Our Planet earth, is a beautiful and complex collage
of wildly varying terrain types
including, but not limited to
river valleys, forests, jungles, deserts and mountains
these lands also contain a wide variety of resources
our human ancestors
made use of these resources
to build civilization
small settlements grew into villages towns and cities
City-states expanded into kingdoms
and Empires
as well as to build and create
humanity's energy and resources
have been used to take and destroy.
Since the beginning of written history
humans
which are often selfish and greedy
have used force
to exploit the labor of another man's hands
and take his stuff.
The earliest war in history we have a record of
took place between Elam and the Sumerian King of Kish
who boasted that he carried away the spoils and weapons of Elam
Undoubtedly, there were many wars before this that we do not have records of
...and many many more that have been fought since
Of all the pieces of land on earth
one of the most contested and fought over
has been the Levant
Roughly speaking
the Levant is the land around the Eastern Mediterranean coast
The Southern portion of the Levant
has commonly been called the land of Canaan
For thousands of years
a constant cavalcade of imperial armies have marched through
and dominated this region
Canaan, is not one of the most resource rich regions on the planet
but it is one of the most strategically important
especially for
many of history's most ambitious empire builders
Canaan was not only strategically important for the movement of armies
the region was also at the vital crossroads of all the major land-routes for trade
between Egypt
and the greater Near East
Whoever controlled Canaan
could regulate and tax
the significant amount of trade that flowed through
However, controlling Canaan was never an easy task
For the relatively small size of it's land area
there is an extreme topographical variation throughout the region.
Different micro-climates
terrain
and drastic changes in elevation naturally divide Canaan
into many micro-regions
To over simplify
most of Canaan can be divided into 4 broad categories
1. The Coastal Plain
2. The Hill Country
3. The Jordan Rift River Valley
4. The Trans-Jordan Plateau
If you looked at a cross section of the land
it would look something like this
Because of science reasons
the vast majority of the region's significant rainfall, falls to the west of the Jordan Rift
and the land within the rift receives very little rainfall
Consequently, much of the best farmland has been located on the coastal plain.
Because the Coastal Plain and Hill Country were largely dependent on seasonal rainfall
they were susceptible to periodic drought and famine
To Survive
this made it necessary for the people of Canaan to store away some sufficient food and water for a rainy day
or more accurately many non-rainy days
If enough food and water were not stored
the only two options left for the ill-prepared were conflict or migration.
The natural division the terrain encouraged was pronounced in bad times.
and every man, tribe, town and city for it self mentality that developed,
then carried over to the good times
Although their languages, religion and culture were all quite similar
more often than not the Canaanites were very divided.
The Canaanites were the indigenous inhabitants of the region
primarily descended from those that had lived in Canaan during pre-historic times
In addition to fighting among themselves
the alternative option
which was to leave
was also common in bad times
Two of the early "cradles of human civilization"
Mesopotamia and Egypt
were the primary destinations for Canaanite refugees
The flat open river valleys of these region offered plenty of fresh water and food
but little in the way of natural defense.
In contrast
the hill country of Canaan had significant defensive advantages.
The Hill Country's greatest weakness, was possibly it's greatest strength.
The geographical division
and elevation changes that made the land difficult to unite
also made it difficult to conquer.
Defensive locations in the hill country, that also had access to water
from springs, rivers, streams, and rain water collected in cisterns
were often preferred as locations to build cities
compared to other locations with better farmland and little or no natural defense.
Cites like Lachish, Jerusalem, Samaria and Hebron
were all power centers chosen for their strategic location
that made them difficult to besiege.
In the north, the hill country and the coastal plain merge
The Canaanites of the heavily forested region, became expert seafarers and merchants
and their high quality wood was in high demand throughout the ancient
These Canaanites were later known as the Phoenicians.
While the Hill Country of Canaan is not particularly unusual
the Jordan rift
is one of the most extreme topographic features on our planet.
The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point of land on Earth
while the Dead Sea itself and the Sea of Galilee, are the two lowest lakes in the world.
The north and south of the rift are also drastically different each other
the lower south is very dry
and the Dead Sea is 6 times more salty than the ocean,
so it's utility is pretty limited.
In contrast, the north is wetter
and the water is fresh
there is marshland, ample wild life and farmland.
For approximately 1000 years
the city of Hazor was the leading city state of the northern rift.
The Kings of Hazor, were powerful enough to periodically command a coalition of northern Canaanite city-states.
While there were many prosperous city-states in the northern rift,
in the south Jericho was the only notable city-state.
This is largely due to the fact that Jericho has access to a significant amount of fresh water
a very rare commodity in the surrounding area.
On the Trans-Jordan Plateau
two civilizations
the Ammonites
and the Moabites developed.
They both became centralized kingdoms in the later 2nd millennium BC
They were centered around modest river valleys, which were fed by underground springs, that flowed into the Jordan River.
The north of the Trans-Jordan region was dominated by the Amorites and later the Arameans
both coming from around what is now the Syrian Highlands.
The Economy of Ammon and Moab
were largely dependent on the outermost inland trade route that connected the near east to Egypt.
That trade route passed through Edom.
Like the other Canaanites, Ammonites and Moabites, the Edomites were Semitic Speaking people.
They possessed some of the least hospitable land in the region
Because quality farmland was in short supply
the Edomites were predominantly semi-nomadic pastoralists.
Consequently, whenever they could not make a living off of taxing trade
they often turned to banditry
raiding as far north as the Jezreel valley
and to the west to the borders of Egypt
As early as the first dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs,
the strategic importance of Canaan was realized.
At the site which would later become Gaza
the Egyptians built a fortress which guarded Egypt's economic and military interests in the region.
After a few hundred years,
that site was retaken by the coastal Canaanites.
During the early Bronze Age,
several fortified Canaanite towns grew into cities.
The largest known sites of this period were En Esur, Megiddo and Jericho
The last centuries of the early Bronze Age were marked by the depopulation and abandonment of the larger urban sites in Canaan.
Smaller farming villages and a semi-nomadic way of life became more prevalent for a time.
In the middle Bronze Age urbanism returned and increased.
It was during this period that Hazor rose to become the leading city-state in Northern Canaan
while Ashdod and Ashkelon became the leading cities of the coastal plain
and Lachish, Jerusalem and Hebron became the leading cities of the hill country.
As the land prospered and the trade flowing through the region increased
imperial powers began to increase military pressure on Canaan.
Senwosret the 3rd is the first known Egyptian Pharaoh to campaign in Canaan.
There is vassalized kings and extracted tribute and plunder.
While Egypt put pressure on the South, the Amorite Kingdom of Qatna put pressure on the north
they extracted tribute and Hazor became a nominal vassal of Qatna.
Perhaps because of this military pressure, many Canaanites migrated into the Nile Delta
The Egyptians called the wave of migrants
who were predominantly or entirely comprised of Canaanites, the Hyksos.
Around 1650 BC the Hyksos overthrew the Egyptians, and ruled as pharaohs in the Nile Delta for a century
before being defeated and driven out by the Egyptians.
A somewhat traumatized Egypt became heavily militarized
and their number one policy goal
was to control Canaan.
and prevent a Hyksos like event from ever happening again.
From the onset of the Egyptian New Kingdom
Pharaohs repeatedly campaigned throughout the Levant.
They brought the entire region under their control
making the Canaanite City-States their vassals.
During the reign of Thutmose the 3rd many city-states in the Levant rebelled.
and at the Battle of Megiddo
Thutmose the 3rd defeated a formidable coalition of Canaanite kings
The battle of Megiddo is the eeliest battle in history we have a written account of
the date, tactics, casualties and plunder were all recorded.
Including his campaign at Megiddo, it took Thutmose the 3rd 14 nearly yearly campaigns to put down all the rebellions in the Levant.
The city of Megiddo controlled the entry and exit to and from the Jezreel Valley
The Jezreel Valley, which is shaped like an arrowhead
sits at the intersection of all the major land routes that connect the Canaanite coastal plain with the rest of the Near East.
Consequently, the site has been the venue for many battles throughout history.
Ancient kings, Emperors, medieval crusaders, Arabs and Mongols have all fought and fell on the Valley of Jezreel
Napoleon, and Saladin both won battles there.
and as recent as 1918 more than 90,000 troops of the British and Ottoman Empires clashed in the Jezreel valley near Megiddo.
The battle lasted for six days and ended with a British victory
According to the Biblical account
Israel's first King Saul was slain in battle at the edge of the Jezreel valley while fighting the Philistines.
According to the Biblical book of Revelation
the last battle will be fought on the Jezreel valley near Megiddo.
a transliteration of the word Megiddo is Armageddon
On a slightly lighter note than the end of the world
the ancient Egyptians also realized the strategic importance of the Jezreel valley
so they built a fortress, military and administrative center at the junction of the Jezreel valley and the Jordan Rift.
For well over 3 and a half centuries the Egyptians controlled Canaan.
Although there were numerous rebellions and the loss and regaining of territory.
the Egyptians were successful at their top priority, which was to control and protect the Road of Horus
which allowed them to control military and economic movement in the region
To over-generalize
things were pretty peaceful and prosperous for hundreds of years.
Egypt engaged in diplomacy with other near eastern Empires and things were nice...
Then...to cut a long story very short
...in a short amount of time
empires collapsed, almost everyone died, people forgot how to read and write, and the whole near east fell into a very very very dark age.
This was called the Bronze Age Collapse
if you want to known more about the bronze age collapse I made some videos about it that you may be interested in
but back to Canaan.
On the coastal plain
while things were falling apart, the Peleset
who were members of a band of baffling bad-time boat-bound brigands commonly referred to as the sea peoples
were resettled in Canaan after a failed amphibious assault on the Nile Delta
after a few decades Egypt withdrew from Canaan
the Peleset
who were likely of Aegean Origin
assimilated together with surviving Canaanites of the coastal plain
and they became the Philistines
while Hebrew tribes filled much of the power vacuum in the interior
these tribes later formed into the kingdom of Israel, which split into the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Israel's new capital city of Samaria became the new power center in the North
and was the long time rival of the Aramean Kingdom of Damascus
The unconquered Canaanites on the northern coast recovered relatively quickly
and are more commonly known by their Greek name, the Phoenicians.
They would go on to found the city of Carthage
which is famous for it's wars with Rome and it's brilliant general Hannibal.
All of the states of the Levant were either conquered or vassalized by the Assyrian Empire
A long string of succeeding empires controlled the region
overtime the common language of the region changed from many sematic dialects to Aramaic
and then Greek and then Arabic
in a slow process new people assimilated with the old
In today's modern population of the region
many are partial descendants of the ancient Canaanites
but exactly who is related
to this ancient people
and to what proportion
has been a matter of heated
debate.
However, whatevere the case may be
we should all strive to treat our fellow human beings dignity and respect.
The way one treats people should be based on the actions they take, not whoever their ancestors were.
This has been Epimetheus
Thank you for watching
...and to my Patrons for making this video possible.