Rama is an ancient village, situated on a hill in the plain. Ceramics from the Byzantine era have been found here.[3]
Ottoman era
Rama, like all of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the 1596 tax registers, it was located in the nahiya of Jabal Sami in the liwa of Nablus. Raba was listed as an entirely Muslim village with a population of 17 families. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, and goats and/or beehives, a press for olive oil or grape syrup, in addition to occasional revenues and a tax on people from the Nablus area, a total of 5,774 akçe.[4]
In 1838 er-Rameh was noted as a village in the esh-Sharawiyeh esh-Shurkiyeh (the Eastern) district, north of Nablus.[5]
In 1870 Victor Guérin found the village to have 120 inhabitants. He further noted ancient cisterns.[6]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya.[7]
In 1882 the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted Er Rameh as "A conspicuous village on a hilly knoll above the small plain, with a high central house. It is of moderate size, with olives below. The sides of the hill are steep."[8]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Er Rama was 280 Muslims[11] while the total land area was 4,768 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[12] Of this, 244 dunams were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 1,487 for cereals,[13] while 6 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[14]
