Israel - the country's history

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The history of Israel encompasses the Jewish history in the Land of Israel, as well as the history of the modern State of Israel. Modern Israel is roughly located on the site of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah except that these kingdoms also included what is now the West Bank. It is the birthplace of the Hebrew language and of the Abrahamic religions. It contains sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Druze and Bahá'í Faith. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the Land of Israel was predominantly Jewish until the 3rd century. The area became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century and then largely Muslim some centuries following the 7th century conquest until the middle of the 20th century. It was a focal point of conflict between Christianity and Islam between 1096 and 1291, and from the end of the Crusades was part of the Syrian province of first the Mamluk Sultanate and then the Ottoman Empire until the British conquest in 1917. Zionism emerged in the late-19th century....