Acre (/ˈɑːkər/ or /ˈeɪkər/), known to locals as Akko (Hebrew: עַכּוֹ, ʻAkkō) or Akka (Arabic: عكّا‎, ʻAkkā), is a city in the coastal plain region of the Northern District of Israel. The city occupies an important location, sitting in a natural harbour at the extremity of Haifa Bay on the coast of the Mediterranean's Levantine Sea. Aside from coastal trading, it was also an important waypoint on the region's coastal road and the road cutting inland along the Jezreel Valley. The first settlement during the Early Bronze Age was abandoned after a few centuries but a large town was established during the Middle Bronze Age. Continuously inhabited since then, it is among the oldest continuously-inhabited settlements on Earth. It has, however, been subject to conquest and destruction several times and survived as little more than a large village for centuries at a time. In present-day Israel, the population was 48,930 in 2018, made up of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Baha'is. In particular, Acre is the holiest city of the Baháʼí Faith and receives many pilgrims of that faith every year. Thirty-two per cent of the city's population is Arab. The mayor is Shimon Lankri, who was reelected in 2011.