Gaza Sanjak Explained

Gaza Sanjak (ar|سنجق غزة), known in Arabic as Bilād Ghazza (the Land of Gaza), was a sanjak of the Damascus Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered in Gaza, and spread northwards up to the Nahr al-‘Awja/the Yarkon River. In the 16th century it was divided into nawahi (singular: nahiya; third-level subdivisions): Gaza in the south and Ramla in the north along the Nahr Rūbīn/Wādī al-Ṣarār.^[1]

Gaza Sanjak "formed a passageway connecting Egypt and the Levant, precipitating bi-directional trade, conquest and population movements". Situated in the southern part of the Levantine coastal plain, Gaza Sanjak received less precipitation and was more prone to drought and nomadic incursion than more northerly regions.^[2]

Marom and Taxel have shown that during the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, nomadic economic and security pressures led to settlement abandonment around Majdal ‘Asqalān, and the southern coastal plain in general. The population of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, while the lands of abandoned settlements continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages. Overall, during the 17th century, about half of all inhabited sites in the District of Gaza were abandoned.^[3]

By 1800, settlement in the district expanded again. Migrations from Egypt, improved transportation and security conditions, and land reform led to the repopulation of deserted villages with the encouragement of the Ottoman authorities.

List of settlements (1596)

In the 1596- daftar, the sanjak contained the following nahiyah and villages/town

Gaza Nahiyah

• Al-Sawafir al-Sharqiyya, Bayt Tima, Hamama,^[4] Al-Tina, Yibna, Isdud, Arab Suqrir,^[5] Deir al-Balah, Burayr, Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Al-Majdal, Askalan, Bayt 'Affa, Najd, Ni'ilya,^[6] Bayt Jirja, Hiribya, Qatra, Iraq Suwaydan, Kawkaba, Beit Jimal Monastery, Al-Batani al-Sharqi,^[7] Al-Qubayba, Al-Faluja, Bayt Daras, Al-Maghar,^[8] Hatta, Jusayr, Zikrin, Zayta, Barqa, Beit Hanoun, Dayr Sunayd, Simsim,^[9] Al-Jaladiyya, 'Ajjur,^[10] Al-Sawafir al-Gharbiyya, Julis, Karatiyya, Bayt Jibrin, Iraq al-Manshiyya, Qastina, Ibdis,^[11] Idnibba, Jilya, Rafah, Al-Jura, Tell es-Safi, Abasan al-Kabera,^[12] Al-Sawafir al-Shamaliyya, Summil, Barbara, Al-Muharraqa, Mughallis, Yasur

Ramla Nahiyah

• Qula, Dayr Tarif, Jaffa,^[13] Jimzu, Kharruba, Barfiliya, Sarafand al-Amar, Artuf, Bayt Susin, Islin,^[14] Al-Khayriyya, Khulda, Al-Tira, Dayr Ayyub, Qibya, Bayt Nabala, Budrus, Bnei Brak, Imwas, Aqir,^[15] Deir Qaddis, Yalo, al-Midya, Shuqba, Salama, Sar'a, Saqiya, Lod,^[16] Jisr Jindas, Bayt Dajan, Al-Safiriyya, Al-'Abbasiyya, Yazur, Innaba, Rantiya, Bir Ma'in, Bayt Shanna, Ni'lin, Kharbatha Bani Harith, Kasla,^[17] Aboud, Beit Sira, Kafr 'Ana^[18]

Bibliography

• Book: Hütteroth . W.-D.. Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth. Abdulfattah. K. . Kamal Abdulfattah. Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century . 1977 . Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. 3-920405-41-2.

Notes and References

1. Book: Cohen . Amnon . Lewis . Bernard . Population and Revenue in the Towns of Palestine in the Sixteenth Century . 1978 . Princeton University Press . Princeton . 12 . 9781400867790 .
2. Marom . Roy . Taxel . Itamar . 2023-10-01 . Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalan's hinterland, 1270–1750 CE . Journal of Historical Geography . 82 . 49–65 . 10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003 . 0305-7488. free .
3. Marom . Roy . Taxel . Itamar . 2024-10-10 . Hamama: The Palestinian Countryside in Bloom (1750–1948) . Journal of Islamic Archaeology . en . 11 . 1 . 83–110 . 10.1558/jia.26586 . 2051-9729.
4. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 142
5. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 143
6. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 144
7. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 145
8. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 146
9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 147
10. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 148
11. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 149
12. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 150
13. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 151
14. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 152
15. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 153
16. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 154
17. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 155
18. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 156