How did Palestine become "Palestine," that is, its own historical and political-geographic entity? This question is at the center of the study, which traces the course of the scientific discourse about the Holy Land as well as its front positions and competitions. The dominance of Protestant research into the biblical land induced Jewish authors to become active in Palestine research themselves. As a comparative view of the Science of Judaism in the 19th century shows, the modern historical-geographical perspective was preferred. The Zionist movement in particular adapted modern Palestine studies. Markus Kirchhoff describes these overlapping discourses as "converging topographies" and for the first time comprehensively deciphered them.