Re-imagining Palestine: scientific knowledge and malaria control in mandatory Palestine

Placing scientific knowledge onto a visual grid through malaria maps became a way of re-envisioning the landscape of Palestine during the period of British rule. Malaria maps were not only used by scientists to effect practical results in swamp drainage and in other efforts to decrease malaria morbidity, but they were also co-opted by political organizations and the Palestine Government as tools in a general debate over the development of Palestine. Furthermore, Zionist scientists and settlement officials used malaria surveys and maps to help determine future sites for Jewish settlement and to legitimate previous settlement operations. The anti-malaria programs that resulted from gathering this scientific knowledge had concrete ramifications for the topographical, ecological and demographic transformation of Palestine.