1. The Cadastral Mapping of Palestine, 1858-1928
Author(s): Dov Gavish and Ruth Kark
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 159, No. 1 (Mar., 1993), pp. 70-80
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of
British Geographers)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3451491 .
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2. TheGeographical Vol. 159, No. 1, March1993,pp. 70-80
Journal,
The cadastral mapping of Palestine, 1858-1928
DOV GAVISH AND RUTH KARK
Department Geography,
of The Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem91905, Israel
This paper was accepted publicationin October
for 1992
The development of the cadastral system and land mapping of Palestine is a domestic
issue of land administration whose early development took place primarily in Europe.
Twentieth-century Palestine saw the transition from land registration, without
proper reference of location, to statutory maps which became indispensable for land
settlement and registration. This paper considers the introduction of cadastral
mapping in Palestine in the years 1858-1928, and discusses the relative contribution
of the Ottomans (1858-1914), the British Mandate authorities (1920-1928) and
Christian and Jewish settlers (1869-1928), to the establishment of modern Land
Books based on statutory maps. The British administration opened up a new era in
which cadastral plans satisfied the demand for quality mapping and an advanced
system of land registration. However, by 1948, the Mandatory Government of
Palestine had completed the land settlement of only about five million metric
dunams, which representjust 20 per cent of the 26 300 square kilometres of Palestine's
total land area. This settled area is almost identical to the boundaries of the northern
part of the State of Israel recognized by the United Nations in 1947. The fact that
land settlement was not completed under the cadastral project, has remained ever
since the focus of disputes over land ownership in areas of conflict between the Israeli
Government, Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs.
KEYWORDs: historyof cartography,
Israel,Palestine, cadastral
mapping,surveying.
HE RESEARCHof Baigent and Kain During this same period, processes of Western-
(1992) has shown that from the Renaissance ization and modernization began to gain mo-
until the late nineteenth century the cad- mentum in the Ottoman Empire. From mid-century
astral map was, in many areas, an established onwards these found expression in agrarian legis-
adjunct to effective government monitoring and lation, among other spheres. The Ottomans sought
control of land. They have identified a number of to make land laws more orderly and systematic in
uses to which cadastral maps have been put by state order to enhance their legal control in land-related
agencies, including evaluation and management of issues and to tighten the collection of land tithes.
state land resources, land reclamation, land re- For this purpose, a series of laws reflecting con-
distribution and enclosure, colonial settlement and siderable European influence were enacted, but no
land taxation. Maps also served as symbols of state systematic cadastral survey was undertaken, despite
control over land and as tools of an enlightened the fact that one of their main objectives was to
government. According to Baigent and Kain, increase exploitation of the territory. Among these
cadastral mapping constitutes an instrument of laws were the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, additions
control which both reflects and consolidates the and amendments to the Ottoman civil code in 1876
power of those who commission it, whether econ- and the 1912-1913 laws.
omic, social or political. This paper will attempt to analyse the changes
The first half of the nineteenth century was that took place in surveying and mapping in
something of an age of cadastral surveys throughout Palestine, which culminated in the establishment of
the whole of Europe (Kain and Prince, 1985). a modern cadastre based on statutory maps in the
These included the Townland Survey of Ireland years 1858-1928. This development transpired
and cadastral surveys in France, Austria and under two different political regimes: the multi-
Bavaria. In the United States the Original Land ethnic Ottoman Empire, in which Palestine was
Survey was conducted, and in England and Wales peripheral, although of increasing importance, and
a large and detailed survey was carried out under which ruled during the nineteenth and early
the Tithe Commutation of 1836.
Act twentieth century; and the British Mandate, from
0016-7398/93/0001-0070/$0.20/0 ? 1993 The Royal Geographical Society

3. CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928 71
the end of World War I until the establishment of of arable land was made compulsory by the Land
the state of Israel in 1948. Unlike the Ottomans, the Code, but much land remained unregistered, since
British made an attempt to institute an enlightened the books were based on registration of deeds and
and liberal rule, based on colonial reform and not on any preliminary systematic land survey.
introduced a regular legal and economic base for There was no verification of the settlers' title to
the improvement of local conditions. With these land. Moreover, since the registration documents
concerns in mind, the Mandatory authorities consisted only of a vague verbal description of the
attempted to formulate equitable legal guidelines boundaries of the property in question, unsupple-
for land tax and land settlement, in order to provide mented by maps or plans, they did not reflect the
a clear-cut legal basis for control of landowners and exact geographical location of the property.
their titles to land. The authors' knowledge concerning the carto-
Someone inspecting a sample of Palestine's early graphic activities of the Ottoman authorities in
land survey maps and cadastral plans is bound to be Palestine is quite limited, following an exhaustive
confused by the various individuals and bodies search in the Israel State Archives, the Survey of
involved in the making of these maps. The maps Israel and land offices. At first glance, it might
shared no common guidelines, lacked any uni- appear as if the Ottoman rulers simply did not
formity with regard to cartographic method, legal bother to map Palestine, leaving this to zealous
status, quality and appearance. Only through a French, British and German teams of surveyors and
study of the cadastral history of Palestine can one explorers. However, persistent and protracted
hope to dispel some of the confusion. searches in libraries and archives have, in fact,
The history of cadastral surveying and mapping uncovered maps drawn by Ottoman officials.
in Palestine is relatively short. The era of land Although it is still difficult to understand, at times,
administration under a modern land law, did not the circumstances under which these cartographic
begin until 1858. In 1912-1913 the Ottoman products were created, a few large-scale Turkish
authorities tabled a reformed law calling for a land maps were found and more such maps are
cadastral survey, but the outbreak of World War I known to exist from well-documented lists of maps
in the following year prevented its implementation which may have been part of a system of land
in Palestine. The British introduced official cadastral inventory (Kark and Gerber, 1984).
surveying on a national scale in 1921, but did not The subjects presented in the Turkish maps
actually carry out effective wide-scale surveying belong to three major categories: jiftlik lands
until 1928. Nevertheless, despite the absence of (Ottoman land held by the Sultan); major blocks of
official cadastral surveying in Palestine during the state land earmarked for sale and purchase; and
latter half of the nineteenth century and the early reclamation, improvement or engineering projects,
part of the twentieth century, a continuous effort by such as swamp drainage and railway or building
local initiators to carry out land surveys and construction - the last category falling largely be-
maintain private, unauthorized land books yond the scope of this paper. The common
throughout this period can be traced. These denominator of these maps is their individual
persistent endeavours stemmed from the need to nature, detached from each other or any standard
create an alternative system, given the absence of a reference system similar to a triangulation network,
reliable system of land administration based on land and none were part of any cadastral system.
surveying and land registration. Nevertheless, the maps ofjiftlik lands do offer a
Between 1858 and 1928, three major initiators type of cadastral inventory. For example, 48 tracts
played a key role in the development of cadastral of land held by the Sultan were recorded and
documentation in Palestine: the Ottoman Govern- mapped at the beginning of this century, possibly as
ment (1858-1914), the Christian and Jewish settlers part of an agricultural development project. Later
(1869-1928) and the British authorities in the early on, after the Young Turks revolution in 1908, these
stages of the Mandate period (1920-1928). lands became state domain and in 1910 the property
maps were transferred from Palestine to Beirut by
Regimesand settlers the Chief Clerk of State Lands. After the First
The Ottoman GovernmentIn 1858 the Ottoman World War, the British were able to trace a few of
Government brought about a major change in land these maps in Beirut and Damascus (Bennett, 1922).
administration by consolidating various land laws Unfortunately, none of them is in the possession of
into a Land Code, which was applied in Palestine as the authors, but there are several certified copies of
in most parts of the Empire. With the opening of these maps, produced later by the French and the
three Land Registry offices in Palestine, shortly British authorities.
after the promulgation of the Land Code, the Lake Huleh Concession Map, for instance, is an
Ottoman Government started to develop the official authentic copy of one of the maps mentioned in the
system of Land Books and Records. The registration Sultan's list (Fig.1). A concession over Lake Huleh

4. 72 CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928
4-
. .~
'I --i *? 1:?V A ? -?- -? r ?- -
1'
41
-Ui g?4 . kCN1.11A
,
r C?
.- -
1:15 1889, cerbfied 1922, (PRO, CO 733/96/41702)
Fig. 1. LakeHulehConcession, 000 (reduced), copy
lands, in northern Israel, was granted by the Syria and Lebanon in 1922 - one year prior to the
Ottoman Government in 1911 to Arab landlords of demarcation of the boundary - at the request of the
Beirut, in order for them to drain its swamps and Government of Palestine (Huleh Land Concessions
develop the valley lands. After World War I, the files, Public Record Office London, 1925).
Huleh valley was the subject of territorial negotia- One example of the second category is a group of
tions between the British and the French Mandatory maps of individual tracts that comprised part of a
governments of Palestine and Lebanon respectively. greater block of land on the road between Haifa
According to an agreement they reached in 1923, Bay and Nazareth. These maps were probably
regarding the demarcation of the border, the valley drawn in conjunction with negotiations for the
was included within the territory of Palestine, purchase of unsettled land from Arab landowners
though the concession remained in the hands of by the Jews. The negotiations started in 1891 and
Arab landholders in Beirut, whose rights were were successfully concluded in October, 1920. The
guaranteed by the British High Commissioner. The maps, which had been prepared by a District
original map, which had been drawn in April 1889, engineer, were drawn as contour maps, based on as
was copied by the French Topographic Service of yet unknown reference points. In 1921, all the

5. CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928 73
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Fig. 2. Semmoune, 000 (reduced),
1:10 1902, Dressepar L'ingenieur Vilvet
du BeyrouthBekirSidki
Source: Map Archives, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

6. 74 CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928
individual maps were redrawn and incorporated land registries in which were recorded all their land
into a key map by an eminent Jewish architect, in transactions. When the official Land Books ceased
order to ease the transfer and registration of the to reflect the true situation with regard to real
land in the Land Registry Office. In the late 1930s estate, these private, unofficial 'Land Books' be-
the maps were once again officially copied, this time came indispensable tools for land administration
by the British authorities. within the new settlements (Goadby and Doukhan,
A further example, in this category, is the map of 1935). Moreover, independent land surveys were
the Ruins of Semmoune (Fig. 2). It was drawn in carried out by a few architects and surveyors - some
colour in 1902, at a scale of 1:10 000. The map of the latter trained and licensed and others not -
shows the boundaries of the site and provides who helped fill the gap left by the authorities.
information on the owners of its neighbouring
lands, buildings, ruins, water sources, roads and The GermanTemplersThe German Templers, some
paths, land cover and cultivation. The area is given of them American citizens, were members of the
in Turkish dunams (1 T.d.= 919.3 square metres pietist religious movement founded in Wurttem-
= approximately a quarter of an acre). The title is berg, Germany, in the middle of the nineteenth
in French, while the remainder of the text appears century, they arrived in Palestine in 1869 and left
bilingually, in French and Turkish. A copy of this the deepest imprint on Palestine's landscape of all
map was prepared, in 1937, by a British surveyor the Christian groups striving to prepare the land for
and was accepted as a certified copy by the Land Christ's Second Coming (Ben-Artzi, 1990). They
Registry Office (Kark and Gerber, 1984). Recently started with the establishment of two urban colonies,
the original map was located by the authors. in Haifa in 1869 and shortly thereafter in Jaffa. In
Representative of the third category of land map, 1871 they set up the rural colony of Sarona, which
from the period in question, are village maps today is the centre of Tel Aviv and in 1873 they
incorporated into plans for engineering projects. settled in the vicinity ofJerusalem. About 30 years
For example, the map of the Arab village of Sejara later - in 1902, 1906 and 1907 - they established
(Sedjera) and the nearby Jewish settlement of three other rural colonies for their second genera-
Ilanya was prepared, in 1908, as part of the plan for tion.
a water conduit to run from a distant water source These German and German-American colonists
to both the Arab village and the Jewish settlement. were innovative and skilled pioneers who introduced
The heights levelling of the topographic cross section into Palestine advanced systems in many spheres,
are given, relative to the lowest point in the area. land surveying being just one of them. Jacob
Schumacher, a Templer architect, planned their
Settlersfrom abroad and the Ottomanland law The colony in Haifa and its land parcellation. A version
Ottoman authorities imposed many administrative of the map he drew later aided the American
and economic restrictions on land purchase, regis- Consul-General at Beirut in pressurizing the Otto-
tration and transfer by foreign subjects. Until 1867 mans into officially registering this land (Kark, in
foreigners could not legally possess immovable press). In 1885, his son Dr Gottlieb Schumacher
property in the Ottoman Empire. From that year, was appointed, by the Ottoman Government, as
the Ottoman authorities, under pressure from Chief Engineer of the District of Acre. He also drew
foreign powers, granted certain foreign citizens several maps, including parcellation maps of the
rights to acquire land and register it in their names, Templers' colony in Haifa (Fig. 3). Theodor Sandel,
with the exception of land in the Hejaz. These rights another skilled surveyor, planned the Sarona
were dependent on the signing of separate agree- German Colony, and was later commissioned by
ments between the Ottomans and any interested the Jewish settlers to survey and plan Petah-Tiqva,
government, and were subject to changing pre- which was to become the first Jewish settlement in
conditions (Kark, 1984). Citizens who did not enjoy Palestine. By 1889, 11 European or American-
the backing of such an agreement - such as Jews trained Templer land surveyors and engineers, were
residing in Palestine for under five years, or, in taking part in land surveys in Palestine.
certain periods, German and American Templers -
were not entitled to possess or register land. The Jewish settlements(Moshavot)The wave of mass
Therefore, these settlers had to resort to subterfuge, immigration ofJews to Palestine began in 1882. At
such as registering land in the name of fictitious that time Jews were permitted to acquire real estate
owners. and register it in the Land Books, but these rights
With the absence of an official cadastral system, were, from that year onwards, subject to constantly
the Christian and Jewish settlers of European origin changing restrictions. Not only were Jews from
in Palestine understood that as an alternative they certain countries barred from registering land, but
would have to administer their land within their so were Jewish societies, organizations and financial
own communities. Hence, they developed unofficial institutions who suffered from the absence of

7. CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928 75
ANi ~4
w-~cCv?-g A -'4o 900 t-
~a & 4'o ~/.t
K.t4,
~ V!M2
..7
4A
S ,LrrWWf3
%opp
'Rzas moo ~ nw~~'
017
lit -4, vftV
*
wtzrTO MUA~
*o'stww~~ zU
-Ao ~ ~
w?A
jO> %3 zso
Fig. 3. Haifa, landparcellation ownership
and 1900,prepared Dr Gottlieb
by Schumacher
Source: ISA, Record Group 690, Box 681

8. JON,
3
f - -Z
-
1 9
,
< _
pI -
.44?e
.,Por,"
,
• t-'m
rl
Fig. 4. Hadera,landparcellation ownership,
and 1:10 000 (reduced)
1895,prepared thechemist Max Sh
by Dr
Source:Map Archives, Department of Geography, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

9. CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928 77
LANDSETTLMENT1948
PreliminarySurvey
** *
..
%-
,, ,,,H-.
F~ield Investigation
& Final Survey
Settled
* Ottoman cadastral maps Haa iberia
X
azareth
% *an
Nblus
Te Aviv
-Jaffa
''Jerusalem
*Hebron
Gaza BHebron DEAD
SEA
-Beersheba
010 20Km
Fig. 5. For legend page 78
see

10. 78 CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928
juridicial persons in Muslim and Ottoman law. As objective of performing a cadastral survey, while
an example of the subterfuges employed by Jewish the Land Registry, which had ceased operation
individuals and bodies, the first contract for during the war and had been reopened to the public
acquisition of lands in Tel Aviv was signed, in 1909, in October 1920, was expected to deal with the legal
in the name of a Jewish member of the Zionist aspects of land settlement.
Executive in The Hague (Solel, 1990). Facilitating the operation of these two bodies was
The Hebrew Land Books, that the Jewish the Transfer of Land Ordinance1920-1921, which
settlements maintained around the turn of the made the recording of all land dispositions obliga-
century, contained precise records of the true tory. Furthermore, following the advice of British
ownership of land, as well as its dimensions, legal experts from Sudan and Egypt, various minor
status and the obligations imposed upon it. Also improvements in the handling of the Land Books
included were maps of each and every plot, on were adopted in 1920, such as granting the
which were recorded the measurements of the plots registration officer the option of requesting plans to
themselves, along with the measurements and the accompany new registration (Goadby and Douk-
names of the owners of adjoining plots. The han, 1935).
surveyors and other technical workers employed by However, even though the registration officer
both the settlement bodies and the local authorities utilized his right to demand maps, he encountered
prepared large-scale maps that evidently formed difficulties from an unexpected direction: no law
the basis for the registration of each community's had yet been passed in Palestine laying down
territory (Gavish, in press) (Fig.4). standards of measurement and making the sur-
Not until the British took over Palestine and were veying by authorized surveyors obligatory. Nor had
forced to contend with the issue of official land any standard linear or area measures been agreed
settlement and to conduct cadastral surveys, did the upon. True, the maps deposited with the Land
Jewish Land Books gain recognition as valuable and Registry were based on a mete and bound survey,
reliable documents. Sir Ernest Dowson, the British and contained various other elements of modern
expert who had been brought to Palestine from maps: bearing, scale, a description of the boundaries
Egypt to recommend some form of cadastral reform, of the land and their length, a measure of the area
vigorously reprimanded the government for its they enclosed and the names of the neighbours on
failure to utilize these books, and saw to it that they bordering lands. However, the maps were skeletal
were incorporated into the Government Land and detached from a system of coordinates, from a
Registry: national triangulation network and even from one
The thirdpieceof immediately permanently
and usefulwork another. They were no more than sketches or plans,
consist takingoverthe LandRegisters variousColonies,
in of bearing no proportionate relationship to land
for the most partJewish, who have long complained with features or topographical vicissitudes.
considerable justificationthat their own Land Registers The landowners who are, today, attempting to
thoughreliable comprehensible legallyinvalid,while
and are locate their lands in order to establish ownership
the Government's Registersthough legally valid are un- find it extremely difficult to use these plans. It is not
reliableand incomprehensible.
only hindsight that has revealed the defective quality
Dowson,1925:23 of these maps: their deficiency was apparent at the
Under British Mandate The British occupation of time of their submission to the Land Registry. As
Palestine in the First World War brought to an end early as 1923, the Director of the Land Registry
the Ottoman rule over this country. On 1 July, admitted that he was unable, from the isolated
1920, after two years of military administration, a plans, to locate the piece of land that a registered
civil administration took over, headed by the British transaction purported to concern (Dowson, 1923:
High Commissioner. One of the major concerns of 10). A comparison between these maps and their
the British authorities, even during the military pre-war predecessors, produced by the settlers,
administration, was the issue of land management. makes it apparent that the early stages of the British
The change of government provided an historical Mandate saw a significant deterioration in the
opportunity for modifying administrative pro- quality of cadastral mapping in Palestine (Gavish
cedures, including the system of Land Registry and Shamir, forthcoming).
(Gavish, 1986). Anxious to improve the system, the
government created from the very start the means Cadastralreformand mapping
for arranging land settlement in Palestine. Thus, As mentioned previously, the Survey of Palestine
the Survey of Palestine came into being with the and the Land Registry were supposed to carry out
Fig. 5. Landsettlement of prepared the information the UN Special
1948; basedon the Government Palestine'Maps of Palestine' for of
Committee Enquiry,
of Survey Palestine,
of July, 1947
Gavish, D. 1991: 203.
Source:

11. CADASTRAL MAPPING OF PALESTINE, 1858-1928 79
the cadastral survey and handle land settlement. This second phase, under the British administration,
However, the hasty and forced cooperation between opened a new era in which cadastral plans satisfied
these two bodies, which lacked coordination or joint the demand for quality mapping and an advanced
legal infrastructure for operation, led to an almost system of land registration
complete dissociation between them. Despite efforts However, at the termination of British Manda-
made between 1921 and 1923, failure and in- tory rule in Palestine in 1948, the project of
experience drove the Government of Palestine to cadastral survey and land settlement was far behind
seek advice and assistance from British experts any forecasted schedule. From 1928 onward, owing
elsewhere. In 1923 the Government approached to the deterioration in security conditions, projects
Ernest Dowson, who was about to retire from his where personnel had to function in the open
post as head of the Survey of Egypt, for advice on landscape, were subjected to obstructions. The
how to achieve a well-regulated, proper layout of disturbances caused by the Arab community in
land settlement in Palestine. Dowson came to 1929, the Arab revolt of 1936 that lasted over three
Palestine for a short visit that same year, and after years and the outbreak of World War II hindered
presenting his report was appointed counsellor for the impetus and advancement of the project
the Government in the matter of reforming the (Salmon, 1937; Loxton, 1988). During these years,
entire system of land settlement and registration. the British authorities decided to work in safer
From 1923 to 1928 Dowson exerted pressure on territories, such as the plains and valleys. Here the
the Government to introduce in Palestine the land Jewish settlers, appreciative of the benefit of the
settlement system based on the registration of title project in reinforcing legal ownership of their
to land. This system - named after Robert Richard settlements, welcomed the land surveyors and
Torrens, who first proposed it in South Australia in settlement officers.
1857 - depends on a preliminary cadastral survey, Therefore, by 1948, the Mandatory Government
as well as parcellation and mapping of the land. At of Palestine had completed the land settlement of
that time over 50 governments worldwide modelled only about five million metric dunams, which
their methods, in some respects, on the Torrens represent just 20 per cent of the 26 300 square
system (Kerr, 1927). kilometres of the total land area of Palestine (Fig.5)
The Torrens system served as the guideline for (Gavish, 1991). This settled area is almost identical
the 1928 Land Settlement Ordinance(Government of to the boundaries of the northern part of the State
Palestine, 1928), which launched the cadastral of Israel recognized by the United Nations in 1947.
survey in Palestine practically from scratch in its Judea and Samaria, which were occupied by the
new, clearly-defined, juristic form (Government of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 1948 until
Palestine, 1929). This survey started with the 1967, were not surveyed under the cadastral project
production of village maps with fiscal blocks to and, therefore, have remained ever since the focus of
facilitate the taxation of rural property. These maps constant disputes over land ownership. The fact
then served as a basis upon which registration that land settlement was not undertaken in Judea
blocks were parcelled and surveyed. and Samaria under the Ottoman, British and
Jordanian regimes, may have played a role not only
1948, Termination a period
of in the relatively undeveloped level of agriculture in
Twentieth-century Palestine saw the transition from these regions, but also in current conflicts between
land registration (without any proper locational the Israeli government, Jewish settlers and Pales-
reference) to statutory maps which became in- tinian Arabs, which at times result from lack of
dispensable for land settlement and registration. clarity as to ownership.
REFERENCES
Baigent, E. and Kain, R. J. P. 1991 Cadastral maps in the Camp, I. Z. 1938 Settlement Officer, to Commissioner for
service of the state. Abstractof the 14th International Lands and Surveys, 13 June.
Conference on the History of Cartography, Uppsala and Dowson, E. M. 1923 Notes on Land-Tax, cadastral survey
Stockholm. and settlement in Palestine, 7 December. PRO, CO
Ben-Artzi, Yossi 1990 Traditional and modern rural settle- 733/60/59971.
ment types in Eretz-Israel in the modern era. In Kark, R. 1925 Report on the land system in Palestine. Colony
5,
(ed.) The landthatbecame Israel.New Haven and London: Records, PRO, CO 733/109/54812: 23.
Yale University Press. Gavish, D. 1986 The cadastral and topographical mapping
Bennett, M. C. Department of Lands, 1922 Letter to Legal by the Survey of Palestine, 1920-1948: a cartographical-
Secretary, 22 February , Israel State Archives [ISA], historical analysis. Ph.D. dissertation, The Hebrew Uni-
Division 22, Box 3542, file 12. versity of Jerusalem. Hebrew with English abstract.