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.