American Zion?: The spiritual currents of the agricultural settlement at Jaffa, 1850-1858

Abstract

Placing the colony founded by Clorinda S.Minor, the American agricultural initiative in the Holy Land, at the center, this thesis meticulously traces answers to three questions: What prompted these Americans to settle in the Holy Land? How did an American millennialist group led by Minor, a former zealous member of the Millerite sect, challenge the realities of 19th-century Ottoman Palestine? Why did they have to leave the region in 1858? The second chapter discusses the 19th-century American religious milieu, in which "Millennialism" swept the United States. It strives to portray the historical baggage that settlers carried to the region with them. The third chapter focuses on the journey of the American group in the Holy Land. Gleaning information from the archival materials, the chapter tries to shed light on how the settlers interacted with the local population. The fourth chapter elucidates the event known as "Outrages at Jaffa", which paved the way for the destruction of the colony and which also created a small-scale international crisis between Ottoman, American, British and Prussian consulates.