Population was 45,300 in 1994. The principal manufacturing business in Acre is iron and steel, chemicals, and textiles.
Greek legend says that Hercules was once seriously wounded here.
He found the herbs to cure his wounds, in this port city and named it Aka for cure. However, in Hebrew, the city's name is pronounced Akko. 332 B.C. The Egyptian king Ptolemy II subsequently seized the city. In 1104 it was captured in the First Crusade and was held by Christians until 1187 when Saladin took it. It was retaken in the Third Crusade in 1191 and was the center of Christianity in the Holy Land for the next century.