Ashkelon is a city in the western Negev, in the South District of Israel, population about 117,000. Near to modern Ashkelon are the remains of the ancient seaport of Ashkelon, which flourished since the Bronze Age under a succession of rulers including the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Muslims and the Crusaders. It was finally destroyed by the Mamluks in the late 13th century. The modern city was founded in the 1950s out of the Arab town of al-Majdal, which had existed at least since the 16th century.