Ten tribes of the northern Hebrew nation of Israel taken captive by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.E. They never returned to Israel.
The fate of the Lost Tribes became a matter of much theological debate, especially after the discovery of the Americas in the 15th century. Some clerics advanced the opinion that Native Americans were the descendants of the Israelites, settled by divine Providence in the New World. This idea was later adopted by Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church.