hospitable than the climate further south. There is no clear division between the mountains of southern Samaria and northern Judea. History Over time, the region has been controlled by numerous different civilizations, including Canaanites, Israelites, Neo-Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Seleucids, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, and Ottoman Turks. Israelite tribes and kingdoms According to the Hebrew Bible, the Israelites captured the region known as Samaria from the Canaanites and assigned it to the Tribe of Joseph. The southern part of Samaria was then known as Mount Ephraim. After the death of King Solomon (c. 931 BC), the northern tribes, including Ephraim and Menashe, separated from the southern tribes and established the separate Kingdom of Israel. Initially its capital was Tirzah until the time of King Omri (c. 884 BC), who built the city of Samaria and made it his capital. Samaria was the capital of Israel until its fall to the Assyrians. It was condemned by the Hebrew prophets for its "ivory houses" and luxury palaces displaying pagan riches. Archaeologically, Samaria experienced significant settlement growth in Iron Age II. Archaeologists estimate that there were 400 sites, up from 300 during the Iron Age I. The people dwelt on tells, in small villages, farms, and forts, and in the cities of Shechem, Samaria and Tirzah in northern Samaria. Zertal estimated that about 52,000 people inhabited the Manasseh Hill in northern Samaria prior to the Assyrian deportations. According to botanists, the majority of Samaria's forests were torn down during the Iron Age II, and were replaced by plantations and agricultural fields. Since then, there have been few oak forests in the region. Assyrian period In 726–722 BC, the new king of Assyria, Shalmaneser V, invaded the land and besieged the city of Samaria. After an assault of three years, the city fell and much of its population was taken into captivity and deported. Little documentation exists for the period between the fall of Samaria and the end of the Assyrian Empire. It seems likely that many returned in 715 BC due to slave revolts that Assyrian king Sargon was enduring. Tremper Longman III suggests that Ezra 4:2, Ezra 4:9-10 implies that later Assyrian kings also returned more Israelites to Samaria. After the destruction of Israel, the Samaritans emerged as an ethnoreligious group in the region of Samaria, claiming descent from the Israelites. With their temple on Mount Gerizim, they continued to thrive for