Tel Aviv

Lore & Background

The city was founded in 1909 by the Yishuv (Jewish residents) and initially given the Hebrew name Ahuzat Bayit. Its name was changed the following year to Tel Aviv, after the biblical name Tel Abib adopted by Nahum Sokolow as the title for his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's 1902 novel Altneuland. Tel Aviv was given township status within the Jaffa Municipality in 1921, and became independent from Jaffa in 1934. 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, being fully reunified with Jaffa under the name Tel Aviv in April 1950, before a renaming to Tel Aviv-Yafo in August 1950.

In Their Own Story

The heat of the day breaks as the sun dips below the Mediterranean, painting the sky in bruised purples and burnt oranges over the Tel Aviv skyline. On Rothschild Boulevard, the air hums with the low thrum of conversation spilling from sidewalk cafes, the scent of fresh coffee mingling with salt spray. A young developer checks her phone, the glow illuminating a face etched with the urgency of a startup deadline, while nearby, an elderly man feeds pigeons beneath the shadow of a Bauhaus building that has stood since the 1930s. The city breathes in unison, a relentless rhythm where the ancient stones of Jaffa echo just blocks away, but here, the present is all that matters.

Reader's Guide

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. It is a beta+ world city and is ranked 53rd 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. Tel Aviv is ranked the 4th top global startup ecosystem hub. The city currently has the highest cost of living in the world. Tel Aviv receives over 2.5 million international visitors annually. Tel Aviv is home to Tel Aviv University, the largest university in the country with more than 30,000 students. Popular attractions include Old Jaffa, the Eretz Israel Museum, the Museum of Art, Yarkon Park, and the city's promenade and beach. 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.

Did You Know?

• Tel Aviv's name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including 'Herzliya'.
• The city's founders hoped Tel Aviv would be a clean and modern city, inspired by the European cities of Warsaw and Odesa.
• The first 60 plots of Tel Aviv were purchased by Jacobus Kann, a Dutch citizen, to circumvent the Turkish prohibition on Jewish land acquisition.
• Tel Aviv's flag and city arms contain the biblical words 'I (God) will build You up again and you will be rebuilt.' (Jeremiah 31:4)