Europe, many settled in Tel Aviv, bringing the
population in 1937 to 150,000, compared to Jaffa's 69,000 residents. Within two
years, it had reached 160,000, which was over a third of the country's total Jewish
population. Many new immigrants remained after disembarking in Jaffa, turning the
city into a center of urban life. In the wake of the 1936–39 Arab revolt, a local
port independent of Jaffa was built in 1938, and Lod Airport (later Ben Gurion Airport)
and Sde Dov Airport opened between 1937 and 1938.
Historic Tel Aviv town hall and Nahum Gutman fountain on Bialik Street
Tel Aviv's White City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004, emerged in the 1930s.
Many of the German Jewish architects trained at the Bauhaus, the Modernist school
of architecture closed by the Nazis in 1933, fled Germany. Some, like architect
Arieh Sharon, came to Palestine and adapted the architectural outlook of the Bauhaus
as well as other similar schools, to local conditions, creating what is claimed
to be the largest concentration of buildings in the International Style in the world.
After Israeli independence.
The inscription on a memorial on Rothschild Boulevard to Tel Aviv's founders translates
as, "I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, oh Virgin of Israel".
By the time of Israel's Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, the population
of Tel Aviv had risen to more than 200,000. Tel Aviv was the temporary government
center of the State of Israel until the government moved to Jerusalem in December
1949. However, due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem, most
foreign embassies remained in or near Tel Aviv. In the early 1980s, 13 embassies
in Jerusalem moved to Tel Aviv as part of the UN's measures responding to Israel's
1980 Jerusalem Law. Today, all but two of the national embassies are in Tel Aviv
or the surrounding district.The boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa became a matter
of dispute between the Tel Aviv municipality and the Israeli government during 1948.
The former wished to incorporate only the northern Jewish suburbs of Jaffa, while
the latter wanted a more complete unification. . The government decided on a permanent
unification of Tel Aviv and Jaffa on 4 October 1949, but the actual unification
was delayed until 24 April 1950 due to concerted opposition from Tel Aviv's mayor
Israel Rokach. The name of the unified city was Tel Aviv until 19 August 1950, when
it was renamed as Tel Aviv-Yafo in order to preserve the historical name Jaffa.
Tel Aviv thus grew to 42 square kilometers (16.2 sq mi). In 1949, a memorial to
the 60 founders of Tel Aviv was constructed. Over the past 60 years, Tel Aviv has
developed into a secular, liberal-minded city with a vibrant nightlife and caf?
culture.
In the 1960s, some of Tel Aviv's older buildings were demolished and replaced by
the country's first high-rises, among them the Shalom Meir Tower, which was Israel's
tallest building until 1999. Tel Aviv's population peaked in the early 1960s at
390,000, representing 16 percent of the country's total. A long period of steady
decline followed, however, and by the late 1980s the city had an aging population
of 317,000.High property prices pushed families out and deterred young people from
moving in.
At this time, gentrification began in the poor neighborhoods of South Tel Aviv,
and the old port in the north was renewed. New laws were introduced to protect Modernist
buildings, and efforts to preserve them were aided by UNESCO recognition of the
Tel Aviv's White City as a world heritage site. In the early 1990s, the decline
in population was reversed, partially due to the large wave of immigrants from the
former Soviet Union. Tel Aviv also began to emerge as a high-tech center. The construction
of many skyscrapers and high-tech office buildings followed. In 1993, Tel Aviv was
categorized as a world city. The city is regarded as a strong candidate for global
city status.
Historical materials
In 2009, Tel Aviv celebrated its official centennial. In addition to city- and country-wide
celebrations, this anniversary saw the public release of several significant digital
collections of historical materials. These include the History section of the official
Tel Aviv-Yafo Centennial Year website; the Ahuzat Bayit collection, which focuses
on the founding families of Tel Aviv, and includes photographs and biographies,
and Stanford University's Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection, documenting the
history of the city. The last of these consists of several thousand photographs,
postcards, posters, books, and other historical documents from the 100-year history
of Tel Aviv.