There were roughly two dozen throne villages within the subdistricts that made up the central mountain areas of Palestine. For the most part, they were relatively distant from the main urban centers of the region (
Nablus,
Jerusalem and
Hebron), which had their own separate administrators. Many were strategically located along trade routes or served as centers of
olive oil production. The sheikhs' relationship to the authorities stemmed from their role as local tax collectors on behalf of the government. The sheikhs of the prominent rural landowning clans ultimately based their power on violence or the threat thereof. However, force was rarely used due to the durability of patronage networks, whereby the sheikhs offered the local
peasantry protection in exchange for loyalty. This network further increased the power of the sheikhs, who could effectively restrict local and regional trade routes with their ability to mobilize peasant militias. Their allegiance with the peasantry was also solidified due to the presence of kinsmen in lesser villages, intermarriage with large peasant clans, and the sheikhs' role as arbiters of disputes or enforcers of customary law. In response to
Napoleon's
siege of Acre in 1799, the ruling clans of the throne villages dispatched forces to counter the French invasion. The throne villages also joined forces during the
1834 revolt against
Muhammad Ali of Egypt's conscription orders. During the second half of the 19th century, Ottoman reforms brought changes to the political administration of the highlands region, with the central Ottoman authorities shifting their reliance on governing the region to the urban notables and appointed
mukhtars (leaders of individual villages). This signified the loss of power of the rural sheikhs and the influence of their throne villages all but disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century. ==Architecture==