Bethlehem

===Ottoman era===
[[File:Bethlehem Polenov.jpg|thumb|right|A painting of Bethlehem by [[Vasily Polenov]], 1882]]
[[File:Bethlehem 1898.jpg|thumb|View of Bethlehem, Christmas Day 1898|left]]

From 1517, during the years of [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] control, custody of the Basilica was bitterly disputed between the Catholic and Greek [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox churches]].<ref name="BMH"/> By the end of the 16th century, Bethlehem had become one of the largest villages in the District of Jerusalem, and was subdivided into seven quarters.<ref name="Singer"/> The Basbus family served as the heads of Bethlehem among other leaders during this period.<ref>Singer, 1994, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mrsAw_mk1d0C&pg=PA33 33] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231205315/https://books.google.com/books?id=mrsAw_mk1d0C&pg=PA33 |date=December 31, 2015 }}</ref> The Ottoman tax record and census from 1596 indicates that Bethlehem had a population of 1,435, making it the 13th largest village in Palestine at the time. Its total revenue amounted to 30,000 [[Akçe|akce]].<ref name="Petersen141">Petersen, 2005, p. 141.</ref>

Bethlehem paid taxes on wheat, barley and grapes. The Muslims and Christians were organized into separate communities, each having its own leader. Five leaders represented the village in the mid-16th century, three of whom were Muslims. Ottoman tax records suggest that the Christian population was slightly more prosperous or grew more grain than grapes (the former being a more valuable commodity).<ref>Singer, 1994, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mrsAw_mk1d0C&pg=PA84 84] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231205315/https://books.google.com/books?id=mrsAw_mk1d0C&pg=PA84 |date=December 31, 2015 }}</ref>

From 1831 to 1841, Palestine was under the rule of the [[Muhammad Ali dynasty|Muhammad Ali Dynasty]] of [[Egypt]]. During this period, the town suffered [[Galilee earthquake of 1837|an earthquake]] as well as the destruction of the Muslim quarter in 1834 by Egyptian troops, apparently as a reprisal for the murder of a favored loyalist of [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]], during the [[Peasants' revolt in Palestine]].<ref>Thomson, 1860, p. 647.</ref> In 1841, Bethlehem came under Ottoman rule once again and remained so until the end of World War I. Under the Ottomans, Bethlehem's inhabitants faced unemployment, [[Conscription|compulsory military service]], and heavy taxes, resulting in mass emigration, particularly to [[South America]].<ref name="BMH"/> An American missionary in the 1850s reported a population of under 4,000, nearly all of whom belonged to the Greek Church. He also noted that a lack of water limited the town's growth.<ref>W. M. Thomson, p. 647.</ref>

[[Albert Socin|Socin]] found from an official Ottoman village list from about 1870 that Bethlehem had a population of 179 Muslims in 59 houses, 979 "Latins" in 256 houses, 824 "Greeks" in 213 houses, and 41 Armenians in 11 houses, a total of 539 houses. The population count only included men.<ref>Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/146/mode/1up 146]</ref> [[Martin Hartmann|Hartmann]] found that Bethlehem had 520 houses.<ref>Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n932/mode/1up 124]</ref>