Katana VentraIP

PEF Survey of Palestine

The PEF Survey of Palestine was a series of surveys carried out by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) between 1872 and 1877 for the completed Survey of Western Palestine and in 1880 for the soon abandoned Survey of Eastern Palestine. The survey was carried out after the success of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem by the newly-founded PEF, with support from the War Office. Twenty-six sheets were produced for "Western Palestine" and one sheet for "Eastern Palestine". It was the first fully scientific mapping of Palestine.

PEF Survey of Palestine

1872–1880

The National Archives (United Kingdom)

Charles William Wilson and others

Besides being a geographic survey the group collected thousands of place names with the objective of identifying Biblical, Talmudic, early Christian and Crusading locations. The survey resulted in the publication of a map of Palestine consisting of 26 sheets, at a scale of 1:63,360, the most detailed and accurate map of Palestine published in the 19th century.[1] The PEF survey represented the peak of the cartographic work in Palestine in the nineteenth century.[2]


Although the holiness of Palestine was a significant motivator for many members of the PEF, the allocation of British Army Royal Engineers to carry out the survey was a result of British strategic interests, particularly the proximity of the Suez Canal.[3]


Nur Masalha posited that the popularity of the publications led to a growth in Zionism amongst Jews.[4]


It was the most influential and reliable map of Palestine until the British Mandate's Survey of Palestine, which began half a century later.[5]

(later Col. Sir Charles Wilson, who in 1885 led the final stage of the Nile Expedition);[21]

Captain Wilson

(later General Sir Charles Warren, who in 1888 was the Commissioner of the London Police Force during the Jack the Ripper murder investigation);[22]

Captain Warren

(later Colonel Conder, who became a prolific author on Ancient Middle Eastern history, and almost a century after his death was accused of being Jack the Ripper);[23] and

Lieutenant Conder

(later Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, and the British Secretary of State for War at the beginning of World War I).[24]

Lieutenant Kitchener

The survey was led at different times by four senior Royal Engineers:[19][20]

Key to 26 maps

Key to 26 maps

Composite map

Composite map

Natural Drainage and Mountain Ranges

Natural Drainage and Mountain Ranges

New Testament

New Testament

Old Testament

Old Testament

by Trelawney Saunders (1881)

Introduction

by Conder and Kitchener (1881)

1.I. Galilee

by Conder and Kitchener (1882)

1.II. Samaria

by Conder and Kitchener (1883)

1.III. Judaea

contributed by Wilson, Warren, Conder, Kitchener, Edward Henry Palmer; Mr. George Smith; Rev. Greville Chester; Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (1881)

2. Special Papers on Topography, Archæology, Manners and Customs, Etc

3. Jerusalem

Plans, elevations, sections, etc. shewing the results of the excavations at Jerusalem, 1867-70

by Henry Baker Tristram (1885)

4. The Fauna and Flora of Palestine

by Edward Hull (1886)

5. Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography

Edward Henry Palmer (1881)

Arabic and English Name Lists

by Henry C. Stewardson (1888)

General Index