The Dan (; ) is a
tributary
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...
of the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...
. The sources of the Dan are multiple springs emerging from
Tel Dan along underground fault lines. The Dan River joins the
Hasbani River
The Hasbani ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Ḥāṣbānī''; ''Ḥatzbaní'') or Snir Stream ( / ''Nahal Sənir''), is the major tributary of the Jordan River that flows in Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Israel. In the mid-19th century, what the Westerners wo ...
at a point in northern
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
to form the River Jordan.
The river is so named after the
Israelite
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
city of
Dan, which was captured by the
Tribe of Dan
The Tribe of Dan (, "Judge") was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, according to the Torah. According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe initially settled in the hill lands bordering Tribe of Ephraim, Ephraim and Tribe of Benjamin, Benjamin on the ...
during the
Judges period.
The tribe of Dan conquered the city, named Laish at the time, which was then occupied by Canaanites.
Although the Dan River itself is only about 20 km (12 miles) long, its flow provides up to 238 million cubic meters of water annually to the
Hulah Valley. In 1966, this was a cause of dispute between Israeli water planners and conservationists, with the latter prevailing after three years of court appeals and adjudication. The result was a conservation project of about at the source of the river called the
Tel Dan Nature Reserve.
References
External links
* Tel Da
The Department for Jewish Zionist Education
Tributaries of the Jordan River
Hebrew Bible rivers
Rivers of Israel
{{Israel-river-stub