Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תֵּל אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, romanized: Tēl ʾĀvīv-Yāfō, IPA: [tel aˈviv jaˈfo]; Arabic: تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, romanized: Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā), usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a population of 474,530, it is the economic and technological center of the country. If East Jerusalem is considered part of Israel, Tel Aviv is the country's second-most-populous city, after Jerusalem; if not, Tel Aviv is the most populous city, ahead of West Jerusalem.[a]
For other uses, see Tel Aviv (disambiguation).
Tel Aviv
11 April 1909
Tel Abib in Ezekiel 3:15,[1] via Herzl's Altneuland
52 km2 (20 sq mi)
176 km2 (68 sq mi)
1,516 km2 (585 sq mi)
5 m (16 ft)
474,530
2nd in Israel
8,468.7/km2 (21,934/sq mi)
12th in Israel
1,388,400
8,057.7/km2 (20,869/sq mi)
4,156,900
2,286/km2 (5,920/sq mi)
+972-3
IL-TA
Cultural
ii, iv
2003
Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Mayor Ron Huldai, and is home to most of Israel's foreign embassies.[b] It is a beta+ world city and is ranked 57th in the 2022 Global Financial Centres Index. Tel Aviv has the third- or fourth-largest economy and the largest economy per capita in the Middle East.[11][12] The city currently has the highest cost of living in the world.[13][14] Tel Aviv receives over 2.5 million international visitors annually.[15][16] A "party capital" in the Middle East, it has a lively nightlife and 24-hour culture.[17][18] The city is gay-friendly, with a large LGBT community.[19] Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University, the largest university in the country with more than 30,000 students.
The city was founded in 1909 by the Yishuv (Jewish residents) and initially given the Hebrew name Ahuzat Bayit (Hebrew: אחוזת בית, romanized: ʔAħuzat Bayit, lit. 'House Estate' or 'Homestead'),[20][21] namesake of the Jewish association which established the neighbourhood as a modern housing estate on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Yafo in Hebrew), then part of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem within the Ottoman Empire. Its name was changed the following year to Tel Aviv, after the biblical name Tel Abib (lit. "Tell of Spring") adopted by Nahum Sokolow as the title for his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's 1902 novel Altneuland ("Old New Land"). Other Jewish suburbs of Jaffa had been established before Tel Aviv, the oldest among them being Neve Tzedek.[22] Tel Aviv was given township status within the Jaffa Municipality in 1921, and became independent from Jaffa in 1934.[23][24] Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced that of Jaffa, which had a majority Arab population at the time.[25] In 1948 the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in the city. After the 1947–1949 Palestine war, Tel Aviv began the municipal annexation of parts of Jaffa, fully unified with Jaffa under the name Tel Aviv in April 1950, and was formally renamed to Tel Aviv-Yafo in August 1950.[26]
Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of International Style buildings, including Bauhaus and other related modernist architectural styles.[27][28] Popular attractions include Jaffa Old City, the Eretz Israel Museum, the Museum of Art, Hayarkon Park, and the city's promenade and beach.