The Domain of the Amateur Digging Mapping and Spying As a Romanian born Jew in Europe during the 1870s Aaron Aarsonsohn became a major activist in the Zionist movement throughout his lifetime Being from the Zionist effort Aaronsohn wanted Jews from across the world to migrate back to the holy land of Israel but before that could happen the Ottoman Empire would have to give up some of its land which would not happen without a fight Having an educational background in agronomy and botany Aaronsohn believed that he would be able to get the Jewish people back to the ancestral land of those who had come before them Through Aaronsohn s family and educational background Aaronsohn wanted the land of milk and honey to once again to be ruled by those who had founded it so many years ago Born as the oldest child and son of a Jewish grain merchant Aaron Aaronsohn was born in 1876 in Romania When Aaron was at the age of two Romania had gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the Russo Turkish War Being of Jewish descent from this area the Aaronsohn family along with many other Jewish families had to deal with a poor transition from being ruled by Muslim autocracy to being governed by a Christian democracy Under the rule of the Christians the Jews could not gain citizenship as well as not being allowed to attend school or become professionals When the Jews of the area got fed up with the treatment from the Christian rulers they decided to create a mass exodus out of Romania Aaron s parents decided to join this movement when Aaron was six years old Instead of going to the United States the Aaronsohn family traveled to the Palestine region of Ottoman Syria Anderson 50 The family established themselves just outside of Haifa Due to poor farming conditions the 250 Jewish members of the first exodus became poor and had to sell their Torah scrolls in order to get a little bit of money from them to provide from themselves Then came along Baron Edward de Rothschild who was a wealthy French Jewish financier of the time Rothschild assisted many Jewish colonies in the region and he eventually did the same for the location of the Aaronsohn family which was renamed Zichron Yaakov As ruler of the area Rothschild told all of the residents of the territory exactly what to do like what crops to plant how to dress and who could marry and not marry and made sure all laws were properly carried out When he turned sixteen years old Aaronsohn was chosen by Rothschild s assistants to get an all expenses paid education in France at Grignon Institute near Paris The Grignon Institute was one of the finest agricultural educational facilities in all of Europe While he was there he would study agronomy the study of soil management and crop production and botany the study of plants Anderson 50 51 After his studies in France were over at Grignon he returned to Palestine to be the agricultural instructor at the baron s settlement however he did not stay there long and decided to go out on his own He then began to study the vegetation and geology of Palestine With his findings he published articles in European agronomy journals His major breakthrough came when he discovered wild emmer wheat on near Mount Hermon in 1906 The wheat was presumed to an extinct form of cultivated wheat His findings made international news and Aaronsohn became known around the world After his findings were seen worldwide the United States Department of Agriculture invited Aaronsohn to travel the American West He was treated as a celebrity and performed lectures for large crowds of people While in the United States of America he was also exposed to the American Zionist movement and saw the modern thoughts of the Jewish political ideas For Jewish leaders in the U S and Europe following Zionism was viewed as a negative idea where they thought Jews were being isolated from their birth countries and having the Jews follow a divided loyalty others suggested that the Zionist movement was used as an anti Semitic plan Anderson 51 52 Aaronsohn not only was an agronomist but he was also an amateur archaeologist and loved to read about history Through his amateur archaeology findings he uncovered that Palestine was able to take care of many more people than the current number of individuals who were living in the area at the time which was 700 000 people None of the resources from past history had vanished the resources had been waiting to be uncovered again During his travels to America he conducted a study in California which in this certain part was similar in climate and soil conditions to Palestine This area in the central valley of California was attracting more and more settlers as time passed With Aaronsohn s optimism he knew he could bring Palestine back to the way it was in the history books Through his beliefs of rebuilding Palestine he got support from wealthy American Jews who were mainly businessmen and philanthropists These American Jews gave money totaling 20 000 to Aaronsohn to fund his own Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station in the country of Palestine in 1909 Aaronsohn established this research center right by the Mediterranean Sea just north of Zichron Yaakov in a city called Athlit During the first few years of his studies he laid in seedbeds and orchards constructed greenhouses and laboratories and developed a building as housing for workers of the research center Many of the workers that he recruited were from his own family which included his five siblings His siblings were the individuals who oversaw the daily activities of the company Anderson 52 53 According to Ronald Florence Before long the experimental plots at the research center were producing more wheat barley and oats per dunam than long established farms on much better soils Anderson 53 Zionism was a dominant aspect of Aaronsohn s life over the years His major goal of the movement was to have the Jewish people relocate back to the ancestral land of Eretz Israel Aaronsohn had lots of influence on the idea because his beliefs of bringing Jews back to the homeland was practical rather than being based on politics or religion his basis was on the agriculture Through his many experiments at the Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station he found that it was possible to bring back the land to what it had been like in ancient times For the Jews to have a movement like this they needed food Aaronsohn would be able to provide them with that food Anderson 50 Before getting