Jericho
Jericho (/ˈdʒɛrɪkoʊ/ JERR-ik-oh; Arabic: أريحا Arīḥā [ʔaˈriːħaː] ⓘ; Hebrew: יְרִיחוֹ Yərīḥō) is a city in the West Bank; it is the administrative seat of the Jericho Governorate of the State of Palestine. 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.
Jericho
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| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • DIN | Arīḥā |
| Hebrew transcription(s) | |
| • DIN | Yərīḥō |
View of Jericho from Tell es-Sultan | |
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Municipal logo | |
Jericho Location of Jericho within Palestine | |
| Coordinates: 31°51′22″N 35°27′36″E | |
| Palestine grid | 193/140 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Jericho |
| Founded | 9600 BCE |
| Government | |
| • Type | City (from 1994) |
| • Head of Municipality | Salem Ghrouf |
| Area | |
| • Total | 58,701 dunams (58.701 km2 or 22.665 sq mi) |
| Elevation | −258 m (−846 ft) |
| Population (2017) | |
| • Total | 20,907 |
| • Density | 360/km2 (920/sq mi) |
| History of Palestine |
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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.
Jericho is among the oldest cities in the world, and it is also the city with the oldest known defensive wall. 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), almost to the very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history. Copious springs in and around the city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years. Jericho is described in the Bible as the "city of palm trees".
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".