Acre, Or St. Jean d'Aere (called Acca by the Turks, Accho in Scripture, and Ace and Ptolemais by the Greeks), a seaport town of Syria, N. of Mt. Carmel, 64 m. S. of Beyront, in lat. 32° 54' N, lon. 35° 4' E.; pop. about 5,000. It is on an almost triangular peninsula, and on the land side is surrounded with beautiful new fortifications; remains of the old fortifications still project from the sea. Its harbor is the best on that part of the coast, although very shallow. The place is of the highest antiquity, mentioned in the history of the Jews, Persians, and Ptolemies, and is renowned for its desperate sieges and defences. In 1104 it was taken by the Genoese, from whom Saladin retook it in 1187. The assault upon it by Richard Cœur de Lion in 1191 was one of the most daring feats in the crusades. After its capture by the Christians in that year, it remained in the custody of the knights of St. John, who fortified it strongly, till 1291, when they were compelled to evacuate it by the sultan of Egypt. The Turks occupied it early in the 16th century. In 1799, supported by Sidney Smith and a few British sailors, they kept Bonaparte and the French army at bay for 60 days, when he raised the siege and retreated.

In 1832, when Mehemet Ali revolted from the Porte and seized upon Syria, Ibrahim Pasha, after a long siege, took Acre by storm. In 1839 Syria was restored to Turkey, but Ibrahim refused to evacuate Acre till after a bombardment by the combined British, Austrian, and Turkish squadrons, Nov. 4, 1840.

St. Jean d'Aere.