Download or read book Britain and the Holy Land, 1838-1914 written by Mordechai Eliav and published by JTS Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Great Britain was the first European power to establish a consulate in Jerusalem, soon to be followed by other nations. When the consulate was forced to close in late 1914, after the outbreak of World War 2, its records were burnt to avoid having them fall into the hands of the Turkish authorities. Mordechai Eliav has selected 135 documents dating from the appointment if the first consul in 1838 to the final report on the shutting down of the consulate in November 1914. The documents are not only indicative of the activities of the consulate and its officials; they also reflect political, social and economic developments in Palestine as a whole, and in Jerusalem in particular, for almost 75 years. The volume is an important contribution to British diplomatic history, as well as to the history of nineteenth-century Palestine.