Abu Snan is an ancient village site, where old dressed stones have been reused in modern houses. Graves, oil or vine-presses, and cisterns have been found cut in rock.[4]
Crusaders
In about 1250 Abu Snan is noted as a casale of the Teutonic Knights, called Busnen.[5][6] Under the name Tusyan, probably a corruption of Busenan, Abu Snan was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders during the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur (Qalawun) declared in 1283.[7] No Crusader remains have yet been identified in the village.[8]
Ottoman Empire
In 1517, Abu Snan was with the rest of Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman Empire after it was captured from the Mamluks, and by 1596, it appeared in the Ottoman tax registers as part of the Nahiya of Akka of the Liwa of Safad. It had a population of 102 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslims. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, sesame, cotton, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 7,600 akçe.[9]
A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as Abou Senan.[10] When French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1875, he estimated the population of Abu Snan to be 400, of whom 260 were Druzes and 140 Greek Orthodox Christians.[11] Guérin also wrote that "Abu Senan has succeeded an ancient town, as is proved by cisterns cut in rock, and a considerable quantity of cut-stones, now used for modern buildings."[12] Fragments from an older building is used in a chapel for St. George.[13]
In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described Abu Snan as a stone-built village situated on the low hill near the plain, surrounded by olive groves and arable land, and with many cisterns of rain-water. The population consisted of 150 Christians and 100 Muslims.[14]
A population list from about 1887 showed that Abu Senan had about 565 inhabitants; two thirds Druze, one third Greek Catholic Christians.[15]
British Mandate
Abu Snan local council building
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Abu Snan had a total population of 518. Of these, 43 were Muslim, 228 Druzes and 247 Christians.[16] Of Abu Snan's 247 Christians, 196 were Orthodox, 44 Roman Catholics, 4 Melkites and 3 Maronites.[17] In the 1931 census it had increased to a population of 605, in 102 inhabited houses. Of these, 20 were Muslim, 274 Christians, and 311 Druzes.[18]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Abu Snan was 820; 30 Muslims, 380 Christians and 410 other Arabs,[19] and the land area was a total of 13,043 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[20] 2,172 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 7,933 used for cereals,[21] while 69 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[22]
Israel
In 2003 the local council was merged with its neighboring towns. The next year this was undone.
Demographics
Abu Snan had a population of 13,000 (2014), 7,000 of whom are Muslim, 4,000 Druze, and 2,000 Christian.[23]
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 40Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 80Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 130Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
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