English: The difficulty of the geographical data of this period is due not to their meagreness, but to the fact that the races then appearing in Palestine were numerous and in constant movement; and that the names for them were not used in the O.T. nor elsewhere in any exact tense. The period is one of Egyptian influence. About 1500 Thutmosis (Dhutmes) III conquered Syria up to the Euphrates; but under Amenhotep IV Egyptian sovereignty ceased to be effective. Sety I (c. 1350) reconquered the country as far north as Beirut, pushing his arms also east of the Jordan: see on Map 2. Ramses II (1340-1273) had to subdue the maritime plain, Ephraim and Galilee, and fought Hittites at Kadesh on the Orontes. But before 1200 all Syria had passed from the power of Egypt.

The name Kana'an (also Kna', Eg. Kenahhi) was first applied to the maritime plain from Gaza to the north limit of the Phoenician territories, but was extended over the mountains. The possession of the valley between the Lebanon and of the Anti-Lebanon by the Amurru or Amorites is well established. The Babylonians extended their name over the whole of west Palestine; and it is probable that as Egyptian authority relaxed the Amorites pushed southwards on both sides of the Jordan. Israelite traditions place two Amorite kingdoms in Bashan, and in Moab north of the Arnon; and call the south end of the west range Mount of the Amorites; while the E Document of the Pentateuch and Amos entitle all tribes conquered by Israel Amorites, just as the J Document calls them Canaanites. The Hittites by 1300 were on the upper Orontes; but already in 1400 (according to the Amarna Tablets), groups of them were acting effectively in Palestine proper; and some scholars hold that they penetrated to Hebron, where they are placed by the P Document. But this may be as general a use of the name as that of Amorites by E and of Canaanites by J.

There is evidence for Hivites on Hermon: in the Old Testament they are mentioned with Amorites. Yet it is possible that Hivite, like Perizzite, refers not to an ethnic or geographical distinction so much as to a definite state of society. We have no evidence for the position of Perizzites or Girgashites.

In the Amarna Tablets, the Habiri (a name identical with Hebrews) and Shuti, nomadic tribes, roved through the land.

It is uncertain whether the Philistines were yet settled in their territories: their advent seems nearly contemporaneous with that of Israel. Similarly Aram.

The forms of names of towns added to their Biblical forms, are those given on the Amarna Tablets.