Summary: Conventional wisdom on the history of nationalism tells us that nations are of recent construction, and this has often been the case within the historiography of the modern Middle East. For the case of Palestine, some have denied the significance of the name before the nineteenth century. Yet, Ottoman and Arabic sources from throughout the Ottoman period are full of references to a place called Palestine. In this episode, Zach Foster explores the continuity of Palestine as a geographical construct throughout the Ottoman period and changes in the significance and limits of this territorial designation.
