A Handbook of the Ottoman Palestine Place Names and Atlas

This atlas aims at revealing Palestine in the minds of the Ottomans, regardless of whether it is within the borders of contemporary Palestine. Two methods were followed for this purpose.

Place names such as the sanjak (prefectur), Kaza (district), nahiye (sub-district) and so on have been identified by examining Tahrir Notebooks (16th century) which were written in the first years of Palestinian geography came under the rule of Ottoman Empire. Then, 19th-century sources were referenced. Among these, in particular, the places in the Salname-yi Vilâyet-i Suriye (Annual of the Vilayet of Syria) of 1872, which indicates the Ottoman administrative division in Syria, were identified. Thus, the reader was provided with a comparison between the 16th and 19th centuries. The above records were confirmed by applying to the Ottoman documents and various maps. The new settlements identified from the last sources are included in the related tables or given independently.

There are various maps in the atlas that have been drawn up starting from the first years of Ottoman rule until 1917. Indeed, the first and the last one of these maps are the Ottoman maps, but Ottomans drew not all of them. However, the characteristic feature of all is that they are showing the Palestinian geography of the Ottoman period. The aim of this study is not a borderline delimitation. It is only to guide those who wonder about the subject and history researchers to contribute to new studies on this subject.