Place Name
Safad Region (صفد)Place Description
The historic Safad region of Palestine encompassed the mountainous Upper Galilee around the city of Safad, extending across high ridges, valleys, plateaus, and the surrounding lowlands of the al-Hula Plain and eastern Galilee. Townspeople, villagers, and Bedouins lived across this part of the Galilee, and therefore numerous societal segments, ways of life, and styles of dress existed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Safad developed as an important political, commercial, and religious center, becoming the capital of the Safad Sanjak under the Mamluks and later an important administrative center under Ottoman rule. During the Ottoman period, and especially through the late nineteenth century, Safad's merchants served as middlemen in the broader Galilee grain trade, selling wheat, pulses, and fruit grown by villagers. Safad itself became known for papyrus weaving, wool and textile production. The dress incorporated silks from Syria, and various embroidery techniques. Until the late nineteenth century, the Muslims of Safad developed a space for scholarship, and maintained strong social and cultural connections with Damascus.
The region's varied topographical elevation produced a diverse agricultural landscape, with rain-fed cereals, olives, grapes, figs, and other fruit cultivated in the uplands, while the lower and better-watered areas supported irrigated fields, orchards, and more intensive cultivation. Records indicate that Safsaf cultivated cereals, olives, and fruit through both rainfall and spring irrigation, while villages around the al-Hula Plain had extensive plantation and irrigable land; in the eastern Galilee, abundant water also permitted crops such as rice, clover, corn, and vegetables.Also Known As
صفد, SafedPlace Type
Historical RegionUpdated By
Wafa Ghnaim