Resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

For a period of three centuries beginning with the reign of Ashur-dan II (934–912 BCE), the Neo-Assyrian Empire maintained a policy of enforcing population transfer within the territories that it controlled and conquered. The majority of these displacements were carried out with careful planning by governing forces in order to strengthen the empire's rule and influence. For example, a population might have been moved around to spread agricultural techniques or develop new lands. In several cases, this policy was used as a punishment for political enemies—largely as a pragmatic alternative to mass execution. In other cases, elites of a conquered territory were meticulously selected and imported to the Neo-Assyrian Empire to enrich and increase the knowledge in the state's centre.

Professor Bustenay Oded of Haifa University estimated in 1979 that about 4.4 million people (± 900,000) were transferred by the ancient Assyrians over the course of some 250 years. Perhaps the best known of these population transfers occurred after the Kingdom of Israel fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE, resulting in the Ten Lost Tribes.