Akko
[key], Fr. Saint-Jean d'Acre, Arab. Acca, city, NW Israel,
a port on the Bay of Haifa (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea). Its manufactures include iron
and steel, chemicals, and textiles. The city was captured (a.d. 638) by the Arabs,
who developed its natural harbor. In 1104 it was captured in the First Crusade and was held by
Christians until 1187, when it was taken by Saladin. In the Third Crusade it was won back
(1191) by Guy of Lusignan, Richard I of England, and Philip II of France, who gave it to the
Knights Hospitalers (the Knights of St. John, hence its French name). For the next century it
was the center of the Christian possessions in the Holy Land. Its surrender and virtual
destruction by the Saracens in 1291 marked the decline of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and
the Crusades. Akko was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1517 and was revived in the late 18th
cent. under Dahir al-Umar, the local Ottoman ruler. In 1799, Ottoman forces, with the aid of
Great Britain, withstood a 61-day siege by Napoleon I. The city was taken in 1832 by Ibrahim
Pasha for Muhammad Ali of Egypt, but European and Ottoman forces won it back for the Ottoman
Empire in 1840. British troops captured the city in 1918. Akko was assigned to the Arabs in
the 1948 partition of Palestine, but it was captured by Israeli forces in the Arab-Israeli war
of that year. By the 1990s its population was about three fourths Jewish and one fourth Arab.
The city is a popular tourist site. Landmarks include an ancient citadel, walled
fortifications, the al-Jazzar mosque, and several churches dating from the Crusades.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Israeli Political Geography
