 At the end of the 19th century Sultan Abdülhamid II settled Muslim populations (Circassians) from the Balkan and Caucasus among areas predominantly populated by the nomads in the regions of modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, and also created several permanent Bedouin settlements, although the majority of them did not remain.Ottoman authorities also initiated private acquisition of large plots of state land offered by the sultan to the absentee landowners (effendis).Numerous tenants were brought in order to cultivate the newly acquired lands.