![]() The city of Acre underwent an economic boom (partly based on its role in exporting cotton grown in the Galilee to France). Daher and the pirates agreed to barter the stolen goods they took - the pirates from different ships they looted, and Daher from his looting of travelers to Damascus and Mecca.ĭaher (unlike many governors and rulers in the Middle East at the time) was very aware of the importance of a flourishing economy to provide a stable basis for his rule - he tried to refrain from squeezing the peasants with extortionately excessive taxes, and established a state monopoly on cotton-growing in the Galilee. Now controlling the major seaports in the area, Daher made contact with Maltese pirates. When Haifa was conquered by Daher, its location wasn't considered defensible, so that the city was razed and rebuilt at a new location 3 km away, with improved fortifications and a new seaport. For most of his rule Daher was not a target for the Ottomans, as for his entire period of rule he continued to act as proxy Ottoman tax collector (Multazem), paying a portion of the taxes raised to the Imperial capital in Constantinople.Īcre was taken over and fortified by Daher, and became the main city of the area he governed. Parts of the fortress, mosque and Khan that he built can still be seen in the town. The town of Deir Hanna became his first administrative center as he gradually brought the Galilee, as his " Iltizam", under his control. Daher turned west and took control over surviving Crusader fortresses. A month later the governor died of kidney disease and the siege was lifted for good.Īfter the threat from the Ottoman administration was removed, Daher again expanded his realm. ![]() In July 1743 the governor returned with a larger force. ![]() 83 days later, the siege was lifted due to the departure of the Hajj pilgrimage caravan. In September 1742, a military force led by the governor of Damascus came to the Galilee and laid siege to Tiberias. The Ottoman Sultan sent an order to the governor of Damascus, Sulayman Pasha Al-ʿAzem, to put an end to Daher's rule in the Galilee. ĭaher, similar to many other strong local leaders under the Ottoman Empire who did not owe their power to the central Ottoman authorities, was disliked by the Ottoman administration. Richard Pococke, who visited Tiberias in 1727, witnessed the building of a fort to the north of the city, and the strengthening of the old walls, and attributed it to a disagreement with the pasha (ruler) of Damascus. Accounts from that time tell of the great admiration which the people had for Daher, especially for his war against bandits on the roads. He fortified the town and made agreement with the neighbouring Bedouin tribes to prevent their looting raids. RuleĪround 1730, Daher and his brother Yusuf settled in the town of Tiberias. Those elements shaped his political and military actions as an adult. During those formative years, Daher was confronted by the greed of the Ottoman governors of Saida and the attacks of the Bedouin tribes against the villages of the family fiefdom. At his death in 1703, his sons jointly succeeded him as rulers of Safad. In 1698 ʿUmar az-Zaydānī had been appointed governor and chief tax collector (Multazem) of the Safad region by Emir Bashir Shihab the First (1698–1705), governor ( Wali) of Mount Lebanon. He was the youngest of the four sons born to the Sheikh ʿUmar az-Zaydānī. Daher was born to a family of local Qaysi notables in the Tiberias area, with strong connections to Arab-Bedouin tribesmen in the Galilee district, which at that time was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
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