Jericho

This article is about the city in Palestine. For other uses, see Jericho (disambiguation).

Jericho
أريحا (Arabic)
יריחו (Hebrew)
Palestinian city
Arabic transcription(s)
 • DINArīḥā
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • DINYərīḥō
View of Jericho from Tell es-Sultan
View of Jericho from Tell es-Sultan
Official logo of Jericho
Municipal logo
Jericho is located in State of Palestine
Jericho
Jericho
Location of Jericho within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°51′22″N 35°27′36″E / 31.85611°N 35.46000°E / 31.85611; 35.46000
Palestine grid193/140
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateJericho
Founded9600 BCE
Government
 • TypeCity (from 1994)
 • Head of MunicipalitySalem Ghrouf[1][2]
Area
 • Total
58,701 dunams (58.701 km2 or 22.665 sq mi)
Elevation
−258 m (−846 ft)
Population
 (2017)[3]
 • Total
20,907
 • Density360/km2 (920/sq mi)
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Jericho (/ˈdʒɛrɪkoʊ/ JERR-ik-oh; Arabic: أريحا, romanized: Arīḥā, IPA: [ʔaˈriːħaː] ⓘ; Hebrew: יְרִיחוֹ, romanized: Yərīḥō) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine; it is the administrative seat of the Jericho Governorate of Palestine.[4] Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. In 2017, it had a population of 20,907.[3]

From the end of the era of Mandatory Palestine, the city was annexed and ruled by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 and, with the rest of the West Bank, has been subject to Israeli occupation since 1967; administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994.[5][6]

Jericho is among the oldest cities in the world,[7][8][9] and it is also the city with the oldest known defensive wall.[10] Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (to 9000 BCE),[11][12] almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history.[13][14] Copious springs in and around the city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years.[15] Jericho is described in the Bible as the "city of palm trees".[16]

In 2023, the archaeological site in the center of the city, known as Tell es-Sultan / Old Jericho, was inscribed in UNESCO's list as a World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine, and described as the "oldest fortified city in the world".[17][18]

  1. ^ Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Foreign Minister of Japan, Palestinian Minister of National Economy and UNDP Open PalPro Centre at the Jericho Agro-industrial Park | United Nations Development Programme". www.undp.org. Retrieved 31 May 2022.[title missing]
  3. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ^ Kershner, Isabel (6 August 2007). "Abbas hosts meeting with Olmert in West Bank city of Jericho". The New York Times. United States. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  5. ^ Balint, Judy Lash (21 January 2012). "The lost Jewish presence in Jericho". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Palestinian farmers ordered to leave lands". Al Jazeera. 29 August 2012.
  7. ^ Gates, Charles (2003). "Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Aegean Cities", Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN 0-415-01895-1. Jericho, in the Jordan River Valley in the West Bank, inhabited from ca. 9000 BC to the present day, offers important evidence for the earliest permanent settlements in the Near East.
  8. ^ Murphy-O'Connor, 1998, p. 288.
  9. ^ Freedman et al., 2000, p. 689–671.
  10. ^ Michal Strutin, Discovering Natural Israel (2001), p. 4.
  11. ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh (18 April 2015). "Exploring the Indus Valley's Secrets". The diplomat. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  12. ^ Kenyon, Kathleen Mary. "Jericho, Town, West Bank". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  13. ^ "What is the oldest city in the world?". The Guardian. 16 February 2015.
  14. ^ "The world's 20 oldest cities". The Telegraph. 4 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
  15. ^ Bromiley, 1995, p. 715
  16. ^ Deuteronomy 34:3
  17. ^ Nobani, Ayman (18 September 2023). "Jericho's Tell es-Sultan added to UNESCO World Heritage list". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 20 September 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  18. ^ "Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 20 September 2023.