Historical geography of the Palestine southern coastal plain in the late Ottoman period – the Ashkelon region as a case study

Abstract

The city of Ashkelon occupies the geographical area that, during the Ottoman and Mandatory periods, belonged to six settlements (Majdal, Hamame, Nailia, Jora, Rasem, and Hasas). Although these settlements differed from one another in nature and in status, they nonetheless had ties with each other and with the large village, later to become the town Majdal, the central settlement in the region. The various developments that Palestine underwent during the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did not pass over this area. Although the livelihood of the settlements in the region was based primarily on agriculture, each also possessed a distinctive character. The research describes the geographical developments in the Ashkelon region and its landscape, and examines the changes they and the area, underwent as a case study of the southern coastal plain.