Posted on: 1999

By Dr. Hala Fattah

When Jerusalem was occupied by Ottoman troops in the early 16th century, neither the local population was harmed nor were the historic sites damaged. Quite to the contrary, law and order was reinforced, the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt, and the bedouin kept at bay. Moreover, Sultan Suleiman the Lawgiver also built a number of drinking-fountains for the provision of water to the worshippers that flocked to the Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary). The return to security and stability was enough to produce two near-immediate results: an increase in population and an economic boom.

Because water for agriculture was always scarce in Jerusalem, the region’s rural surplus was not as important as its urban revival. The city’s prosperity depended on sources other than agriculture. In the 16th century, the economic corporations or guilds in the city had a very high profile. Artisans and craftsmen thrived, and so did Jerusalem. Among the best known guilds were those of the soap-makers, the bakers, the linen-workers and the weapons makers. Trade was also important in Jerusalem, as testified to by the numerous specialized markets in the city. There were the apothecaries, the vegetable sellers, the dye-makers and the leather suppliers. But the most important was the cotton market. Although it had existed under the Mamluks, the market had since then fallen in disrepair. Then the early Ottoman administration (in conjunction with local merchants and entrepreneurs) injected renewed energy into its renovation and repair. As a result of government-led expansion (which also led to the renaming of the market as Suq al-Sultan), the number of warehouses and shops in the market area increased, and so did their prices!

Very little traces of this prosperity and urban renewal remained in the 18th and 19th centuries. Jerusalem underwent a period of arrested growth during that time, which lasted until the early 1830’s. Contrary to the 16th century, its renaissance came about not because of economic or commercial expansion but because of the political, religious and administrative developments of the 19th century. In fact, the late historian Alexander Scholch believed that “the history of Jerusalem in the 19th century is the history of her emergence as a major administrative centre in Bilad al-Sham and, in a way, as the capital of Palestine…”.

After the Egyptian General Ibrahim Pasha’s occupation of Syria in 1832, foreign missions and consulates were established throughout the province that, upon the Ottoman re-occupation, proved hard to dislodge. The first European consulates were those of Great Britain (1838), Prussia (1842), Sardinia (1843), France (1843), America (1856) and Russia (1857). Meanwhile, the Anglo-Prussian Protestant Bishopric opened its doors in 1841, the Latin Patriarchate was reestablished in 1847 and the Russians sent a Bishop in 1858. And after 1845, the Greek-Orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem moved their seat from Constantinople to Jerusalem itself. All of these European-inspired changes quite naturally accelerated the building boom in the city. Starting with the construction of new buildings inside and outside the town by the English and German Protestants in the 1840’s, “the erection of new churches, monasteries, synagogues, mosques, schools, hospitals, orphanages, hospices, consulates etc. continued without interruption until World War One”. It is noteworthy that wealthy Muslim families participated in the changing of Jerusalem’s urban landscape alongside foreign European and Christian organizations.

Scholch makes clear that the city’s new prominence arose not as a result of commercial opportunities but because Jerusalem “lived off and for the Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy places, for the institutions which existed or were established for their sake and from the pilgrims and travelers who visited them”. He also says that the influx of European Jewry did not have a discernible effect on industrial or commercial activity for many of the Jews that moved to the city in that period “continued to live off alms collected from Europe”. But the building boom was instrumental in creating new jobs for Jerusalem’s artisans, craftsmen and small builders. It also had an effect on the establishment of the telegraph and the railway, and the construction of new roads.

Finally, the increased attention paid to the urbanization of Jerusalem, the spread of communications and the growth of the population forced the Ottomans’ hand, so to speak. In the middle of the 19th century, the administrative redevelopment of Jerusalem was a key aspect of the Ottoman centralization of Palestine. As a result of the institution of municipal and administrative councils, Jerusalem’s political life was revitalized. Chief among the political reformers of the epoch were the important Muslim families that had long resided in the city. The next article will discuss their great significance to Jerusalem before , during, and after World War One.

Of Iraqi origin, Dr. Hala Fattah is a historian of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire, especially Iraq. She is the author of The Politics of Regional Trade of Iraq, Arabia and the Gulf, 1745-1900 (S.U.N.Y Press, 1996). Presently, she is an Independent Scholar.

References:
Alexander Scholch, Jerusalem in the 19th Century (1831-1917 AD) in K J Asali, ed. Jerusalem in History. New York : Olive Branch Press, 1996. Suleiman Masalha, trans. Amnon Cohen.

Al-quds : dirasat fi tarikh al-madina. Yad Yastahaq Bin Tasqi, Jerusalem, 1990.