Back around 5,000 years ago, up until around the time of the writing of the Christian Bible, Jerusalem, located on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranian Sea, was the land of the Jewish people. In 9 AD, Jerusalem was under Roman rule, as they had captured it some cenrutries ago, but the Jewish were still allowed to live there. SOme 600 years later, it was captured by Muslims, who stil allowed the Jewish to remain autonomous, providing they paid a poll tax. In 1099, Jerusalem was overtaken by the Crusaders, causing most of the Jewish inhabitants to leave, eventurall falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1517.