Demographic History of Jerusalem - Demographic Key Dates

Demographic Key Dates

• 4500–3500 BCE: First settlement established near Gihon Spring (earliest archeological evidence)
• c.1550–1400 BCE: Jerusalem becomes a vassal to the Egyptian New Kingdom
• c. 1000 BCE: King David attacks and captures Jerusalem, which becomes capital of the United Kingdom of Israel. (Biblical source only)
• 732 BCE: Jerusalem becomes a vassal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
• 587–6 BCE: Nebuchadnezzar II fought Pharaoh Apries's attempt to invade Judah. Jerusalem mostly destroyed including the First Temple, and the city's prominent citizens exiled to Babylon (Biblical sources only)
• 539 BCE: Cyrus the Great allows Babylonian Jews to return from the Babylonian captivity and rebuild the Temple (Biblical sources only, see Cyrus (Bible) and The Return to Zion)
• 350 BCE: Jerusalem revolts against Artaxerxes III, who retakes the city and burns it down in the process. Jews who supported the revolt are sent to Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea.
• 332–200 BCE: Jerusalem capitulates to Alexander the Great, and is later incorporated in to the Ptolemaic Kingdom (301BCE) and Seleucid Empire (200BCE).
• 175 BCE: Antiochus IV Epiphanes accelerates Seleucid efforts to eradicate the Jewish religion, outlaws Sabbath and circumcision, sacks Jerusalem and erects an altar to Zeus in the Second Temple after plundering it.
• 164 BCE: The Hasmoneans take control of part of Jerusalem, whilst the Seleucids retain control of the Acra (fortress) in the city and most surrounding areas.
• 63 BCE: Roman Empire under Pompey takes city
• 70 CE: Titus ends the major portion of Great Jewish Revolt and destroys Herod's Temple. The Sanhedrin is relocated to Yavne, and the city's leading Christians relocate to Pella
• 136: Hadrian formally reestablishes the city as Aelia Capitolina, and forbids Jewish and Christian presence in the city. Restrictions over Christian presence in the city are relaxed two years later.
• 324–325: Emperor Constantine holds the First Council of Nicaea and confirms status of Jerusalem as a Christian patriarchate. A significant wave of Christian immigration to the city begins. The ban on Jews entering the city remains in force, but they are allowed to enter once a year to pray at the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av
• c.380: Tyrannius Rufinus and Melania the Elder found the first monastery in Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives
• 614: Jerusalem falls to Khosrau II's Sassanid Empire until it is retaken in 629. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is burned and much of the Christian population is massacred. A Jewish leader was made governor of the city, but was replaced by a Christian after being killed by a mob of Christian citizens.
• 636–7: Caliph Umar the Great conquers Jerusalem. Patriarch Sophronius and Umar are reported to have agreed the Covenant of Umar I, which guaranteed Christians freedom of religion but prohibited Jews from living in the city according to Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari. The Armenian Apostolic Church began appointing its own bishop in Jerusalem. in 638.
• 797: Abbasid–Carolingian alliance – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored and the Latin hospital was enlarged, encouraging Christian travel to the city.
• 1009–30: Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim orders destruction of churches and synagogues in the empire, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Caliph Ali az-Zahir authorizes them rebuilt 20 years later.
• 1077: Jerusalem revolts against the rule of Emir Atsiz ibd Uvaq who re-takes the city and massacres the local population.
• 1099: First Crusaders capture Jerusalem and slaughter most of the city's Muslim and Jewish inhabitants. The Dome of the Rock is converted into a church.
• 1187: Saladin captures Jerusalem from Crusaders and allows Jewish and Orthodox Christian settlement. The Dome of the Rock is converted to an Islamic center of worship again.
• 1229: A 10-year treaty is signed allowing Christians freedom to live in the unfortified city. The Ayyubids retained control of the Muslim holy places.
• 1244: Mercenary army of Khwarezmians destroyed the city.
• 1260: Jerusalem raided by the Mongols under Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa. Hulagu Khan sends a message to Louis IX of France that Jerusalem remitted to the Christians under the Franco-Mongol Alliance
• 1267: Nachmanides goes to Jerusalem and prays at the Western Wall. Reported to have found only two Jewish families in the city
• 1482: The visiting Dominican priest Felix Fabri described Jerusalem as "a collection of all manner of abominations". As "abominations" he listed Saracens, Greeks, Syrians, Jacobites, Abyssianians, Nestorians, Armenians, Gregorians, Maronites, Turcomans, Bedouins, Assassins, a sect possibly Druzes, Mamelukes, and "the most accursed of all", Jews. Only the Latin Christians "long with all their hearts for Christian princes to come and subject all the country to the authority of the Church of Rome".
• 1517: The Ottoman Empire captures Jerusalem under Sultan Selim I who proclaims himself Caliph of the Islamic world
• 1604: First Protectorate of missions agreed, in which the Christian subjects of Henry IV of France were free to visit the Holy Places of Jerusalem. French missionaries begin to travel to Jerusalem.
• 1700: Judah the Pious and 1,000 followers settle in Jerusalem.
• 1774: The Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca is signed giving Russia the right to protect all Christians in Jerusalem.
• 1821: Greek War of Independence – Jerusalem's Christian population (the majority being Greek Orthodox), were forced by the Ottoman authorities to relinquish their weapons, wear black and help improve the city's fortifications
• 1837: Galilee earthquake of 1837 results in Jews from Safed and Tiberias resettling in Jerusalem.
• 1839–40: Rabbi Judah Alkalai publishes "The Pleasant Paths" and "The Peace of Jerusalem", urging the return of European Jews to Jerusalem and Palestine.
• 1853–4: A treaty is signed confirming France and the Roman Catholic Church as the supreme authority in the Holy Land with control over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, contravening the 1774 treaty with Russia and triggering the Crimean War.
• 1860: The first Jewish neighborhood (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) is built outside the Old City walls, in an area later known as Yemin Moshe, by Sir Moses Montefiore and Judah Touro.
• 1862: Moses Hess publishes Rome and Jerusalem, arguing for a Jewish homeland in Palestine centered on Jerusalem
• 1873–75: Mea Shearim is built.
• 1882: The First Aliyah results in 35,000 Zionist immigrants entering the Palestine region
• 1901: Ottoman restrictions on Zionist immigration to and land acquisition in Jerusalem district take effect
• 1901–14: The Second Aliyah results in 40,000 Zionist immigrants entering the Palestine region
• 1917: The Ottomans are defeated at the Battle of Jerusalem during the First World War and the British Army takes control. The Balfour Declaration had been issued a month before.
• 1919–23: The Third Aliyah results in 35,000 Zionist immigrants entering the Palestine region
• 1924–28: The Fourth Aliyah results in 82,000 Zionist immigrants entering the Palestine region
• 1929–39: The Fifth Aliyah results in 250,000 Zionist immigrants entering the Palestine region
• 1948–49: 1948 Arab-Israeli War. All Jewish residents of the eastern part of the city were kicked out by Arab forces, dozens of synagogues dating back to Roman times were destroyed by Arab forces. The entire Jewish Quarter was destroyed.
• 1967: The Six Day War. The Old City is captured by the IDF and the Moroccan Quarter including 135 houses and the Al-Buraq mosque is demolished, creating a plaza in front of the Western Wall. Israel declares Jerusalem unified and announces free access to holy sites of all religions.
• 1980: The Jerusalem Law is enacted leading to UN Security Council Resolution 478 (it states that the Council will not recognize this law)