Twelve Tribes of Israel
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The Twelve tribes of Israel were the sons of Jacob (Israel) and were the lineage of the Jewish people. It was the cultural custom to not only identify as being Hebrews, but also which particular 'house' one came from. This information of tribe lineage was lost sometime after the diaspora.
The twelve tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin.
Each tribe was given a section of the promised land for themselves and their descendants. Levi, the priestly branch, was not given an inheritance. Instead the land divisions were kept at twelve by dividing the lineage of Joseph by his two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh.