The cadastral mapping of Palestine, 1858-1928

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 referenced of location, to statutory maps which became indispensible 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. -from Authors