Canaan was a civilization of the southern Levant that existed on the Levantine coast from Lebanon to Gaza and the Jordan Valley from 4500 BC to 1200 BC. Purportedly descended from Canaan, the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah, the Canaanites practiced Semitic paganism and founded cities such as Jericho, Hebron, Lachish, Jerusalem, Bethel, Samaria, Shechem, Shiloh, Jezreel, Hazor, and Megiddo. In 4500 BC, Ghassulian metalworkers migrated into Canaan and established the Canaanite civilization, and Canaan came to border the Akkadian Empire to the east, the Amorites to the northeast, the Phoenicians (descended from the Canaanites) to the north, the Ammonites and Moabites to the east, the Edomites and Moabites to the southeast, and the Egyptians to the south. In 1921 BC, the Hebrew Abraham and his family migrated to Canaan during a time of infertility in Mesopotamia, and, on Sarah's death in 1859 BC, Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpelah as a burial site, marking the first Jewish presence in the Land of Canaan. Around that time, the Canaanite tribes became known as raiders; in 1650 BC, the Canaanite Hyksos invaded Egypt and established a dynasty of their own in Lower Egypt, reigning until 1550 BC. Canaan also became a crossroads of trade, leading to the rise of powerful city-states. From 1500 BC to 1200 BC, Egypt held sway over the Canaanites, crushing a Canaanite rebellion at the Battle of Megiddo in 1457 BC. In 1451 BC, as the Israelites emerged from the wilderness of the Sinai at the end of the Exodus, God ordered the Israelites to take possession of the "Promised Land" of Canaan by exterminating the Canaanites and destroying their idols. The Israelites, led by Joshua, proceeded to invade Canaan, winning spectacular victories such as the Battle of Jericho, the Second Battle of Ai, the Battle of Gibeon, and the Battle of the Waters of Merom. In 1445 BC, the Twelve Tribes of Israel partitioned Canaan between them, having destroyed or conquered every Canaanite city, smitten every Canaanite man, woman, child, and animal, and hanged every Canaanite king they had come across. In 1305 BC, however, the Canaanite king Jabin of Hazor began a 20-year oppression of the Israelites, supposedly as God's punishment for their sins, and the Israelites freed themselves by slaying Jabin at the Battle of Mount Tabor in 1285 BC. The Canaanites would never seriously threaten Israel again, though the Sea Peoples invaded the region in 1206 BC and oppressed the Israelites until 1188 BC. In 1175 BC, after Pharaoh Ramesses III defeated the Sea Peoples at the Nile Delta and in the Levant, he resettled the defeated Peleset on the frontier of Canaan. There, the Peleset assimilated into Canaanite culture and formed the new civilization of Philistia, which took Canaan's place as the main antagonists of the Israelites. During the 1930s and 1940s, a few far-right Revisionist Zionist intellectuals claimed that the Jews of Mandatory Palestine were descended from the Canaanites, and called on Jews to dissociate themselves from modern Judaism and adopt a revived "Hebrew" identity.
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