This map shows the plans for the village of Hadera around 1890. The map was used by the Hovevei Zion council in Vilna to plan the distribution of land between those planning to immigrate to Palestine. The map is written in Hebrew and is also coloured in by hand. The left-hand side of the map shows land that was designated for residential and agricultural use. Certain areas were designated for communities from Vilna, Kovna, and Riga. In the centre of the map is a large area with vineyards planted in 1880 by Yehoshua Hankin, who purchased the land.
An interesting feature of this map is that it is not orientated to the north. Many of the ancient maps of the world and of Israel were orientated towards the east, as hinted at by the word “orientate” meaning towards the Orient. In this particular map, the different direction is probably due to convenience; in most other cases, however, east was the direction of the Holy Land from the perspective of the Europeans, and therefore the cartographers, who were often religious Christians, used this design to convey their ideas about the world. Since the world is a sphere, the modern standard orientation towards the north is not actually a scientific requirement but rather a political statement placing Britain and Northern Europe in the top centre.
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The Jews of Vilna - The Jews of Vilna, which was in Lithuania at this point in history, represented almost half of the city’s inhabitants. However, by the late 1800s, Lithuanian Jews, like Jews all over Europe and Russia, were subject to rising numbers of pogroms and growing anti-Semitism, and many were looking to leave Europe for America or Palestine. Many Lithuanian Jews joined Zionist groups such as Hovevei Zion in order to plan their aliya.
Hadera - In 1890, representatives of the various Lithuanian Hovevei Zion organisations came to the Land of Israel to purchase land. Yehoshua Hankin, who had immigrated to Israel with his parents a few years earlier, helped the delegation purchase the land. The settlement was called Hadera, based on its Arabic name, al Hudayrah, which means green, referring to the moss on the swamplands which occupied most of the area. The initial settlement of Hadera entailed many problems. Due to the surrounding swampland, over half of the first settlers, more than 200 people, died of malaria. In addition, relations between residents and the neighbouring Bedouins were poor, requiring them to guard their fields at all times. In the ensuing years, the swamps were slowly dried out and a growing Jewish presence in the area improved security, enabling Hadera to grow and flourish.
In 1952 Hadera was declared a city, and today it is a large city with many Russian and Ethiopian immigrants. The city is most known for Israel’s largest power station, Orot Rabin, which consists of three large towers. Business and technology in Hadera are growing, and plans are being made to turn Hadera into a tourist location because of its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea.
