Olive Tree Cultivation and the Olive Oil Industry in Palestine: Trends of Growth and Decline from the Late Mamluk Period to the End of the British Mandate

Abstract

This article analyzes the scale, fluctuations and geographical distribution of olive (Olea europaea) cultivation in Palestine over 550 years, from the Late Mamluk period (1300–1517), through the Ottoman era (1517–1917), until the end of the British Mandate in 1947. Although olive oil played a dominant role in the diet and the local economy, there is currently no research that measures and quantifies the number of olive trees or the number of villages and towns that cultivated olive trees and produced olive oil. We reconstruct the agricultural landscape with its vast olive groves and examine the cultural history of olive tree farming, the growth of the olive oil industries and their economic role and importance. The earliest figures we have, that are from the year 1596, show that 400 villages cultivated 1,400,794 olive trees. By 1943, there were 6,053,367 olive trees that were cultivated by 644 villages. We found a strong correlation (R² = 0.96, p < 0.01) between the number of olive trees and the number of villages, indicating that olive oil demand and the olive oil industry align with population size. The research data derives from a variety of medieval local chroniclers, as well as diaries by European, North African and Middle Eastern travelers who provide descriptions of olive groves and the olive oil industry. Among the most important sources are the 1596 Ottoman tax registers. The tax registers are the first document that present clear-cut figures on the numbers of olive trees, olive presses and the names of the villages that cultivated olive groves. The main sources for the last period dealt with in this study are the British Mandate maps (1943), which display the acreage of the different crops across Palestine. The data from the maps is supplemented by two modern works on olive cultivation written by agronomists Assaf Goor (b. 1894) and Ali Nasouh (b. 1906) who were born in Palestine and employed by the British department of agriculture. The analysis of data shows that demands of local and oversea markets; the olive oil soap industry, which was based on the local olive oil; as well as competing agricultural crops like sugarcane, cotton and citrus, contributed to a complex economic structure. Olive tree cultivation did not depend on government investment. Olive groves in Palestine were rain fed, and, except for the harvest, they required relatively few working days a year. Hence, moderate policies (low taxation during periods of drought and low yields) adopted by enterprising local rulers and the central British government created a unique and relatively balanced relationship between rulers and farmers, which encouraged olive cultivation and led to a constant increase in the number of olive trees and the development of the olive oil industry.

1. Introduction

Olive trees (Olea europaea) are well-suited to the Mediterranean regions. In all the Mediterranean climate areas of the southern Levant, archeological research has documented numerous oil production installations and botanical remains that demonstrate the long-term production of olive oil [1]. Some of the oldest living specimens date back to the first millennium and possibly even earlier [2]. The earliest archeological evidence dates to the Neolithic (6500–4500 BCE) and Chalcolithic (4500–3500 BCE) periods [3,4,5,6,7]. Trees were cultivated across Palestine, in volcanic and limestone soils, in valleys, mountainous and hilly terrains and at altitudes of 200–600 m where the annual rainfall averages between 400 and 500 mm [8] (p. 38). Olive trees can, however, grow in areas with considerably lower and higher rainfall and elevations [9].

Olives and oil formed an important component of the diet of all segments of the region’s society. Although sesame oil was produced locally in the period under discussion, its high price probably placed it beyond most people’s reach [10] (p. 78). Thus, before the introduction of soybean oil and margarine in the 1920s [11], olive oil played a dominant role in every household. Animal fat (lard, tallow and butter) rarely substituted olive oil due to its short shelf life in the long, hot summers and strict religious dietary rules in Islam and Judaism. Proverbs in colloquial Arabic demonstrate the importance of olives and olive oil in local kitchens [12]. A common dish in rural as well as urban areas among the poor and rich was bread dipped in olive oil.

خبز وزيتون من احسن ما يكون

khubz wa Zaytūn min ahsan mā yakūn

Bread and olives are best

خبز وزيت عمارالبيت

khubz wzaitūn ʿamār albait

Bread and olive oil—are the foundations of the house

While today olive cultivation is a ‘highly simplified crop’ [13] that produces oil for human consumption, up until the first decades of the twentieth century, olive groves supplied a range of basic domestic needs: oil was used to preserve foods, and wood from pruning and olive mill waste were used for fuel for cooking and heating. Waste was also fed to farm animals and used as a fertilizer [14]. Kerosene replaced olive oil for light only in the 1870s. Soap and numerous medicinal and cosmetic recipes included olive oil.

In the early Muslim periods (seventh–tenth centuries), soap was produced only from surpluses and after ensuring food consumption needs [15] (p. 62). By the end of the Mamluk period, however, and throughout the Ottoman centuries, the soap industry saw continuous and rapid growth, and soap became one of the region’s main export products. Village households still made their own soap in the twentieth century, and anointing one’s body with olive oil was still practiced in hamams (public bath houses) in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the British Mandate [16]. Economically, olives can be defined as a cash crop: ‘At the house hold level, this would refer to all marketed surplus; at a national level to crops sold abroad’ [17]. Surpluses of olive oil were sold to neighboring regions where olives did not grow, or to countries where olive yields failed and there was a temporary shortage.

Although olive trees were native to the landscape, a well-established branch in the region’s economy and an irreplaceable ingredient in the population’s diet, cultivation fluctuated and periods of shortage were registered in the fifteenth century (Table 1). The scale of olive cultivation and the economic complexity of the olive oil industry will be examined within a broad historical setting, analyzing the influence of various factors: direct intervention of sultans, high-ranking amirs, government monopolies and initiatives of local rulers; population growth, supply and demand of local and foreign markets; introduction of new crops; and the changing hierarchy of regional crops such as cotton, sugarcane and citrus that brought higher revenues to the sultanate’s or the empire’s coffers.

The geographical borders of the region examined (Figure 1 and Figure 2) are marked by the Mediterranean coast in the west and the Jordan River in the east. The southern border was determined by the 200 mm precipitation line marking the edge of the dry farming olive-growing area [18] (p. 51). During the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, the Litani River marked the northern border of the Galilee. The course of the northern border changed in 1923, when the Galilee was divided between the French and the British. This article follows fluctuations in cultivation and geographical distribution of olive trees and hence the resulting changes in olive oil production and industries in Palestine from the late Mamluk period (1300–1517), through the Ottoman period (1517–1917), and up until the end of the British Mandate (1917–1947). We analyze long-term landscape management through the lens of olive cultivation in the southern Levant. By integrating historical, cartographic, and quantitative data, this approach reveals the connections among agricultural practices, settlement dynamics, and regional economies. This research aligns with current landscape studies that emphasize the impact of historical land use on today’s rural and peri-urban areas, contributing to discussions on sustainable landscape and resource management.

Table 1. European olive oil imported into the Levant, and reports on harsh winters (marked in gray).

Year	Origin of Merchants and Quantity
1400	A merchant from Barcelona exported olive oil to Alexandria worth 2964 dinars [19] (p. 139).
1401	Heavy snow and a wave of locusts [20].
1405	A shipment of 2790 oil jars from Seville to Alexandria at the cost of 1400 dinars.
1406	A merchant of Gaeta, Bicoli Limbito, exported olive oil and soap worth 2079 dinars to Alexandria [19] (p. 161).
	Catalans exported to the Muslim Levant great quantities of olive oil produced in Tarragona, Majorca, and other provinces ruled by the King of Aragon [19] (p. 214).
	A Venetian ship carried olive oil worth 25,000 ducats to Syria [19] (p. 230).
1415	A Catalan shipwreck on its way to Egypt carried olive oil and other merchandise. The cargo was worth 60,000 dinars [19] (pp. 235–236).
1421	The Genoese exported great quantities of olive oil to Egypt, especially from Andalusia [19] (p. 269).
1451	A peace treaty or a 5-year truce was proposed between the King of Aragon and the Mamluk sultan in Cairo. The Aragonian ambassador proposed that the sultan oblige himself to buy from the king annually 10,000 quintals of soap worth 100,000 ducats, 5000 djarwi kintar hazelnuts for 125,000 ducts and 3000 butts (1 butt = 0.45–0.61 ton) of olive oil for 90,000 ducts [19] (p. 311).
1490	Heavy snow damaged the orchards and especially the olive trees (Ibn Ṭūlūn 1998: 112) [21].
1504	Heavy rains and strong winds. Damage to olive trees in the village of Sakhnin in the Lower Galilee (Ibn Ṭūlūn 1962: 272) [22] (p. 272).
1508	An extreme winter hit the area, snow fell continuously for 15 days and piled up. Wild and domestic animals died (Duwayhī 1976: 379) [23].

Table 1. European olive oil imported into the Levant, and reports on harsh winters (marked in gray).

Year	Origin of Merchants and Quantity
1400	A merchant from Barcelona exported olive oil to Alexandria worth 2964 dinars [19] (p. 139).
1401	Heavy snow and a wave of locusts [20].
1405	A shipment of 2790 oil jars from Seville to Alexandria at the cost of 1400 dinars.
1406	A merchant of Gaeta, Bicoli Limbito, exported olive oil and soap worth 2079 dinars to Alexandria [19] (p. 161).
	Catalans exported to the Muslim Levant great quantities of olive oil produced in Tarragona, Majorca, and other provinces ruled by the King of Aragon [19] (p. 214).
	A Venetian ship carried olive oil worth 25,000 ducats to Syria [19] (p. 230).
1415	A Catalan shipwreck on its way to Egypt carried olive oil and other merchandise. The cargo was worth 60,000 dinars [19] (pp. 235–236).
1421	The Genoese exported great quantities of olive oil to Egypt, especially from Andalusia [19] (p. 269).
1451	A peace treaty or a 5-year truce was proposed between the King of Aragon and the Mamluk sultan in Cairo. The Aragonian ambassador proposed that the sultan oblige himself to buy from the king annually 10,000 quintals of soap worth 100,000 ducats, 5000 djarwi kintar hazelnuts for 125,000 ducts and 3000 butts (1 butt = 0.45–0.61 ton) of olive oil for 90,000 ducts [19] (p. 311).
1490	Heavy snow damaged the orchards and especially the olive trees (Ibn Ṭūlūn 1998: 112) [21].
1504	Heavy rains and strong winds. Damage to olive trees in the village of Sakhnin in the Lower Galilee (Ibn Ṭūlūn 1962: 272) [22] (p. 272).
1508	An extreme winter hit the area, snow fell continuously for 15 days and piled up. Wild and domestic animals died (Duwayhī 1976: 379) [23].

2. Materials and Methods

General descriptions of olive groves are found in works by contemporary Mamluk chroniclers as well as in Christian, Muslim and Jewish pilgrim travelogues [22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]. They occasionally highlight a village or a town with exceptionally large olive groves or where olive oil was of outstanding quality. Pilgrim accounts ring more credible when the writers are Italian or Spanish travelers who tasted the local olive oil and compared it with familiar flavors from their native country. In some cases, the price of olive oil is stated alongside other basic food products [10]. The most interesting material, however, comes from fifteenth-century European commercial documents showing that European olive oil and olive oil soap were exported to the Levant, with exact dates, prices, quantities and origin listed [19,31]. Among the Ottoman period sources, the 1596 tax register (Tapu-u Tahrir-i-Defteri) analyzed and published by Hütteroth and Abdulfattah is unique for its quantity and quality of data. The number of families, the different cultivated crops, number and type of farm animals, bee hives as well as village industries were recorded for each village in Palestine, by clerks who were nominated by the Ottoman government. The tax on olive groves was calculated according to the number of olive trees: one akçe for every two olive trees, whether the tree yielded or crops failed and not according to the amount of oil, as recorded in earlier sixteenth-century defters [32] (p. 81) and [33]. This enabled us to calculate the acreage of olive groves in almost every village. The defter also lists the number of olive oil presses. Official clerks, employed by the sultan and responsible to him, recorded and collected the taxes. The scale of the work was such that human errors are inevitable. As such, village names and their geographical identifications are sometimes lacking, and the figures and calculations are occasionally faulty or missing. And yet, the defters’ overall value has been acknowledged by most modern historians [34]. Because the method of tax collection changed significantly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are no detailed records for village agricultural production, and data once again relies on travel accounts [35] (pp. 7–10) and [36].

The advance of cartography in the nineteenth century and production of accurate, detailed maps added an invaluable tool for researching land use [37,38]. The Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) maps created by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1871 and 1877, supplemented by written reports that specify the different orchards, vineyards, palm groves and various types of natural vegetation, assisted in computing the acreage of olive groves [39]. The wealth of agricultural information in British Mandatory Palestine derives from official documents, surveys and investigations commissioned by the British governors and the Agriculture Department [40]. The latter formed the bases of research of historians, agronomists and archeologists who focused on olive cultivation and olive oil production and industries in the first half of the twentieth century [41] (pp. 131–157) and [11,42,43,44,45,46]. The most accurate information on the scale of olive cultivation in the mid-1940s was published by the agronomist Alī Nasouh, who recorded the acreage of olive trees in each and every village in Palestine [47]. Because the traditional method of planting remained much the same, 10–12 olive trees per dunam, one can calculate the number of olive trees from the British Mandate maps and published works conducted by agronomists who recorded olive groves and olive oil industries in villages throughout Palestine and compare the data with the 1596 tax registers [8] (pp. 76–77). The methodological approach we used enabled us to track and examine the volatility in both cultivation and production quantities in accordance with global market forces.

This study is based on data extracted from the Ottoman tax register (1596), the Palestine Exploration Fund’s Survey of Western Palestine (1871–1877), and maps of Palestine produced by the British Survey Department in the 1930s and 1940s, following their own meticulous survey of cultivated crops in each village (Figure 3 and Figure 4). In addition, we also retrieved data from studies carried out in 1940s by the agronomist Ali Nasuah. The data from the above sources is organized in a chronological order starting from the Late Mamluk period, moving into the long 400-year rule when Palestine was ruled by the Ottomans and ending with the relatively short period in which the area was governed by the British. The material is displayed in tables, charts and maps and enabled us to quantify the number of olive trees, compare between periods to determine continuity in olive cultivation, and measure and examine the decline and growth of olive cultivation and oil production from the medieval (1596) to the modern period (1947). We also display the hierarchy of districts, according to the number of olive trees they cultivated, and show internal changes and development within each district. The fluctuations in cultivation are examined in greater detail for a case study of 10 Galilean villages where old traditional olive groves can still be seen. Linear regression was performed with the number of villages and the number of trees in the region.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Olive Cultivation in the Mamluk Period: Compiling a Map Based on Brief Descriptions

Brief accounts written by native chroniclers, geographers and pilgrims describe olive groves in central towns and along the well-beaten tracks that led to the many holy sites. Travelers seldom ventured into villages in the interior, and thus in some regions olive groves are not recorded. Our survey is by no means a comprehensive analysis of all the Mamluk period sources, and yet it gives a picture of olive-growing regions and, more importantly, the areas in which olives were no longer cultivated. Zohar Amar’s work on the cultivation and production of olive oil in the medieval period is currently the most extensive study on the subject [48].

Francesco Suriano was a high-ranking Franciscan clergyman who traveled and lived in the Holy Land between the years 1484–1493. In his Treatise on the Holy Land, Suriano notes wild and cultivated trees, shrubs and cultivated fields, attesting to his sound knowledge in botany and agriculture. His first rather sweeping remark is perhaps the most telling, ‘Having passed this plain [the coastal plain] you find hills and small mountains covered with olive trees but these especially in the countries of Galilee, Samaria, Beirut… and all Mount of Lebanon’ [30] (p. 39).

The olive industry centers of Nablus and Hebron were established prior to the Mamluk period and remained prominent cultivators and manufacturers of olive oil and soap throughout the Mamluk period. Dimashqī (d. 1327), a geographer born in Damascus, describes the export of olive oil in 1300 from ‘Nablus to Egypt, Syria, the Hijjaz and the Arabian desert…. From the oil they make soap of fine quality which is exported to all lands and to the islands of the Mediterranean’ [49] (p. 513). A similar description, in the late 1320s, by Ibn Battuta attests to the stability of the oil industry and olive cultivation [50] (p. 57). The Jewish Italian traveler Joseph De Montagna, who visited Nablus in 1481, describes the many olive trees on Mt. Grizim [51]. According to Mujir al-Din, the Jerusalem judge (d. 1522), most of the trees in Nablus were olive trees [25] (p. 75). Regarding Hebron, Felix Fabri, who visited Palestine in 1480–1483, refers to a forest of olive trees nearby the town [27] (pp. 408–409). The Italian Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro, who visited Hebron in 1488, noted that the ragged mountainous slopes were covered with olive trees. Hebron was the only town with a market dealing exclusively in olive oil [27] (p. 79).

A comparison between accounts demonstrates that extreme changes occurred within relatively short periods. In a letter written on his journey from Bet Lehem to Jerusalem, Obadiah of Bertinoro describes dense olive groves [52] (pp. 126–127). A few years earlier, Felix Fabri, who traveled along the same road, commented on the neglected orchards and the thistles that grew among the trees. Both Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro and Suriano describe the flavor of olive oil to their readers. The former tasted sesame and olive oil in Jerusalem and was clearly more impressed with the flavor of olive oil [52] (p. 132). Suriano also compared the two oils, ‘They have other bushes … from which they make oil called sesame, which is better than olive oil when cooked and even better than butter’ [30] (p. 223). Further west, Suriano noted Ramla as a center of olive oil production, describing the olive groves along most roads leading from Ramla across the Judean foothills to Jerusalem [30] (p. 40).

The scarcity of travelers’ descriptions of Galilean olive groves and the relatively few descriptions in works written by native authors is somewhat surprising. Dimashqī describes the olive groves in the region of Jabal Amaliha and Buqei’a, modern day Peqi’in [49] (p. 211). Ibn Battuta notes that Tyr olive oil was exported to Egypt [50] (p. 58). Uthmānī (d. 1378), who focused on the history of Safad, mentions three villages where olives were cultivated, Shaghur, Arabe and Rashmūn, but adds no further information [53]. Suriano mentions that the Galilee, Mt. Lebanon and Mt. Tabor were ‘covered with olive trees’ [30] (pp. 39, 159). Although most pilgrims visited Nazareth, there are no descriptions of olive trees in Nazareth or its environs. It is not quite clear if olive trees in the Galilee were simply ignored or if they were really absent from the landscape. By the end of the sixteenth century, however, olive trees became one of the most prominent crops in the lower Galilee villages surrounding Nazareth.

The southern and central Mediterranean coast are the only regions for which descriptions of olive groves are missing. Gaza, Asqalon, Jaffa, Arsuf and Acre (Akka), frequently described as olive-growing areas in the tenth–twelfth centuries by Muqaddasi (d. 985), Naser Khosraw (d. 1054), Idrisi (d. 1154) and others, are not mentioned in the Mamluk sources [15] (p. 58), [48] (pp. 144–145), and [54] (pp. 236–237). Along the coast, sugarcane and cotton, which fetched high prices in European markets, appear to have gradually replaced the more traditional olive tree farming [55] and [56] (p. 162). Marino Sanudo (d. 1343), who hoped to restore Christian rule in the Holy Land, stresses the importance of those two crops in the Mamluk economy: ‘cotton and sugar thrive from which the sultan and the Saracens receive great tolls and tribute. If Christians were to close these off no small hurt would come to the sultan …’ [57].

3.2. The Fifteenth Century: Temporary Shortage or Full-Scale Decline

The works of Ashtor and Coureas show that olive oil was exported to Egypt and Syria at the end of the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries [58] (pp. 253–286) and [59]. According to Ashtor, a significant change occurred in the fifteenth century. European commercial documents indicate olive oil and soap were imported to the Levant on a large scale from southern Europe and Tunisia (Table 1). He thus concluded that by the first half of the fifteenth century, ‘production of olive oil had greatly decreased’ [19] (p. 23). Four severe winters in the last century of Mamluk rule damaged olive trees and reduced yields (Table 1). Shortage caused the price of olive oil to soar by 50–100 percent, which induced the wave of imported olive oil [58] (p. 259).

Some scholars propose that olive cultivation declined due to high taxation [48] (p. 162), the Mamluk sultanate’s intervention and preference given to more profitable crops such as sugarcane and cotton. Both crops were monopolized by the central regime; only sultans and high-ranking Mamluk officers were able to invest in irrigation canals and fund the large work forces needed to maintain them [60]. Olive trees, on the other hand, depend almost entirely on precipitation and required little financial investment. Thus, supervision and cultivation were ‘largely left to the peasants themselves’ [61]. Like most crops and produce, tax was also levied on olive oil, and yet it seems Mamluk authorities rarely controlled or intervened in olive oil prices.

The information gleaned from the accounts does not tally with data gathered from European commercial documents. Despite their flaws, it is difficult to dismiss descriptions of olive groves from across the region and notes on production and export of oil and soap. It seems shortages were temporary, perhaps somewhat more acute in the first half of the fifteenth century. Grigg, an expert on past and present trade in olive oil around the Mediterranean, concludes that ‘most of the trade in olive oil is between countries that can and do produce olive oil; four fifths of all imports are into countries which are olive oil producers’ [62]. The fifteenth-century shortage was quickly overcome by importing olive oil to supply immediate local market needs. There is, currently, not enough evidence to suggest a full-scale decline in the cultivation or production of olive oil at the end of the Mamluk period.

3.3. From Sultanate to Empire: Olive Cultivation During the Sixteenth Century

The 1517 Ottoman conquest of Palestine was free of violent incidents. The village population remained, and property, fields and orchards were neither destroyed nor plundered.

In general, the economy saw ‘a steady, uninterrupted upwards curve’ [63] that followed the increase in the region’s population. The villages followed suit. The new trends that emerged in global and regional agriculture partially influenced olive cultivation. Although sugarcane does not appear in any of the sixteenth-century tax registers, there is some archeological evidence of sixteenth-century clay sugar pots. According to Peled, however, sugarcane was no longer cultivated commercially in the Levant [64]. Cotton cultivation increased throughout the country, but especially in the fertile Galilean valleys [65]. In the first half of the sixteenth century, olive oil production increased countrywide, suggesting increased cultivation. The olive oil soap industry continued exporting large quantities to Egypt and supplying the growing demand of local markets [35] (pp. 62–63), [41] (p. 136) and [66] (pp. 57, 62). In 1596, tax on olives was calculated according to the number of trees; one akçe was paid for every two olive trees, enabling calculation of the exact number of trees in each and every village (

Table 2. Olive cultivation in five geographic districts, according to the 1596 Ottoman tax registers.

	Jerusalem	Safad	Nablus	Lajjun	Gaza	Total
Villages with olive groves	105	69	192	19	1	349
Villages with no olive trees	32	211	34	37	192	493
Villages with mixed orchards	9	31	1	0	18	58
Total number of villages in district	146	311	227	56	211	902

, Figure 5). Village olive presses were registered, and tax was levied according to the amount of oil produced by each olive press. There are some difficulties regarding the number of olive presses (

Table 3. Olive trees in Palestine according to the 1596 defter.

Districts	No. of Villages	No. of Trees	Average of Trees per Village	Min	Max	Olive Presses
Nablus	192	613,572	3195	40	29,998	90
Jerusalem	105	486,598	4634	30	42,000	2
Safad	69	221,888	3215	80	32,000	34
Hebron	11	35,300	3209	600	14,400	0
Shaara	8	12,380	1547	200	4000	1
Shafa	6	12,242	2040	242	3000	2
Jinin	6	12,064	2010	500	5964	0
Atlit Coast	2	4400	2200	700	1500	0
Gaza	1	2000	2000	-	-	6
Ramla	0	0	0	-	-	6
Total	400	1,400,794				139

). In the district of Safad, for example, there were a number of villages with oil presses, but no record of olive trees, suggesting villages reached an agreement with the tax authorities and paid a set lump sum. Jerusalem had the second highest number of trees; the defter, however, has only two registered olive presses. Gaza has one village that cultivated olives, six olive presses and 18 villages with mixed orchards [32] (pp. 142–156). Perhaps the presses were also used for processing sesame that was grown widely in Gaza for oil or tahini paste. Although the data on presses is at times baffling, it provides some idea of the scope of industry development.

The defter also includes villages with orchards that had olive trees planted alongside other fruit trees or summer vegetables (Figure 2); calculating the number of olive trees in these mixed orchards is not possible.

A comparison of the number of trees to the number of villages demonstrates a positive correlation between variables (Figure 5), indicating a demand for olive oil commensurate to population size. Nablus ranked first with 613,572 olive trees; 84 per cent of the district’s villages cultivated olives. The high number of olive presses reveals the scale of the region’s olive oil industry. Jerusalem and its environs, known for having ultimate conditions for growing olive trees [47] (p. 64), was second to Nablus; 72 per cent of the district’s villages grew olives. As pointed out by Singer, olive oil dominated the economy of the mountain villages between Jerusalem and Nablus [66]. The Galilee, represented by Safad, ranks third with substantially lower numbers. Finally, as in the Mamluk period, olives trees remained a negligible crop along the coast (Figure 6; Table 3). Gaza had only one village taxed for olive trees; in 18 villages olive trees were planted alongside other fruit trees and 46 of its villages grew sesame.

3.4. First Glance at the Ten Galilean Villages That Form Our Case Study

As noted above, the extent of olive cultivation in Safad was substantially lower than Jerusalem and Nablus (Table 3). Despite the above, the Italian Rabbi Moshe of Bassola (d. 1560) notes the abundance of olive oil in Safad, its cheap price and the fact that surplus was exported to Damascus and other places [67]. There is no further information regarding the ‘Other places.’ In the sixteenth century, cotton was the dominant crop along the Galilean coast and further east along the plain [68]. In the Lower Galilee, Kanna, Saffuriya, Sakhnin, Kafr Manda and Mghar Hazur were the region’s largest olive cultivators (Figure 7).

Out of the 10 villages selected for our case study, for the year 1596, we have data on five: M’ilya, Kafr Kanna, Sakhnin, Safuriya and Yaquq (Figure 7 orange bars). Rama, Faradiya and Julis had mixed orchards and Arrabe did not grow olive trees at all. Dier Hanna does not appear in the tax records, indicating that the village was not occupied during that time [69]. The maps (Figure 8 and Figure 9) show the density of olive cultivation in Galilee in the year 1596 and the olive presses that were graded according to the tax they paid. Among the villages with the largest olive groves, only Saffuriya and Kfar Kanna had olive presses that matched the size of their olive yields. Although the village of Rama had an olive press on which they paid high taxes, information regarding olive cultivation in this village is missing. The villages of Yaquq and Mi’ilya paid considerably lower taxes on their olive presses, indicating they dealt with smaller yields.

3.5. The Seventeenth–Nineteenth Centuries: The Role of Independent Rulers in Expanding Olive Cultivation

The rise in local autonomous leaders who controlled the region of Palestine or significant parts of it was partially due to the weakening of the central Ottoman government. The shift in power had considerable impact on the region’s economy. Fakher al-Din (r. 1590–1634), who arose from the Druze community, and Dahir al-Umar, of Bedouin origin (r. 1730s–1775), actively intervened in trade and commercial ties within the region and beyond it [56] (pp. 173–174; 193–202) and [70] (pp. 38–39). Exports from Palestine in the eighteenth century depended on Ottoman maritime trade, which played a cardinal role in the empire’s economy [71,72]. The latter led to the revival and growth of the coastal cities. Ports were restored, and strongholds further inland were rebuilt or built anew in order to improve security to and from the ports.

Despite full-scale battles, frequent local feuds, rebellions and raids that may have destabilized the rural population, the olive oil industry thrived and the export of its products grew. Being local, the two leaders may well have been better acquainted with the agricultural landscape, local traditions and the needs and difficulties of the population. The establishment of Acre as the seat of Dahir al-Umar and later of Ahmed al-Jazzar (r. 1775–1804), and the urban development in the Galilee during the former’s reign, strengthened the economic ties between villages and towns, urban markets and harbors. These developments facilitated the establishment of commercial networks and firmly tied agricultural production to international trade [73] (pp. 93, 95) and [74,75]. In contrast to the sixteenth century, village taxes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was collected by locals who purchased the right to collect taxes and transfer them to the treasury in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. They were not required to write and submit a detailed record of the taxes collected. Thus, the information on olive cultivation and olive oil production derives from travel accounts. Although Fakher al-Din introduced new crops, the production of olive oil and the soap industry received his firm support [76] (pp. 115–116). Richard Pococke (d. 1765), a high-ranking Anglican clergyman who visited Palestine in 1737 and 1741, describes a thriving olive oil soap industry, ‘They have a great trade in Joppa in soap, which is not only made here, but likewise at Jerusalem, Rama [Ramla ?] and Lydda though commonly sold under the name of Joppa soap and it is from this place Egypt is chiefly supplied; it is made of the oil of olives and ashes’ [77].

By the early eighteenth century, Acre exported 1000 tons of olive oil. French merchants made advance purchases of cotton, olive oil and grain from Galilean village shaykhs. According Frangakis-Syrett, whose research focused on eighteenth-century Ottoman maritime trade, olive oil was ‘often sold for ready cash as opposed to barter or on credit’ and areas ‘that produced olive oil, such as Crete or Mitylene, were integrated into some of the most active coastal trade routes’ [78]. Like cotton, the export of olive oil and soap were monopolized by regional governors [70] (pp. 99, 102). The continuous growth of the local soap industry had a direct effect on the increase in the scale of olive cultivation. The acreage in the Galilee is partially revealed by Seetzen, the German explorer who visited the village of Rama in 1803 (Figure 7). Seetzen notes that Rama had 80,000 olive trees [79]. While olive cultivation did not dominate Galilean agriculture, acreage increased due to demographic growth, market demands and the potential for profit.

As in previous centuries, Nablus continued to play a central role; its economy, according to Doumani, depended on its olive yields and soap industry. Olives maintained their position as a leading cash crop. In the eighteenth century, Nablus exported 1000 tons of olive oil. By the mid-nineteenth century, its soap production tripled, growing in ‘leaps and bounds’ [80], responding to market forces, the town’s demographic growth and economic prosperity [81]. Most of the olive oil and soap produced in mid-nineteenth-century Palestine was exported from Jaffa, the export gate for both Jerusalem and Nablus. Olive oil and soap were rated among the three most profitable goods exported from Jaffa’s harbor. Most of the soap was still exported to Egypt [76] (p. 181). Although the quantities fluctuated considerably between 1857 and 1882, within 20 years (1863–82) exports of olive oil made in Jaffa grew by 30 per cent [82] (p. 92, Table 24).

Olive oil exported from Jaffa between 1857 and 1882 [82] (p. 83)

Year 1857: lowest quantity 20,000 oqqas*

Year 1876: highest quantity 3,500,000 oqqas

Average for the 25 years from 1857 to 1882: 539,194 oqqas

* 1 oqqa = 1.28 kg

The demand for olive oil for the soap industry is clearly revealed in plantings in areas such as the Mediterranean coast, where olives were a negligible crop in the sixteenth century. One of the largest olive groves in Palestine was located just south of the modern town of Ashdod [83] (p. 104). The French count Volney, who visited Palestine in 1783–1784, notes olive trees near Asqalon and three soap factories in Gaza.

The next entrepreneur was not a native of Palestine. The investment he made was bolder and on a greater scale than ever before. Muhammad Alī, the ruler of Egypt (r. 1805–1848), decided to develop an Egyptian olive oil industry for soap and lighting. Within thirty years, the number of olive trees in Egypt grew from 2400 in 1805 to 310,000 in 1835 [84]. His son, Ibrahim Pasha, who conquered and briefly ruled Palestine (1831–1841), followed his father’s active agricultural policy and accelerated economic development. In the Galilee, 300,000 olive trees were planted on the plain of Acre [18] (p. 35).

By the mid-nineteenth century, central Ottoman rule regained power, local chieftains were restrained and security gradually improved. The new land reforms aimed to create uniformity and increase tax revenues [73] (pp. 87–88, 117). As in prior centuries, world agriculture trends changed: cotton was no longer cultivated in Palestine; oranges were the new and upcoming cash crop. Late-nineteenth-century travel accounts written by Guérin (d. 1891) and the French geographer Cuinet (d. 1896) provide village names and descriptions of olive groves. They did not dismount their mule or horse to evaluate the size of olive groves or to count the trees. Cuinet did, however, provide the number of olive presses in each region he visited (

Table 4. Number of olive presses in the Galilee [86] (pp. 103, 107, 115, 119).

Name of Town	No. of Oil Presses
Acre and vicinity	250
Haifa	89
Tiberias	15
Safad	7
Nazareth	9
Total	370

) and the amount of olive oil produced in the region of Acre, 282,950 kg [85]. In 300 years, the number of olive presses in northern Palestine grew from 34 (1596) to 370 (1896). Cuinet noted that Haifa had become a major cultivator and producer; its olive oil was ‘no less sought after than that from other neighboring district’ [86] (p. 107). In Nazareth, which is not mentioned as an olive-growing area in the Mamluk period or in the sixteenth-century tax registers, olive cultivation was second only to grain, which was its principal crop [86] (pp. 119–120). In Jaffa, export continued to grow, reflecting the increase in olive cultivation in Jerusalem and Nablus.

In the Galilee, matters took a turn which is difficult to explain. Despite the considerable expansion in the scale of cultivation (

Table 5. The ten Galilean villages: a comparison between the year 1596 and 1871–1877.

Village Name	Y_ITM	X_ITM	Elevation (in Meters)	No. of Trees 1596	No. of Trees 1871–1877 SWP *
Mʻilya	769893	224625	529	458	16,910
Kafr Kanna	738990	232065	256	32,000	2100
Sakhnin	752213	227836	255	9100	40,090
Saffuriya	739701	226330	252	10,998	18,970
Yaquq	754462	254141	31	220	120
Rama	760390	234727	445	Olive & other fruit orchards	79,600
Julis	760890	217780	138	Olive & other fruit orchards	25,150
Faradiya	759656	240292	420	Olive & other fruit orchards	2980
Arrabe	750668	231990	250	Not available	10,720
Deir Hanna	751989	243309	310	Not available	25,600
Total				54,756 (4575.6 dunams)	222,240 (22,224 dunams)

* Data for the year 1596 derives from the defter [32] (pp. 177, 187, 188, 190, 191, 194). The number of trees in the 1870s is an estimate based on the digitization of plantations on the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) maps and the area calculation of the plots surrounding each village, divided by an average of 10 trees per dunam (1 hectare = 10 dunams). This is by no means a fixed number, but rather a close approximation. According to the text accompanying the maps, the plantations in the selected villages mainly consisted of olive groves.

), olive oil exported from Acre and Haifa dropped by almost two thirds in comparison to the eighteenth century [82] (p. 82). This suggests most of the oil was consumed by the rapidly growing local population and that local demand reduced surpluses [83] (p. 70).

While exact details regarding the acreage of olive groves are not available, production and export of olive oil and soap in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are well documented. Approximately half the olive oil produced in nineteenth-century Palestine went to the soap industry, a quarter went to food and a quarter was exported [82] (p. 90). In the five Galilean villages for which data is complete, cultivation increased by 30 per cent over a period of 281 years.

Commercial ties between the fallāhūn, local merchants, and the soap producers were occasionally tense, leading to economic strife, heavy debts and multifaceted legal proceedings. Volney describes olive groves where only tree stumps could be seen, the results of malicious acts of vengeance owing to feuds between neighboring farmers [87]. The felling of olive trees was apparently a common means of “warfare” [82] (p. 91).

3.6. The First World War: Ottoman Orders and British Counter-Orders

The growth in cultivation, olive oil production and the soap industry may have been hampered during World War 1 when numerous olive trees were felled by order of the Ottoman government to supply the urgent need for fuel [47] (p. 115). Further evidence derives from the counter-order issued by the British in 1917, prohibiting the felling of carob, pistachio and olive trees. The order was enforced by administering severe punishment and high fines [88].

Table 6. Number of olive trees in our ten Galilean villages—nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Village Name	No. of Trees 1871–1877 SWP *		Number of Dunams 1941–1945	Number of Trees 1943	Growth	Decrease
Mʻilya	16,910	Decline due to fuel shortage during World War?	784	15,000		11.3%
Kafr Kanna	2100		1130	11,000	80.9%
Sakhnin	40,090		3112	10,320		74.2%
Saffuriya	18,970		4089	32,700	42%
Yaquq	120		23	160	25%
Rama	79,600		8020	76,880		3.4%
Julis	25,150		1846	8270		67%
Arrabe	10,720		2908.5	20,400	47.4%
Faradiya	2980		750.9	7040	57.7%
Deir Hanna	25,600		2560.4	10,600		58.6%
Total	222,240 (22,224 dunams)			192,370 (19,237 dunams)		13.4%

* The number of trees in the 1870s is an estimate based on the digitization of plantations on the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) maps and the area calculation of the plots surrounding each village, divided by an average of 10 trees per dunam. The same method was used for the calculation of the olive groves in dunams for the years (1941–1945).

records the decline in growth for our ten case study villages in the Galilee. The data reveals a 13.5 per cent decrease between the late 1870s and 1943. It is difficult, however, to gage or link the damage to World War 1 (see further analysis below).

3.7. The British Mandate: The Zenith of Olive Tree Cultivation (1917–1947)

Whatever the scale of damage during World War 1, it seems olive groves in most of the country gradually recovered. Significant and rapid demographic growth, moderate taxation modified for years with low harvests and some government support led to a steady increase in olive cultivation during the first two decades and a high and stable acreage until the end of the British Mandate (Figure 10) [38] (pp. 28–30), [43] (pp. 407–408, 418), [44] (p. 217) and [89].

Data from the works of two prominent agronomists, Assaf Goor and Alī Nasouh, are used in this section. Both were born in Palestine and employed by the British Department of Agriculture. Alī Nasouh (b. 1906) studied agriculture in Nancy, France and published his magnum opus, Sajarat al-Zaitun (The Olive Trees) in 1947. Assaf Goor (b. 1894) studied agriculture at the American University of Beirut and later continued his studies at Berkeley. His book is titled Hazayt (The Olive). Both works are based on years of field work and research. Their works include detailed chapters on pests, diseases, grafting, the olive oil industry, various locally cultivated and wild species, planting and fertilizing methods and more. Alī Nasouh’s detailed lists of olive grove acreage in 582 villages and the number of modern and traditional olive presses are of the same quality and quantity as that of the sixteenth-century Ottoman defter. Goor provides total acreages for all of Palestine. In addition to the above, we also used British Mandate agricultural surveys that form the base for most modern works on agriculture and economy in the first half of the twentieth century [40,44,45,90].

Government support included banning the import of olive oil, erecting additional nurseries and providing villages with plants. In the 1930s, the British government offered villagers in the districts of Tiberias and Beisan trees at the price of 10 mill per tree. The impression one gets is that the villagers were willing to enlarge their olive groves but probably found it difficult to pay. Thus, from the 32,000 plants that were needed to complete the program initiated by the government, only the 7000 trees that were donated were planted [45] (p. 103). Although government plans and budgets were drawn, and surveys were carried out, olive cultivation in most of Palestine continued in much the same manner with relatively few technological innovations. Only five percent of the oil presses were mechanical [91]. Knowledge acquired in the field over numerous centuries was still widely implemented. An interesting exception was the initiative of Claude Jarvis, the British Governor of Sinai (1926–1937), who developed fruit orchards and olive groves in the oasis of Qadesh Barnea, for and with the local Bedouin tribes. A dam, terraces and pools were constructed for irrigation. His main aim was to reduce the threat of hunger among the tribes that gradually lost their source of income due to better roads, tracks and trains that replaced camel caravans. The project was successful until Jarvis left. The Sinai olives were still harvested and sent to be pressed at El-Arish in the 1980s [92].

Only 7–8 per cent of the cultivated land in Palestine during the British Mandate was planted with olive trees, with Arab farmers owning 98.8 per cent of these olive groves. As in previous centuries, olive trees were rain fed and almost all the yield was used for oil production, whereas the quantity of table olives was negligible [40] (p. 86 Figure 2.6) and [54] (p. 242). Most of the olive oil was used for the production of soap that remained a leading industry, exported to Egypt, Syria and Iraq. During the first decade of the twentieth century, the high demand for olive oil for the soap industry led to a shortage of olive oil for food consumption. The shortage was dealt with by importing olive oil from Syria. In 1921, there were 49 soap factories. Nablus, with 27 factories, maintained its place as the chief manufacturer (Figure 11). The British military forces in Palestine became prominent customers of Jaffa soap, whose industry was second to Nablus [90] (pp. 68–70). The government, olive tree cultivators and soap producers prioritized improving the production techniques of olive oil to enhance the hygienic and overall quality of the soap. This move was partially triggered by competition from the growing Egyptian cotton oil soap industry [41] (p. 153) and [93]. In 1931, Egypt raised taxes on Palestinian soap, ending the export of soap to Egypt after many centuries. The damage was neither severe nor long lasting. The demographic growth enabled markets in Palestine and Syria to absorb much of the soap previously exported to Egypt.

Table 7. Olive Trees in Palestine in 1943 (Nasouh 1947) [47].

Districts	# Villages	# Trees	Average of Trees per Village	STD	Min	Max	# Olive Press
Nazareth	25	162,290	6492	7219	20	32,700	36 (7)
Tiberias	17	136,800	6840	17,586.1	20	77,520	18 (5)
Safad	39	82,641	2109	2201.95	6	8030	33 (3)
Haifa	53	225,340	4418	7915	10	46,000	36 (11)
Acre	56	986,860	17,622.5	54,103.241	20	403,470	104 (33)
Tulkarem	45	80,7270	18,773	25,102.6	150	109,500	56 (25)
Lod and Jaffa	63	289,967	4602	10,755.1	10	59,000	44 (11)
Gaza	37	9510	257	737.19	10	4200	22
Ramalla	60	836,550	13,942	12,453.6	550	50,200	110 (17)
Beisan	11	11,530	1048	1698.5	20	6000
Jinin	56	787,210	14,057	18,183.6	60	85,600	54 (11)
Nablus	89	1,247,380	14,151	16,032.1	70	94,650	71 (34)
Hebron	31	188,720	6290	8481.43	30	35,000	15 (3)
Jerusalem	82	256,230	3125		2	4300	14 (15)
Total	664	6,053,367 (605,336.7 dunams)					613 (139)

and Figure 12 present a summary of the villages that cultivated olive trees in each of the country’s districts, along with the average number of trees per village. We also include the standard deviation (STD), as well as the minimum and maximum values for each area to indicate the level of variability. Additionally, the total number of olive presses in each area is provided, specifying the number of mechanical presses in brackets.

An interesting picture emerges from the Galilee villages of the case study (Table 6 and Figure 13). Between the 1870s and 1943, olive cultivation decreased substantially in Sakhnin (74.2 per cent), M’ilya (11.3 per cent), Julis (67 per cent), Deir Hanna (58.6 per cent) and Yaquq (25 per cent). In Rama, the decline (3.4 per cent) was almost negligible. Four villages show significant growth: Kafar Kanna (80.9 per cent), Suffuriya (42 per cent), Arrabe (47.4 per cent) and Faradiya (57.7 per cent). A comparison of the total number of trees reveals a decrease of 13.4 per cent from the 1870s to 1943. One reason for the decrease in the number of trees may be the British policy that encouraged farmers to uproot olive trees and plant tobacco in their place [94]. When compared to the average number of trees in other regions, the Galilean villages show the highest average of trees per village in the country. This change was perhaps due to the sharp decline in cotton cultivation during the second half of the nineteenth century [95].

3.8. Demographic Growth Versus the Increase in Olive Tree Cultivation and Olive Oil Industry

The cultivation of olive trees was influenced by a surprising number of factors: (1) government monopolies and prioritization; (2) the soap industry; (3) intervention of single local leaders; (4) competing crops such as sugar cane, cotton, tobacco and citrus; (5) exceptionally cold winters; (6) wartime damage (rare); and (7) demographic growth. We found that the number of olive trees, the acreage of olive groves and the production of olive oil soap grew throughout the period under discussion. Cultivation grew, not only in all the districts that had a well-established tradition of olive cultivation. The growing demand for olive oil led to the reestablishment of olive groves along the Mediterranean coast, where they had been absent for almost 600 years. The number of trees grew from circa 1,402,244 in the year 1596 to 6,063,420 olive trees in 1946. The growth in cultivation and the olive oil industry is further supported by the increase in the number of olive presses; while some data is missing in the sixteenth century and only partial data exist for the nineteenth century, there is sufficient evidence to show a sharp increase. By 1943, there were 723 olive presses. Two acts mark the growing commercial value of olive oil. The first is the entry of olive oil into the eighteenth-century short list of prepaid crops, a practice previously applied only to secure the purchase of grain and cotton. The second was active government policies that distributed olive tree saplings among villages.

The reason behind the growth in cultivation is clearer when total numbers of trees and population are compared. In 1596, when the population was estimated at 320,000, the number of trees was circa 1,402,244. Three and a half centuries later when the population tripled itself, reaching 1,035,821, the number of olive trees was 5,797,137. While the population grew by 69 per cent, olive cultivation grew by 76 per cent. Evidence regarding export of soap and olive oil indicates Palestine produced more olive oil than it consumed. The decisive factor in the increase in cultivation was the development of the soap industry and not the domestic human consumption of olive oil. The acreage of olive groves in the regions that had large and well-developed soap industries grew at a faster pace than regions which did not have a soap industry. The number of olive trees in the environs of Nablus and Jerusalem remained considerably higher than in the Galilee due to the large number of soap factories and in Nablus, Jerusalem, Ramla and Jaffa in comparison to the Galilee. The potential profits from the sale of olive oil soap, in both overseas and local markets in the Levant (Figure 14), led to a rapid increase in olive tree plantings.

4. Conclusions and Future Perspectives

Although details for several centuries are missing, sources vary considerably and, in some cases, information is contradictory, the cultivation of olive trees can be followed during most of the period under discussion, with a high resolution in 1596, the 1870s and 1943. The resulting picture reveals growth. There was a permanent and continuous need for olive oil for both food and the developing soap industries. The cultural status of olive trees stemmed from the fact that they produced a common widely available oil and essential food product rather than a luxury. Finding a substitute equal in quality, quantity and price was almost impossible. Olive oil was a staple commodity consumed on a daily basis by all sectors of the population.

In times of shortage, which were relatively few, olive oil for food consumption was imported to Palestine from southern Europe, North Africa and Syria. Though demographic growth seems to be a dominant factor, planting appears to have accelerated and matched the need of the thriving soap industry that consumed roughly 50 per cent of the olive oil. Local demand for olive oil for food consumption played a secondary role.

Regarding the landscape, phrases such as ‘a forest of olive trees’ or ‘a thick wood of olive trees’ that figure in the sources are not an exaggeration. Almost every village in Palestine cultivated olive trees. The preservation of this landscape and its old majestic trees was largely due to the efforts of local fallāhūn whose knowledge accumulated over centuries through careful observations, trial and error and an intimate understanding of the wild and cultivated trees that surrounded their villages and formed the basis of their livelihood.

The results of this study provide an important timeline for olive cultivation and oil production over the past several centuries. The reconstructed land-use history demonstrates the continuity and dominance of olive trees, which have been a key species in traditional dryland agriculture. Although old olive trees and olive groves cultivated in the more traditional manner can still be seen throughout the country, the rapidly growing population in both rural and urban areas, along with a wave of development over the last three decades, has transformed large parts of Israel’s countryside. In some regions, olive groves are gradually disappearing from the landscape. This research highlights the importance of olive-based agroecosystems, which have shown resilience over centuries and shaped cultural landscapes. As modern development transforms rural and peri-urban areas, understanding the historical management and ecological adaptability of these systems is crucial for effective planning, conservation, and sustainable land use.

Further research is essential to document this agricultural heritage. This research is part of a five-year project focusing on heritage trees, fruit trees such as olive, pomegranate, date palms, fig trees and grape vines that were carefully cultivated and endured both human and environmental changes. The project goals are to study their genetic traits, create a gene bank and produce a map of the current spatial distribution of heritage orchards before the rapid development of the country changes the landscape [96]. A comprehensive survey and detailed registration of olive trees, grape vines and palm dates is currently being carried out by our field team. Data gathered in the field is georeferenced with early 1940s British Mandate topo cadastral maps (1:20,000), which depict olive groves, vineyards and fruit orchards. A digital database is being developed.

Advanced research on historical olive groves offers the opportunity to link past and present agricultural practices, enhancing our understanding of how olive trees have adapted to various environmental conditions over time. By refining best practices from historically sustainable dryland horticultural methods, we can adapt these techniques to regions with a rich history of orchard-based olive cultivation.