State of Palestine Colonial Records

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Colonial Records

Ottoman Empire Colonization (1516-1832)

The Ottoman Turks captured Mamluk Palestine and Syria in 1516. With a brief interruption in the mid 19th Century, Ottoman rule of the region lasted until the Empire's collapse after losing in World War I. Palestine under Ottoman rule was divided between the vilayet (division) of Beirut and the Jerusalem Mutasarrifate. These were divided into administrative areas called sanjaks, which were furthers split into kazas. While Ottoman control of Palestine varied over the course of the Empire, major administrative forms in the 19th Century prompted the organization of censuses and population registers, recording valuable genealogical data.

Record collection	Years covered	Record type	Language	Who is in the records
Nüfus Registers	1883-1917	Census & population registers	Ottoman Turkish	These Ottoman census registers were taken in 10 districts in what is now Palestine/Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, and many individuals recorded in the registers were born elsewhere in the Middle East. For more information, see FamilySearch Catalog, State of Palestine Census, and Palestine, Ottoman Census and Population Registers. Names are currently searchable only in Arabic and dates are displayed using the Ottoman Rumi calendar. The Turkish website Türk Tarih Kurumu can be used to convert dates from the Rumi to the Gregorian calendar.

British Colonization 1917-1948)

In the wake of World War I and the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, Britain was granted a Mandate for Palestine on 25 April 1920 at the San Remo Conference, with the League of Nations formally adopting the Mandate in 1922. In 1947 the British Government announced its intention to terminate the Mandate.

Record collection	Years covered	Record type	Language	Who is in the records