Kafr Manda

Kafr Manda or Kfar Menda (Arabic: كفر مندا‎, Hebrew: כַּפְר מַנְדָא) is an Arab town in the Lower Galilee on the slopes of Mount Atzmon in Israel's North District. Kafr Manda is 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) northwest of the city of Nazareth. It had a population of 15,000 in 2005, the majority of them Muslim Arabs.

History

The village is located on an ancient site on a low hill. Ancient relics have been found, including architectural fragments, two fragmentary columns and capitals.

According to the 13th century Muslim scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi,

Ottoman period

Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, Kafr Manda appeared in the 1596 tax registers as being in the nahiya (subdistrict) of Tabariyya under the Liwa of Safad. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 93 households and 11 bachelors. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, olive trees, cotton, soghum, goats and/or beehives, and a press for olives or grapes.

In the early 18th century the village was walled, and defended by several small forts. A map from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 by Pierre Jacotin showed the place, named as K. Mendah.