1. Nineteenth-Century Maps of Palestine: Dual-Purpose Historical Evidence
Author(s): I. W. J. Hopkins
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Imago Mundi, Vol. 22 (1968), pp. 30-36
Published by: Imago Mundi, Ltd.
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2. Nineteenth-century maps of Palestine:
dual-purpose historical evidence
By I. W. J. Hopkins,Universityof Durham
SUMMARY
The accurate mapping of Palestine did not take place until the 19th century, but is of particular interest to historians as
the maps were largely compiled in order to facilitate the understanding of the land in ancient times. The major surveys of
Jacotin, Wilson and Conder and Kitchener were all concerned not only with depicting the contemporary topography, but also
conditions in the Biblical and Classical eras. Much detail of ancient ruins, roads and tells were marked, and the 1-inch map of
the Palestine Exploration Fund, surveyed in the 1870s, is still superior to modern mapping as a source for the location of these
remains. The high accuracy of this map, as those of Schumacher and Wilson in particular, render the abstraction of data
relatively easy. In addition to ancient remains, much contemporary information on land use and settlement was plotted,
although the accuracy of this was not great on the maps of the earlier part of the century. With the economic developments in
Palestine in the last century and the Zionist settlement in the present century, these maps are invaluable documentary
evidence. Thus we have a collection of maps of all scales from town plans to small-scale thematic maps, which give dual-
purpose historical evidence, i.e. for both the times in which they were produced and for the Biblical and Classical eras.
The location of the much fought-overareawe know as Palestinehas been such a crucialone in the Middle
East that it is full of historicalinterest. In addition,its importanceis greatlyenhancedby the partit has played
in the formation and thinking of three of the world's great religions.It was this antiquarianinterest which
inspiredmuch of the exploration and mappingof Palestineand surrounding countries.Consequently,although
the accuratecartographicdelineation of the countries of the Middle East came rather later than was the case
in WesternEurope, when it did arriveit was largelyinspiredby historians,Bible students and exponents of the
young science of archaeology. As a result, we find that the maps of Palestine, especially those of the 19th
century, not only reproduce contemporary conditions, but also portray considerabledetail of relevanceto
earlierand particularly Biblicalperiods.
The cartographic history of Palestinehas been so little written of in Englishthat a brief reviewof 19th
century developments is necessary before preceeding to discuss the evidence these maps give.1 In 1818,
Jacotin's map, which was produced during Napoleon's campaignin the area, was made public (it had been
publishedearlierbut not released),andalthough it containedmany inaccuracies sparkedoff a lively interest
it
in the area. It was also the first attempt at an instrumentalsurvey of Palestine.Manymapswere compiledin
the early 19th century aimed at the religiousmarket(as can be seen by some of the titles), includingthose of
Reichard(1816), Assheton (1820), Walker (1821), Berghaus (1835) and Tobler(1836). Therewas also a spate
of Bible atlasessuch as those of Lapie(1812), Palmer(1831), Zimmerman (1948), and Menke(1868). Edward
Robinson and other explorers of Palestine providedadditionalfirst hand informationabout the middle of the
century,and Kiepert was able to compile maps from their data. Mansell produced some important coastal
surveysand Victor Guerin publisheduseful maps,but in 1858 Van de Velde markeda real transitiontowards
survey ratherthan compilation in his map at a scale of 1 : 315,000, whichwasthe standardmap of this part of
the world until the Palestine Exploration Fund map was published.It was based in part on other maps but
includedmuch materialfrom his own observations.
In 1865, CharlesWilson produced his survey of Jerusalem,which, although coveringonly a small area,
showed what historiansand Biblicalscholars,as well as geographers, could gain from an accuratetopographical
map. With a greaterdetail and accuracythan previousplans of the city, it formed the foundationstone for the
explorations of Wilson,Warrenand other scholarsin the second half of the century. As an attempt to achieve
similarresults over the whole country, the Palestine Exploration Fund sent out a survey party underClaude
1 The only full account of the cartographic history of Palestine is I. Shattner, Mappath Eretz- Yisrael ve toledothehah (In
Hebrew). (Bialik Institute, 1951). Other useful works are: F. J. Bliss, The Development of Palestine Exploration. (London,
1906); H. V. Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century (Edinburgh, 1903); Eretz Israel, Vol. 2, 1953. (A
number of articles in Hebrew); and Rohricht, Bibliotheca Geographica Palaestinae. (Berlin, 1890).
30

3. I
AC RE, ZN AZRETtl Tt)A E JOI IN
Fig. 1. Jacotin'smap of Palestine,1818.
Conder(laterjoined by H. H. Kitchener),from 1872 to 1877, which producedthe best maps by far of Palestine
prior to the Mandateperiod. At a scale of 1 inch to a mile, the map of WesternPalestinedepicted accurately
the country as it then was and also showed as many ruins, mounds and ancient sites as possible, all of which
were carefully examined by the surveyors.2An attempt to continue the survey east of the Jordan failed
although a small area was mapped. Withinthe frameworkof these maps, minor surveysfilled in the details.
Wilson'sOrdnanceSurvey of Sinai and the mappingof Palmerand Tyrwhitt Drake in the Negev and Arabah
produced topographicaland historicalinformation about the little known regions to the south. Dr. Gottlieb
Schumacherproduced some good maps east of the Jordan;and Conder, Schick and other workersdrew up
plans of towns and sites of historical interest.At the beginningof the FirstWorldWar,Capt. S. F. Newcombe
surveyedthe Negev,and the OttomanGeneralStaff made a reconnaissance surveyinto the area.The main maps
dealt with here, however,will be the PalestineExplorationFund Map(abbreviated P.E.F. map) and those of
to
Wilson,Van de Velde, Kiepertand Jacotin, as these are the most importantand the most accurate.
An analysis of these maps will indicate how useful they are as historicalevidence for the 19th century
2 The 1: 63,360 map in 26 sheets was publishedin 1878 and accompaniedby severalvolumesof memoirs.The most
useful referencesto the P.E.F. survey are: C. R. Conder,Palestine (1889); C. R. Conder, Tentworkin Palestine (1879);
T. Saunders,Introductionto the Surveyof Western Palestine(1881); Sir C. F. Arden-Close,
ClaudeRegnierConderand the
Surveyof Palestine,EmpireSurveyRev. (1944), and I. D. Hart,Surveysof Palestine,Worldof the Bible(P.E.F., 1965).
31

4. -3
P.E.F,, Tenty-one Years Work in the Holy Land, p. 127.
Fig. 2. Palestine Exploration Fund Map, 1879.
32

5. covered by the French army was properly surveyed.4 Many areas are left blank on his map and the Hill
Country lacks detail. His Dead Sea coast is very inaccurate,and Jerusalemwas fixed by using Niebuhr's
astronomicalobservations.The Mediterranean coastline, especially south of Joppa, was very poorly known
until Mansellmapped it correctly in 1860-62, and the Sea of Galilee was wrongly shown on many quite late
maps. The Ezziyeh Basin south of Tyre, to take anotherexample, was shown only generallyon Kiepert'smap
and wrongly on Van de Velde's. This unreliabilitymakes the extraction of historical evidence difficult. The
P.E.F. map was by far the most accuratein fixing positions on the earth grid, and it is a pity that nothing
comparableis availableof earlierdate, apartfrom the coastal and Galilee sections of Jacotin'smap. The P.E.F.
survey was founded on a triangulationwhich covered the country quite thickly from the latitude of the
southern end of the Dead Sea to just north of Tyre, andthe smallersurveyeast of the Jordanwas linked with
that to the west. This gives this series of maps a consistency lacking in the older maps,whereaccuracyvaries
from area to area. A cartotest on the P.E.F. map revealed a block shift of 19 seconds to the west and an
averagediscrepancy of 1.1 secs. to the north in latitude, when comparedwith the 1 : 100,000 maps of the
Survey of Palestine.This should be kept in mind when extractinginformation.Although not as accurateas the
contemporaryOrdnanceSurvey maps, Conder'swork can be taken with confidence for use as a sourcein map
compilation. It is certainly far more accurate than Jacotin's map which had a 20 minute discrepancyin
longitude,and even the Irbid map of Schumacheris as much as 10 seconds out in latitude and 30 secondsin
longitude.
For relief information it is best to avoid 19th century maps, as only Wilson'swork was contoured
accurately.Jacotin depicts relief by the familiar 'caterpillars', Van de Velde's hill shadingis sketchy. The
and
P.E.F. map has a delicate hill shading which compares very well with the hachureson some 19th century
OrdnanceSurvey maps, but apart from a few spot-heightsthere was no attempt to depict accuraterelief. A
check on the heights shown on the Samariasheet revealedan averagedifferenceof 35 feet comparedwith the
corresponding Survey of Palkstine map. Evidence of land use and vegetation is available for the 19th
century in these maps although not, of course, for ancient times. In fact most maps are rathervaguewith this
type of information.Wilson'smap of Jerusalemand Environs(1 : 10,000) is the best example of evidencefor
vegetation. Small pictorial symbols are shown on the P.E.F. map, but except for the gardensaroundtowns the
areasare undefined and there is no key. A good picture of the extent of gardensaroundLydda and Ramlehis,
however, available.Jacotin's map shows cultivated areaswhich are very useful as the period around 1800 is
usually regardedas a time of economic depressionand gross underemploymentof land and resourcesin the
Ottoman Empire. Among the best maps showing land use are those published by the German Deutsche
PalastinaVereinwhich are in vivid colour and very useful.
For the historian, settlement and communicationsare probablythe most importantitems on a map,and it
is here that the dual-purposenature of these maps is brought out. Valuableevidenceis obtained both for the
important 19th century developmentsand for the Biblical and classicalperiods. Apart from the holy places,
settlement and roads are not depicted stronglyon maps of Palestinein the early part of the 19th century, but
later on they become important, especially as it was realized that modern villages were often the direct
descendantsof Biblical places and in many cases retained the same or a similarname. Eventuallyevery ruin,
tell, and squalid village was put on the map as scholarssearchedfor the evidence of ancient sites. The British
OrdnanceSurvey has a good record for placing historical information on maps, but many of these maps of
Palestinehad this as their main aim, and this does not refer to the Bible atlasesand other specificallyhistorical
compilations.
For both the 19th century and for ancient evidence, the P.E.F. map is again by far the best, partly
because of its largerscale and in part because of the thoroughnessand accuracyof the surveyors,Conderand
Kitchener.It distinguishedbetween major and minor roads then existing (they were in fact tracksratherthan
permanent highways),and Conderalso markedRoman routes as far as they were known. As evidence for 19th
century settlement, this map is unique. It was producedjust before the largeJewish emigrationswhich culmi-
On Jacotin see: D. H. Kallner (Amiran), Jacotin 's Map of Palestine. PEQ (1944); Y. Karmon, An Analysis of Jacotin's
Map of Palestine, Israel Exploration Jnl. (1960).
33

6. nated in the vast expansion of settlement after 1948 and is thus very valuablefor comparisonwith Mandate
maps and Israeli maps to trace the course of settlement growth in Palestine. The P.E.F. map showed over
10,000 place-names all, comparedwith the 1,712 of Robinson'sIndex, andevenVan de Velde's map showed
in
only 1,800 places. Many villagespreviouslyunknown to Europeanscholarswere revealedand put on the map
for the first time through the work of Conder and Kitchener,west of the Jordan, and Conder, Schumacher,
Warren, Palmereast of the river.Comparisonswith Survey of Israel maps are interestinghere. The P.E.F.
and
reducedmap, at 3/8 inch to a mile, shows 94% of the amount of detail on the Survey of Israel 1: 250,000
map, so good comparisonsbetween the 1870s and the 1960s are possible. Whatis more interesting,however,is
that the P.E.F. map (in this case the 1-inch version)includes about 20 %more informationon historicalsites -
tells, ruins, caves, etc. - than the Survey of Israel 1 : 100,000 maps. Such was Conder'sattention to detail
that he can mark 19th-century oil mills and ancient stone coffins on the same map. So we see that Conderand
Kitchener depicted the evidence which they saw on the ground for the ancient geographyof Palestineas well
as giving the information one would normally expect in a topographicalmap of the late 19th century.
Consequentlynot only is the P.E.F. seriesof maps a uniquely accurateset of documentsfor the study of 19th
centuryPalestine, but it is still the best topographic source we have for ancient times. With the Survey of
Palestinemaps no longer current,until the Surveyof Israelreleasethe 1 : 10,000 and 1 : 20,000 maps they are
preparing,5 P.E.F. 1-inchand 3/8-inch maps will continue to providethe best source availablefor historical
the
evidence of ancient times in cartographicform. Its information on caves, ruins, and for the location of
churchesand mosques, is still the best we have.
To go back to Jacotin, we find that while useful comparisonscan be made between his map and that of
Conder, in order to examine 19th century development,it is possible only in detail in Galileeand along the
coastal plain. The most important routes and villages are shown on the Frenchmaps,andthe largenumberof
khans (inns) shows up well in the Galilee section. This is very useful for comparisonwith later maps, as we
know that the number of khans declined markedlyin the 19th century. Evidence for earlierperiods is not,
however, thick on this map, although the most important ruins and tells are shown, e.g. Caesarea.Neither
Kiepert nor Van de Velde drew maps at a scale large enough to show much detail, although towns and the
largervillages are shown as are the most important ruins and tells. Schumacher'smaps east of the Jordanare
largely concerned with historical remains,and ruins of ancient sites are frequentlymarked,but 19th century
settlement is shown as well. By the time we get to Newcombe's map of the Negev, surveyed 1913-14, the
interest in Biblical data can be seen to be givingplace to a more intense concern for the contemporarycultural
geography.
Of course, when dealing with ancient sites, carehas to be taken with identifications.These maps show, as
the century progresses, only more sites but also a more correctidentificationof them. Currentplace-names
not
were generally collected accurately,especially by Conder, but ancient ruinsand tells were often given Biblical
names with little careful study of topographicalevidence or the Biblical text. Kiepert, for example, whose
names are usually good, places KadeshBamea about 35 miles south of the Dead Sea (Mapof Lower Egypt and
Sinai 1856), whereas scholarsnow locate it at 'Ain Kadeis',near the Israel/Egyptborder.Jacotin'smap is good
for names in so far as he gives alternativesto the largerplaces where the name has often changed, and so he
gives not only conventionalEuropeannamesin many cases, but also the classicaland Arabnames, the latter in
Arabic script. Thus Acre has four names attached to it. However,Jacotin'sArabicnameshave been criticised
for inaccuracy,and many places are just named 'village'.Van de Velde identified many new places of Biblical
interest in his travels, e.g. Aenon or Bir Salim. Any Biblical names on the earliermaps should, however, be
takenwith caution.Condercollected the currentArabicnames for the places on his maps, which on the face of
it makes them appearto be less useful, comparedwith Jacotin's.In fact, this makes the P.E.F. map even more
useful as evidence of the current Arabplace-name, and the sheets are not clutteredup with doubtful identifi-
cations. The Arabic name is often a corruptionof the ancient name and this fact has helped enormously in
locating Biblical, Classicaland Byzantine sites. Conderhimself reckonedthat throughplace-names was able
he
5 Survey of Israel catalogue 1964.
34

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8. to add 180 ancient sites to the map of Palestine in the area of his survey,6 including such importantones as
Debir, Megiddoand Gilgal (still disputed). Its influence can be seen on the Bible Society's map of 1887, andit
enabledthe boundariesof the twelve tribes of Israelto be laid down with greateraccuracy.
As the century progressed,more accurateidentifications of ancient sites were made,andthe virtueof the
P.E.F. map wasthat, insteadof givinghis opinion on the map, Conderreproducedthe actual topographyof the
1870s in cartographicform and left his opinions to the voluminous memoirs. So the map can still be used as
evidence for ancient sites as well as for 19th-century development, without the fear of being given false
evidence.
Whenwe look at town plans, the interest in ancient times againbecomes very apparent,for a largenumber
of quite insignificantplaces were mapped simply because of the existence of local ruins.Yet these plansalso
provide extremely valuableevidence for urban developmentin the Ottoman period. The GermanSociety, in
particular,published some very fine coloured plans. The 'Karte der Umgebungvon Jafa' (with a plan of the
town) by Theodor Sandel is one of the best, showing not only settlement and roads but also land use.
However,evidence from maps for urban developmentin the 19th century is only really availablein detail for
Jerusalem.Many maps were drawn of the city, with particularemphasis on the ancient remainsin order to
attempt a solution to the heated problems of the topography of the city in Biblical and Classicaltimes. The
maps were, however, of uneven quality. Niebuhr'splan looks poor comparedwith his maps of other placesin
the Middle East. However, in the 19th century, maps become increasinglyaccurateand useful comparisons
can be made. Thus by comparingthe early 19th-centurymaps of Tobler, Kiepert of the OrdnanceSurveyof
Aldrich and Symonds (1841), which show the city largely confined within the walls - and with open spaces
even there - with those of Pierrotti (1864), Wilson(1865), and Schick (1895), the growth of housing to the
west andnorth, and then later to the south-westaroundthe railwaystation, can be clearlyseen. Any identific-
ations of ancient Zion and Ophel, or of the ancient springs,should be treated with caution, however. Here
Wilsonscored,rather as Conderdid later, by recordingaccuratelythe contemporarytopographywith the ruins
and remainscorrectlylocated, enablinglater researchto sort out an identificationof the ancient sites on a firm
cartographic base.Manyplanswere drawnby Schumacher for examplehis plan of Madaba- by ConradSchick
-
and by Conder, but it was in the main the ancient sites that they were interested in, so these plans provide
evidence for old mounds, walls and ruins and only incidentally for the habitations of the last century. Other
gaps were filled in towards the end of the century too numerousto mention, although the work of Hull the
geologist, of CanonTristramthe naturalistand of de Vogue deservemention. These mapsfilled in some of the
gaps with evidencefor the contemporarytopographyand for ancient sites.
In this brief analysis of the maps of Palestine in the last century, the emphasishas been on the value of
these documents as historical evidence,and many important cartographers explorershave not even been
and
mentioned. Yet, even using just the most vital maps of the period, it can be seen that there is important
evidence here in cartographicform, both for the 19th century and for more ancient times. By carefuluse of
the larger-scale better produced maps information is availablefor the geographyof Palestinetowardsthe
and
end of the Ottomanperiod,and there is a wealth of materialof greatuse to the scholarsof ancient times. Many
of them could in fact be called topographicalmaps with a historical theme. Students of the 19th-century
might be regretfulthat these mapperswere perhapsmore concernedwith illustratingthe book of Joshuathan
in helping future historians of the Ottoman Empire, in the same way as many of the sponsors of the larger
surveyswere disgruntledat their slow, scientific and unspectacular nature.The result,however,is that although
the mappingof Palestinefollowed a long time behind that of WesternEurope,the maps that were produceddo
help historiansof both ancient and modern times, and this gives them a characterthat is, perhaps,unique.
6 C. R. Condor, Palestine, p. 28.
36