Jaffa

Jaffa, or JOPPA (Heb. Iafo; in New Testament, Ioppè; Arab. Yâfâ), a town on the sea-coast of Syria, 53 miles NW. of Jerusalem, of which it was the port in King David's time. Hence Jonah sailed for Tarshish; here Peter had his vision. Under Constantine the place, which had been destroyed by Vespasian, became a bishop's see, and, as the great landing-place of the Crusaders, was taken and retaken by Christian and Moslem. In 1799 Napoleon stormed it and massacred his prisoners; in 1832 it was taken by Mehmet Ali, and restored to the Turks by British help. The open roadstead, the ancient walls, the yellow sand-dunes, and the extensive orange gardens are now the chief features of the brown town on its hillock, which possesses several European consulates; a landing-stage and custom-house were erected in 1888. There is a carriage-way to Jerusalem (the toll of which was let for £2000 in 1888), and a railway was opened in August 1892. The population increased from 15,000 to 40,000 between 1883 and 1896, while the export of oranges increased threefold, largely through the German colony of 300 persons established here in 1869. The total exports (wheat and fruit) are worth about £500,000 a year.