Scientific organizations as agents of change: the Palestine Exploration Fund, the Deutsche Verein zur Erforschung Palastinas and nineteenth-century Palestine

Until the last third of the nineteenth century, scientific research on Pale stine was sporadic, initiated usually by single individuals and religious a nd social organisations. This was also the case with the increasing flow of publications, which were issued in a wide range of periodicals, books and newspapers. The foundation of research societies aimed specifically at the scientific research of the Holy Land was, in many aspects, a turning point in this field. The Palestine Exploration Fund started its work in 1865 and its German twin, Der Deutsche Verein zur Erforschung Palastinas, followed 1 2 years later. Both societies and their periodicals produced many changes i n the directions and focuses of the study of the Holy Land, and also in the ways it was organized, directed and performed. The people who stood behind the establishments, their background and interests, studies and motivation s, must be understood in order to explain the means and fields of research chosen by the two societies. The geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and the struggle between the European countries in the Holy Land, were als o a major factor. The comparison between these societies, their foundation, means of activity, and main directions of studies, explains their central role in the scientific research on Palestine before World War I. (C) 2001 A cademic Press