Mark Twain’s 19th-Century Observations of a Desolate Palestine

Introduction: A Journey to the Holy Land

In 1867, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, embarked on a journey to the Holy Land as part of a five-month-long excursion through Europe and the Middle East. Traveling aboard the USS Quaker City, Twain was 31 years old at the time and already a published author and journalist, though he had yet to achieve the legendary status that would come later in his career.

His observations from this journey were chronicled in his 1869 best-seller, “The Innocents Abroad,” where he painted a strikingly bleak picture of Palestine under Ottoman rule—a land that was desolate, barren, and largely uninhabited.

Twain’s descriptions directly contradict modern claims that pre-20th-century Palestine was a thriving Arab nation. Instead, he encountered a nearly abandoned landscape, with few inhabitants, little agriculture, and widespread neglect.

His journey remains one of the most powerful eyewitness testimonies of the state of the land before Jewish pioneers began returning en masse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Who Did Mark Twain Travel With?

Twain traveled with a group of American tourists, mostly affluent individuals from New York and Pennsylvania. The trip was organized as the first luxury cruise to the Mediterranean, allowing passengers to visit historical and biblical sites across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.

The group set sail from New York City on June 8, 1867, aboard the USS Quaker City, a converted Civil War steamship. It was an extravagant journey for the time, offering lectures, sightseeing, and guided tours of sites such as Paris, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, Damascus, and Jerusalem.

Twain was a correspondent for the Alta California newspaper, sending back lively and often sarcastic dispatches about his experiences, which later became The Innocents Abroad—a book that cemented his reputation as one of America’s most influential writers.

Twain’s Account of Palestine’s Desolation

Upon arriving in Palestine, Twain was stunned by the barrenness of the land. His descriptions portray an abandoned landscape, devoid of agriculture and people, a sharp contrast to later claims of a once-thriving Arab society.

Quotes from “The Innocents Abroad” (1869):

👉 “A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse… a desolation… we never saw a human being on the whole route.” (p. 361-362)

👉 “No landscape exists that is more tiresome to the eye than that which bounds the approaches to Jerusalem.”

👉 “There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent – not for thirty miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles, hereabouts, and not see ten human beings.”

👉 “Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes… The spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies… Palestine is desolate and unlovely.”

Twain documented what many historians have long confirmed—that under centuries of Ottoman misrule, the land of Israel had fallen into neglect, abandonment, and disrepair.

Why Did Twain Make This Journey?

Twain’s trip was motivated by both personal and professional reasons:

📌 Journalistic Assignment: Twain had secured a contract with the Alta California newspaper to write about his experiences, giving him free passage on the journey.

📌 Religious Curiosity: Twain was not religious, but he was fascinated by the biblical significance of the Holy Land and wanted to see it firsthand.

📌 A Growing Writing Career: At 31 years old, Twain had already published some short works but had not yet gained the worldwide fame he would later enjoy. The Innocents Abroad was his first major book, and its success helped establish his career as a literary giant.

How Twain’s Observations Counter Modern Myths

Twain’s first-hand descriptions of Palestine refute the narrative that pre-Zionist Palestine was a flourishing Arab society.

✔ No large Arab population: Twain saw hardly any people, villages, or signs of civilization in his travels through Palestine.
✔ No significant agriculture or economy: He noted widespread desolation, with abandoned fields and neglected soil.
✔ No defined Palestinian identity: There was no independent nation or Palestinian government—Palestine was merely an Ottoman province like many others.

His book, written long before political Zionism, discredits the claim that Jewish immigration displaced an established people. In reality, Jewish pioneers revitalized a barren, neglected land—a fact even Mark Twain unknowingly affirmed in his writings.

Conclusion: A Land Awaiting Redemption

Twain’s visit to 19th-century Palestine serves as an invaluable historical record of the land’s true condition before the Jewish return. His descriptions confirm that:

✅ The land was desolate and sparsely populated
✅ The Ottoman Empire had allowed it to fall into ruin
✅ The Jewish pioneers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries revived the land

Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad remains a critical piece of evidence against modern historical revisionism, proving that the land of Israel was waiting for the majority of its rightful people to return.