Ottoman archival records provide valuable evidence of the Kurdish presence in sixteenth-century Jordan and Palestine. They reveal not only where Kurdish communities were distributed, but also how they spread into villages and towns, and the economic activities by which they sustained themselves. Endowments established by Kurds, or on their behalf, were widespread throughout the region.
By the sixteenth century, however, those Kurds whose ancestors had settled in the region during the Ayyubid period constituted only a minority of the Kurdish population in Palestine and Jordan. The overwhelming majority of those identified as Kurds, whether explicitly or through other indications in the sources, belonged to later, non-Ayyubid waves of migration.
There is another aspect of this history that is sometimes overlooked. When discussing the Kurds who remained in Palestine and Jordan, historians have often invoked what might be called the “Ayyubid starting point.” It deserves closer examination.
The point I wish to make is a simple one: there is no definitive point of origin for Kurdish migration, broadly understood, to Palestine and the surrounding regions. The notion of an Ayyubid beginning to Kurdish presence in these regions is a literary construct.
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