10 of the original 12 Hebrew tribes, which, under the leadership of Joshua, took possession of Canaan, the Promised Land, after the death of Moses. They were named Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun -- all sons or grandsons of Jacob.

In 930 BC the 10 tribes formed the independent Kingdom of Israel in the north and the 2 other tribes, Judah and Benjamin -- PLUS THE LEVITES ("priests") who actually constituted a 13th tribe but had no "land" -- set up the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Following the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 721 BC, the 10 northern tribes were gradually
assimilated by other peoples (the Khazars) and disappeared from history.

Nevertheless, a belief persisted that the Ten Lost Tribes would be found. Eldad ha-Dani, a 9th-century Jewish traveler, reported locating the tribes "beyond the rivers of Abyssinia" -- and Manasseh ben Israel (1604-57) used the lost tribes "argument" in pleading successfully to allow Jews into England during Oliver Cromwell’s regime.

Various peoples at various times claimed decendancy from the Lost Ten Tribes, including the Nestorians, Mormons, Afghans, Falashas of Ethiopia, the American Indians, and the Japanese. Among the numerous immigrants to the State of Israel (established by UN in 1948) were a few who, likewise, claimed to be remnants of the Ten Lost Tribes. Descendants of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi have survived as Judeans because they returned to their Judaen homeland after the Babylonian Exile of 586 BC.