page_title: Timeline of Jerusalem
section_title: Early Ottoman period
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of Jerusalem / Ottoman period / Early Ottoman period
caption_attribution_description: A map depicting the Ottoman Empire and its dependencies in 1683.
context_page_description: This is a timeline of major events in the History of Jerusalem; a city that had been fought over sixteen times in its history. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.
context_section_description: 1516: The Ottoman Empire replaces the Mamluks in Palestine after Sultan Selim I defeats the last Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri at the Battle of Marj Dabiq (Aleppo) and the Battle of Yaunis Khan (Gaza).
  1517: Sultan Selim I makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on his way to the final defeat of the Mamluks at the Battle of Ridaniya (Cairo). Selim proclaims himself Caliph of the Islamic world.
  1518: Abu Ghosh clan sent to Jerusalem to restore order and to secure the pilgrimage route between Jaffa and Jerusalem.
  1535–38: Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds walls around Jerusalem.
  1541: The Golden Gate is permanently sealed.
  1546: On 14 January a damaging earthquake shook the Palestine region. The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Jordan River in a location between the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Gaza and Damascus were damaged.
  1555: Father Boniface of Ragusa, Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, repairs the Tomb of Christ (the Aedicula) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This was the first time the tomb was opened since the visit of Saint Helena in 326. It was carried out with the permission of Pope Julius III and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and with funds from Philip II of Spain who claimed the title King of Jerusalem.
  1604: First Protectorate of missions agreed under the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire, in which Ahmad I agreed that the subjects of Henry IV of France were free to visit the Holy Places of Jerusalem. French missionaries begin to travel to Jerusalem and other major Ottoman cities.
  1624: Following the Battle of Anjar, Druze prince Fakhr-al-Din II is appointed the "Emir of Arabistan" by the Ottomans to govern the region from Aleppo to Jerusalem. He toured his new provinces in the same year.
  1663–65: Sabbatai Zevi, founder of the Sabbateans, preaches in Jerusalem before travelling back to his native Smyrna where he proclaimed himself the Messiah.
  1672: Synod of Jerusalem.
  1700: Judah the Pious with 1000 followers settle in Jerusalem.
  1703–05: The Naqib al-Ashraf Revolt, during which the city's inhabitants revolted against heavy taxation. It was ultimately put down two years later by Jurji Muhammad Pasha.
  1705: Restrictions imposed against the Jews.
  1744: The English reference book Modern history or the present state of all nations stated that "Jerusalem is still reckoned the capital city of Palestine".
  1757 Ottoman firman is issued regarding the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
  1771–72: The renegade Christian Mamluk ruler of Egypt Ali Bey al-Kabir temporarily took control of Jerusalem with 30,000 troops, together with Zahir al-Umar and Russia (who had also instigated a Greek revolt as part of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74)).
  1774: The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca is signed between Catherine the Great and Sultan Abdul Hamid I giving Russia the right to protect all Christians in the Ottoman Empire.(Same rights previously given to France (1535) and England.)
  1798: Patriarch Anthemus of Jerusalem contended that the Ottoman Empire was part of God's divine providence to protect the Orthodox Church from Roman Catholicism and Western secularism.
  1799: Napoleon's unsuccessful campaign in Egypt and Syria intends to capture Jerusalem, but is defeated at the Siege of Acre.
caption: The Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent in 1683, showing Jerusalem