First Inhabitants of the Land of Israel: The Canaanites

The earliest known inhabitants of the land corresponding to modern Israel and Palestine were the Canaanites, a Semitic-speaking people who established city-states there from the Early Bronze Age (c. 3500–2000 BCE).

Canaanite Civilization

• City-States: Jericho (earliest walled city, ~9000 BCE), Hazor, Megiddo, Lachish, Gezer, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Ugarit.
• Economy: Maritime trade (cedar, olive oil, wine, pottery) — Phoenicians (coastal Canaanites) dominated Mediterranean. Overland caravan routes.
• Culture: Alphabet inventors (Proto-Sinaitic → Phoenician → Greek/Latin). Religion: El (chief), Baal (storm), Asherah, Astarte. Literature: Ugaritic tablets (epics of Baal, Keret, Aqhat).
• Political: Never a unified empire; shifting coalitions, Egyptian vassalage (New Kingdom), Hittite rivalry.

Arrival of the Israelites

• Biblical Account: Exodus from Egypt (13th c. BCE?), conquest under Joshua (12th c. BCE).
• Archaeology/History: Merneptah Stele (1208 BCE) — earliest extrabiblical mention of "Israel" as a people in Canaan. Israelites emerge as distinct highland group (Iron Age, 1200–1000 BCE), likely from mix of Canaanite population, pastoralists, and escaped slaves. Not a sudden conquest.
• Kingdoms: United Monarchy (Saul, David, Solomon, c. 1000 BCE) → Divided: Israel (North, capital Samaria) & Judah (South, capital Jerusalem).

Subsequent Layers

• Assyrian Conquest (722 BCE): Israel destroyed; "Ten Lost Tribes."
• Babylonian Conquest (586 BCE): Judah destroyed; First Temple razed; Exile.
• Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Mamluk, Ottoman, British.

Conclusion: The Canaanites are the foundational indigenous population. The name Israel enters history first as a person (Jacob), then a people, then a kingdom, then a modern state—layered atop the ancient land of Canaan.