Khan el Umdan, Akko
View of the Khan el Umdan,Khan of the Columns, used as a caravanserei by the Mamelukes Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Israel. The name Aak, which appears on the tribute-lists of Thutmose III (c. 16th century BC), may be a reference to Amarna letters also mention a place named Akka. In the Bible, (Judges 1:31), Akko is one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanites. It was in the territory of the tribe of Asher. According to Josephus, Akko was ruled by one of Solomon's provincial governors. Throughout the period of Israelite rule, it was politically affiliated with Phoenicia rather than the Philistines. Around 725 BC, Akko joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser V. Following the defeat of the Byzantine army of Heraclius by the Muslim army of Khalid ibn al-Walid in the Battle of Yarmouk, and the capitulation of the Christian city of Jerusalem to the Caliph Umar, Acre came under the rule of the Arab caliphate beginning in 638. The Arab conquest brought a revival to the town of Acre, and it served as the main port of Palestine through the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates that followed, and through Crusader rule into the 13th century.[3] It was captured by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem in 1104 in the First Crusade and the Crusaders also made the town their chief port in Palestine.[8] Around 1170 it became the main port of the eastern Mediterranean, and the kingdom of Jerusalem was regarded in the west as enormously wealthy above all because of Acre.
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Photo credit: © moris kushelevitch / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: acre, akko, archeology, caravanserei, christianity, crusader, heritage, holy, israel, jean, jerusalem, judaism, khan, kingdom, land, mamelukes, muslims, napoleon, pilgrims, saladin, site holy, st, tourism, travel, unesco, world
