CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah

village council in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ4702933 ↗
Source-derived summary

Al-Mughayyir (Arabic: المغيّر, lit. 'the changer'; sometimes transliterated Al Mughayer or al-Mughaiyir) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 27 kilometers northeast of Ramallah and 34 kilometers southeast of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village had a population of 2,872 inhabitants in 2017.

Location and name

Al-Mughayyir is located 18.6 kilometres (12 mi) north-east of Ramallah. It is bordered by Fasayil to the east, Turmus Ayya and Khirbet Abu Falah to the west, Duma and Jalud to the north, and Kafr Malik and al-Auja to the south.

The name al-Mughayyir means 'the changer' and was given due to the continuously changing weather, a result of the village's location in a mountainous area above the central part of the Jordan Valley.

History

The PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found here "ancient cisterns, and a rock-cut winepress near the village, which is well built of hewn stone."

Potsherds from the Byzantine/Umayyad and Mamluk eras have been found here.

Ottoman period

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman Empire with the rest of Palestine, appearing in the 1596 tax-records as Mugayyir, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal, part of Nablus Sanjak. The population was 7 households and 9 bachelors, all Muslim. They paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 4500 akçe. Potsherds from the early Ottoman era have also been found here.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah” as village council in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah and village.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2017, 1517, 1596—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah and village providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah”, the useful work is to connect “village council in Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4702933. VIAF identifies the subject as 299146461657427732370. Authority coordinates are 32.019, 35.346. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017, 1517 and 1596.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah primary sources, Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah archive and Al-Mughayyir research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Al-Mughayyir, Ramallah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.