1947 Palestine Map: A Pre-1948 Palestine Map Before the UN Partition Plan
The 1947 Palestine map is a Survey of Palestine motor map reprinted in January 1947, making it a genuine pre-1948 Palestine map produced before Britain announced that it would refer the Palestine question to the United Nations, before the UN adopted its partition recommendation later that year, and before the major political and territorial changes of 1948.
A date printed quietly along the bottom of an old map can sometimes be more important than the map's title. That is particularly true of this 1947 Palestine map. According to its original imprint, the map was compiled, drawn and printed by the Survey of Palestine in 1940, revised and printed in October 1945, and reprinted with minor road revisions in January 1947. The National Library of Israel catalogs the same edition as a Survey of Palestine motor map with that production history.
January 1947 places the map at an unusually significant historical moment. It appeared before Britain announced on February 18, 1947 that it had decided to refer the Palestine question to the United Nations, before the United Kingdom formally submitted the question to the UN on April 2, before the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, and before the British Mandate ended and the State of Israel was proclaimed in May 1948.
That chronology is one of the principal reasons this particular map is worth examining. It is not a modern reconstruction of Palestine before 1948. It is cartography from the period itself.
1947: A World in Transition
To understand why a Palestine map from 1947 is so interesting, it helps to look beyond Palestine. The map was printed less than two years after the end of World War II. Europe was still dealing with damaged cities, disrupted economies, shortages and the enormous task of reconstruction, while relationships among the world's major powers were changing rapidly.
On March 12, 1947, President Harry Truman addressed Congress about Greece and Turkey in what became known as the Truman Doctrine, one of the defining early statements of postwar American foreign policy. Only weeks earlier, Britain had informed the United States that it could no longer continue providing financial assistance to Greece and Turkey. Then, on June 5, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed the European recovery program that became known as the Marshall Plan as Europe continued to face severe economic instability and postwar shortages.
British imperial relationships were changing as well. Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in July 1947, and India and Pakistan emerged as independent states in August. Their creation also involved partition, enormous population movements and widespread violence.
Palestine therefore was not passing through change in isolation. The 1947 Palestine map belongs to a world in which
political structures established before and after World War I were being reconsidered, European imperial power was changing, the United Nations was beginning to confront major international disputes, and the emerging Cold War was reshaping global politics.
Against that background, January 1947 becomes more than a printing date. It becomes a historical position on the timeline.
Palestine in Early 1947: Before the UN Partition Plan
When this map was reprinted in January 1947, Palestine remained under British Mandate administration. The political situation was already deeply strained. Competing Arab and Jewish national aspirations, immigration, land questions, communal violence, armed organizations and resistance to British policy had produced a problem Britain had struggled for years to resolve.
One crucial development, however, had not yet occurred. Britain had not yet announced that it would turn the Palestine question over to the newly established United Nations.
That announcement came on February 18, 1947, when British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin stated that the government had decided to refer the Palestine problem to the United Nations. The formal diplomatic step followed on April 2, when the United Kingdom asked the UN Secretary-General to place the question of Palestine on the General Assembly's agenda and requested a special session to establish a committee that could investigate the matter and make recommendations.
January 1947 Came Before Britain Announced Its UN Referral
The chronology is remarkably compressed. In January 1947, the Survey of Palestine reprinted this map with minor road revisions. On February 18, Britain publicly announced its decision to refer the Palestine problem to the United Nations. On April 2, the United Kingdom formally submitted the question to the UN. The General Assembly opened its first special session on Palestine on April 28, and by May 15 had established the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, commonly known as UNSCOP. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181.
The map therefore predates not only the UN partition recommendation but even Britain's public announcement that the Palestine question would be referred to the United Nations.
That makes the January 1947 date especially significant.
What Was the Survey of Palestine?
The words “Survey of Palestine” printed on the map identify something much more substantial than an ordinary commercial mapmaker. The Survey of Palestine was the official surveying and mapping organization operating under the British Mandatory administration. Its work developed from the need to measure, document and administer land systematically, and its responsibilities included geodetic work, cadastral surveying, land-settlement mapping and topographic cartography.
Historian and geographer Dov Gavish's detailed study of the organization traces the Mandate survey system from 1920 through 1948 and demonstrates how closely surveying, land administration and mapping were interconnected during this period.
That distinction matters when examining an old Palestine map. This was not simply an illustrator producing a decorative interpretation of the region. The map belonged to a much larger official surveying and cartographic system used in the administration and mapping of Mandatory Palestine.
Why Was It Called a “Survey”?
In everyday language, “survey” often means asking people questions. In cartography, surveying means something very different. Land surveying is the systematic measurement and positioning of features on the ground. Surveyors establish locations, distances, elevations, reference points, property parcels and other spatial information so cartographers can place features accurately on maps.
A cadastral survey concentrates heavily on parcels, property boundaries and land registration. A topographic survey records physical and geographic features. Geodetic surveying establishes the larger coordinate framework that allows individual measurements to fit together accurately across a wider region.
The Survey of Palestine incorporated these types of activities into an organized mapping system. Its work included geodetic and cartographic systems, cadastral surveying and topographic mapping, all of which contributed to the production of official maps.
The Palestine Grid
The map itself provides a fascinating example of that surveying infrastructure. Its marginal instructions explain that the grid lines refer to Survey of Palestine coordinates. Locations could be identified by referring to numbered east-and-north grid positions and estimating distances between grid lines.
That meant a user was not limited to saying that a location was simply “near Jerusalem” or “north of Haifa.” A point could be placed within a defined coordinate system.
This is surveying translated into practical cartography.
The 1947 Palestine Map: From 1940 Compilation to January 1947 Reprint
Calling this simply a “1947 map” does not tell its entire story. The production line printed on the original sheet establishes three important stages in its development.
1940: Compiled, Drawn and Printed
The Survey of Palestine originally compiled, drew and printed the map in 1940.
October 1945: Revised and Printed
A revised edition was printed in October 1945, only months after the conclusion of World War II.
January 1947: Reprinted With Minor Road Revisions
The edition examined here was reprinted in January 1947 with minor road revisions. The National Library of Israel's catalog record independently identifies this same production history.
This is important because the 1947 map was not constructed from scratch in January of that year. It was an evolving official cartographic product whose underlying information had been compiled and revised over several years. That makes it both a 1947 document and the latest stage of a mapping lineage extending back to 1940.
This Old Palestine Map Was Built as a Motor Map
One of the most interesting details about the map is also one of the easiest to overlook. The National Library of Israel catalogs it as a motor map, and that explains much of what appears on the sheet.
This was meant to help people understand and travel through the road network of Palestine. The map's own instructions state that principal motor routes on its town insets are shown using bold lines. It also warns that road information cannot be guaranteed because conditions are liable to change.
That wonderfully practical wording reminds us that before this map became a historical artifact, it was information intended for contemporary use.
Roads, Routes and Gradients
Roads are emphasized throughout the map, and route information is integrated into both the regional map and city insets. The marginal information even addresses road gradients, noting that no gradient on the principal roads shown in the town insets exceeds 1 in 6½.
For a motorist in the 1940s, that was useful travel information rather than historical trivia.
An Altitude Scale
The lower legend includes a color altitude scale. Changes in color help the reader distinguish lower and higher terrain, allowing the Jordan Valley, uplands, mountain regions and surrounding terrain to be understood geographically as well as by name.
Customs Posts and Map Symbols
The legend explains symbols for features including post offices, police stations, churches, mosques, synagogues, cemeteries and elevations. Another symbol identifies Palestine Customs Posts and warns motorists entering or leaving Palestine with international car papers that they must stop at customs posts.
These small details make the map particularly interesting because they preserve aspects of ordinary administration and travel that a modern political map would never show.
A Palestine Map Before 1948: Why January 1947 Matters
Google keyword research revealed particularly strong interest in phrases such as “Palestine map before 1948” and “pre 1948 Palestine map.” In this case those descriptions are not approximations. This is literally a map printed before 1948.
More importantly, it is a map printed before Britain's February 1947 announcement that the Palestine question would be referred to the UN and before the decisive UN action of November 1947.
What UN Resolution 181 Recommended
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 by a vote of 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions. The resolution contained a Plan of Partition with Economic Union and recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, while Jerusalem was to be placed under a special international regime.
That happened more than ten months after this map was reprinted. The distinction between January and November 1947 is therefore substantial.
The UN Partition Plan Was a Recommendation
Historical precision matters here. Resolution 181 is commonly called the “UN Partition Plan,” and that shorthand is widely understood. Legally and historically, however, the General Assembly was recommending a plan for the future government of Palestine.
The January 1947 map does not contain the proposed partition boundaries because those boundaries had not yet been recommended when the map was printed.
That is precisely what makes it useful for understanding the cartographic landscape before the proposal.
What Changed After This Pre-1948 Palestine Map Was Printed?
Within sixteen months of the map's January 1947 reprinting, the political landscape had changed profoundly. Britain announced its decision to refer the Palestine question to the United Nations in February, formally submitted the matter in April, and the UN investigated the issue through UNSCOP. The General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 in November, and fighting intensified after the vote.
The British Mandate legally terminated at midnight on the night of May 14–15, 1948. On May 14, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and the United States recognized the new state that same day. War expanded as neighboring Arab states entered the conflict, bringing extensive loss of life, displacement, destruction and major changes in territorial control.
For the purposes of understanding the map, the key point is straightforward: the political and geographic environment after May 1948 was substantially different from the environment in which this January 1947 map had been produced. The map captures the earlier moment.
How to Read the 1947 Palestine Map
Historical maps reward close examination. The large regional map is only part of what this particular sheet contains. Several detailed city insets and a substantial legend provide another layer of information.
Haifa
The Haifa inset shows the city's road network along Mount Carmel and the harbor. Labels identify the harbor, railway infrastructure, hospitals, government offices, neighborhoods, religious buildings and other landmarks. Because it is a motor map, major routes are visually emphasized.
Jerusalem
The Jerusalem inset provides a dense street-level view of the city and surrounding neighborhoods. Roads, hospitals, government facilities, rail infrastructure, religious sites, neighborhoods and geographic names are represented across an area that includes the historic core and surrounding districts.
For anyone researching an old Palestine map with cities, the inset is valuable precisely because the larger regional map could never provide this level of urban detail.
Jaffa and Tel Aviv
A third inset maps Jaffa and Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean coast. The road network, coastal geography, neighborhoods and public features demonstrate how closely the two urban areas were geographically connected while retaining their individual place names and identities on the map.
Galilee, Lake Hula and Lake Tiberias
Northern Palestine contains another wealth of geographic detail. The map identifies Safad, Lake Hula and Lake Tiberias—also labeled as the Sea of Galilee—along with roads, settlements, waterways, elevation information and surrounding terrain.
This is where the altitude coloring becomes particularly useful because the relationship between water, valleys and surrounding highlands becomes immediately visible.
Roads, Symbols and Elevation
The legend should not be treated as decoration. It is effectively the instruction manual for the map. Road classes, religious buildings, public facilities, elevations, customs posts and other symbols explain how the Survey of Palestine expected the map to be read.
Together, these features reveal that this was simultaneously a geographic map, road map and practical travel document.
Place Names on a Historical Palestine Map
One of the greatest values of historical cartography is its preservation of names. A map records not only where cartographers placed a town or geographic feature but also what they called it, how they spelled it and how they transliterated names from other languages.
Those spellings do not always match modern usage. Some settlements changed names, others changed substantially or disappeared, transportation networks evolved, administrative terminology changed, and different mapping authorities adopted different transliteration systems.
For that reason, a historical Palestine map can be extremely useful when comparing historical records with later maps. The appropriate approach is not to “correct” the old map using modern terminology, but to preserve what the historical source actually says.
What Does “Palestine Map Before Israel” Mean?
Another phrase that appeared repeatedly in Google searches was “Palestine map before Israel.” This January 1947 map fits that chronology: the State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, more than a year after this edition was printed.
The phrase should nevertheless be used carefully. In January 1947, Palestine was under British Mandate administration. Describing the map simply as “Palestine before Israel” can therefore be useful as a chronological reference, but it should not replace the more precise historical description: a 1947 British Mandate Palestine map produced by the Survey of Palestine.
That terminology tells the reader both when the map was produced and the administrative setting in which it was created.
What a Historical Palestine Map Can—and Cannot—Tell Us
Old maps are powerful historical sources, but they should be interpreted with discipline. This 1947 map can tell us a great deal about how the Survey of Palestine represented the region, including mapped settlements and place names, roads and transportation networks, physical geography, elevation, selected public facilities, geographic relationships, official map symbols, city layouts and Survey of Palestine grid references.
A single map, however, cannot independently resolve every question about sovereignty, ethnicity, population, property ownership, political legitimacy, competing territorial claims or the complete history of every settlement.
A map is created for particular purposes, and those purposes influence what is included. This one was fundamentally a Survey of Palestine motor map.
Understanding that purpose makes the map more useful, not less useful.
Why Old Palestine Maps and Pre-1948 Palestine Maps Matter
A map made immediately before a major historical transition can preserve information that later maps cannot. Roads may be rerouted, settlements can expand, disappear or change names, political boundaries can change, administrative terminology can be replaced, transportation systems evolve, and new states, jurisdictions and institutions appear.
Maps created before those changes preserve an earlier layer of geographic history. That is why a pre-1948 Palestine map has value far beyond decoration. It provides a visual record produced during the period being studied.
For historians, genealogists, researchers, educators and cartography enthusiasts, that relationship to the period itself is what makes historical maps especially compelling.
Restoring the 1947 Palestine Map
Historical maps often survive with the marks of age: discoloration, stains, faded color, damaged backgrounds, blemishes and other deterioration. The ADVENTURE iDIAZ restoration was created to improve the map's clarity and presentation while retaining the character of the original cartography.
Historical place names, roads, geographic features, map symbols and other original information remain part of the map rather than being replaced with modern geography. The restored reproduction measures 36" × 52" and is printed in vivid full color on ADVENTURE iDIAZ signature polypropylene material. The material is water-resistant and tear-resistant, providing a considerably more durable display and study format than an ordinary paper reproduction.
The restoration does not attempt to turn a 1947 map into a modern map. Its purpose is exactly the opposite: to make the historical map easier to see while preserving the historical information that makes it valuable.
Why January 1947 Matters
Had this map been printed only a year later, it would have belonged to an entirely different historical moment. That is what makes the small “Jan. 1947” imprint at the bottom so significant.
The map predates Britain's February 18 announcement that it would refer the Palestine question to the United Nations. It predates the formal submission of that question to the UN on April 2, the work of UNSCOP, Resolution 181 and the UN partition recommendation of November 1947, the end of the British Mandate, the proclamation of the State of Israel, and the major political and territorial changes of the 1948 war.
The map cannot tell the entire story of Palestine, nor should any single historical document be expected to do so. What it can do is preserve one remarkably specific geographic moment.
January 1947.
That alone makes it worth looking at closely.
1947 Palestine Map FAQs
Is this a Palestine map from before 1948?
Yes. This Survey of Palestine map was reprinted in January 1947, making it a genuine Palestine map before 1948 and a pre-1948 Palestine map produced more than a year before the British Mandate ended in May 1948.
Does this 1947 map show Palestine before Israel was established?
Yes, chronologically. The map was reprinted in January 1947, while the State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. Palestine at the time of the map was still administered under the British Mandate.
Was this Palestine map made before the 1947 UN Partition Plan?
Yes. The map was reprinted in January 1947, before Britain announced on February 18 that it would refer the Palestine question to the United Nations and before the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947.
What was the Survey of Palestine?
The Survey of Palestine was the official surveying and mapping organization operating under the British Mandatory administration. Its work included geodetic measurement, cadastral surveying, land-related mapping and topographic cartography during the Mandate period.
Why was it called the Survey of Palestine?
“Survey” refers to systematically measuring and documenting land so that positions, distances, elevations, boundaries and geographic features can be accurately mapped. The Survey of Palestine developed the measurement and cartographic framework used for official mapping during the British Mandate.
What was the 1947 Palestine map originally used for?
The map was produced as a motor map. Its road network, city insets, route information, altitude coloring, grid system and map symbols were intended to help contemporary users understand and travel through Palestine.
What city insets appear on the 1947 Palestine map?
The map contains detailed insets for Haifa, Jerusalem, and Jaffa and Tel Aviv. These provide more detailed representations of streets, principal motor routes, public facilities, landmarks and urban geography than can be shown on the main regional map.
Why are pre-1948 Palestine maps historically important?
Pre-1948 Palestine maps preserve geographic information from before the major political and territorial transformations of 1948. They can document period place names, settlements, roads, geographic features, administrative terminology and transportation networks as cartographers represented them at the time.
Explore the Restored 1947 Palestine Map
The restored 1947 Palestine Map allows the original Survey of Palestine cartography to be examined at a large 36" × 52" scale, including the regional map, city insets, historic place names, roads, terrain and original map legend.
It is part of the growing ADVENTURE iDIAZ Historic Regional Maps collection, created to preserve and reproduce historically significant regional cartography for collectors, researchers, educators and people who simply enjoy studying old maps.
References
United Nations General Assembly. (1947). Future Government of Palestine, Resolution 181 (II). United Nations Digital Library – Resolution 181 (II)
United Kingdom Delegation to the United Nations. (1947). Question of Palestine: Letter from the United Kingdom Delegation requesting that the Palestine question be placed on the General Assembly agenda (A/286). United Nations – Question of Palestine, A/286
United Nations. (1948). United Nations and Palestine: Chronology of Major Developments. United Nations – Palestine Chronology
United Kingdom Delegation to the United Nations. (1948). Communication Concerning the Termination of the British Mandate for Palestine. United Nations – Mandate Termination Record
National Library of Israel. Motor Map: Survey of Palestine, compiled 1940; revised October 1945; reprinted with minor road revisions January 1947. National Library of Israel – 1947 Survey of Palestine Motor Map
Gavish, D. (2005). The Survey of Palestine Under the British Mandate, 1920–1948. Routledge. Routledge – The Survey of Palestine Under the British Mandate
National Archives and Records Administration. (1947). The Truman Doctrine. U.S. National Archives – Truman Doctrine
National Archives and Records Administration. The Marshall Plan. U.S. National Archives – Marshall Plan
UK Parliament. (1947). Indian Independence Act 1947. UK Parliament – Indian Independence Act
U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Creation of Israel, 1948. Office of the Historian – Creation of Israel
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