feddan

1

In Sudan , and Egypt, at least as early as the 14^th – 20^th century¹, a unit of land area. After 1830, approximately 4,200.833 square meters (about 1.038 acres). Also romanized as faddan, and called feddan masri. When Egypt adopted the metric system, the feddan was the only old unit that remained legal. Currently taken as 0.42 hectares.

In the Middle Ages the feddan was 400 square qasabas; Hinz estimates it at 6368 square meters.² By the 19th century the feddan had become 333 1/3 square qasaba, about 5306.7 square meters. The present value appeared in 1830 when the qasaba of the cadastre shrank (to 355 centimeters from 399 cm).

Surveyors accompanying the French army in its invasion (1798 – 1801) found that the area of the feddan varied according to the fertility of the land, from 324 square qasabas near the Nile to 576 square qasabas distant from the Nile.³ They also identified a feddan of Damietta (the delta of the Nile) with an area of 432 square cannes, the canne being 3.99 meters (making the feddan 6877.5 square meters).

1. United Nations, 1966. Technical Conversion Factors…, 1972, page 307.

2. Hinz, pages 63, 65.

3. Poids et mesures du Kaire (1804).

2

In Palestine, according to anthropologist Nasser Abufarha, the feddan was a unit of land apportionment, not land area, in a system in which land was held communally. This system existed before the Ottomans and is still in use in slightly altered form, tractors having replaced animals.

Sources

To understand the land ownership system in the society of the fellahin, one needs to understand the concept of the feddan. There is widespread misconception that the feddan is an area of measurement unit. This is an inaccurate understanding of the concept. The feddan is a measurement of a share of land that varies in size from village to village and may vary from year to year, even within the same village. Villages owned their land collectively by the village residents or by the Hamoula family. Physical features and traditional names of lands were used to describe the boundaries of a certain village land and were respected by neighboring villages. In the plowing and seeding season, lands were divided between village residents every fall based on ability to cultivate. Zalameh wa 'ammal (a man and a working animal) would get one feddan share. A man without 'ammal would get half a feddan. A man would get half a feddan for each additional working animal he owned that was available for work.

Nasser Abufarha.
Land Ownership in Palestine-Israel.
Online at www.1worldcommunication.org/landownership.htm Retrieved 15 February 2008.

3

In Syria (Aleppo) , 20^th century¹, a unit of area, varying in value from 2,295 to 3,443 square meters.

1. United Nations, 1966.

4

In Asir, a region in Saudi Arabia, ? – early 20^th century, a unit of land area, about @ square meters.

			feddan
		zahab	2
	rakib	4	8
felleja	2	8	16

Arab Bureau, Cairo.
Handbook of Asir.
Cairo: Government Press, 1916.

5

In Yemen, a unit of land area, = 4050 square meters. Also called a dhumd.

Technical Conversion Factors…, 1972, page 350.