In South America the hypothesis connecting the American Indians to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel was advanced mainly by Spanish missionaries and travellers while coming across impressive archaeological remains of the pre-Columbian civilizations or investigating the way of life of local tribes believed to recognize various costumes and beliefs that they related to the Bible and Judaism. Most reports referred to native tribes living in regions that today are part of Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru, but also in the countries of Central America, especially Mexico. Among the prominent expositors of those theories a mention should be made of Father Diego Duran (d.c.1588), author of The Aztecs: the History of the Indies of New Spain, Father Gregorio Garcia and his Origen de Los Indios de la Nuevo Mundo (Madrid, 1729).The supposed connection between the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and the Native American nations of North America gained support during the 18^th century with the increase of European exploration of the continent. James Adair (1709-1783), a trader with the Indians who lived amongst them for forty years was one of the earliest to believe in a connection between the Ten Lost Tribes and the various Indian tribes of North America, a theory that he formulated in his History of the American Indians (London, 1775). At the same period, this theory also received the support by Charles Beaty, a missionary to the territories west of the Allegheny Mountains, who detailed it in his Journal of a Two Months Tour with a View of Promoting Religion among the Frontier Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and of Introducing Christianity among the Indians to the Westward of the Allegheny Mountains, (London, 1768).

In the 19^th century a connection with the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel was made again by the believers of the Jesus Christ Church of the Latter-Day Saints. Believing to be descendants of Israel, the Mormons identify themselves with all tribes of Israel and while most are regarded as sons of Joseph through his son Ephraim, some see themselves as belonging to other tribes of Israel.

Other 19^th century supporters of the link between the Ten Lost Tribes and Native Americans include E. Boudinot (1740-1821), author of A Star in the West, or A humble attempt to discover the long lost ten tribes of Israel, preparatory to their return to their beloved city, Jerusalem. (Trenton, NJ, 1816), Ethan Smith (1762-1849), author of View of the Hebrews (Poultney, VT, 1825), Israel Worsley (1768-1836) whose View of the American Indians, Their General Character, Customs, Language, Public Festivals, Religious Rites, and Traditions Showing Them to Be Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel was published in London in 1828. Mordecai Manuel Noah (1785-1851), a Jewish American journalist, best remembered today for his plan to establish Ararat, a Jewish state in North America, was another follower of the theory linking the Ten Lost Tribes to the native nations of America. Noah published his ideas in Discourse on The Evidences of the American Indians being Descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel delivered before the Mercantile Library Association, Clinton Hall (New York, 1837).

The traditional quest for the Ten Lost Tribes centered for many hundreds of years in the regions of Central Asia, close to the borders of the Assyrian Empire of the Antiquity. As a result many ethnic groups living in the region of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Afghanistan, have long been described as descendants from the Ten Lost Tribes. Giles Fletcher (1548-1611), an English poet and envoy at the Russian court of Moscow in the second half of the 16^th century, disseminated a theory according to which the Tatars of Central Asia are descendants from the Ten Lost Tribes. Fletcher's theory continued medieval beliefs about the origin of the Tatars, first mentioned in the chronicle of the 13^th century English monk, Matthew of Paris (d.1259), and again in a work by Thomas Bradwardin (1290-1349). The supposed connection between the Ten Lost Tribes and the Tatars continued to be entertained in the 18^th century by Aaron Hill, another Englishman.

Southern Russia and the areas around the Caspian Sea were at the center of the Khazar Empire of the early Middle Ages. The conversion to Judaism of some Khazar rulers served as basis for many speculations about a possible connection between this people of Turkish-Mongol origin and the Ten Lost Tribes. Moreover, Jewish communities in the Caucasus like the Jews of Georgia or the Jews of Dagestan, also known as the Mountain Jews, were connected to the Ten Lost Tribes. These theories were advanced in the 19^th century by Reverend Jacob Samuel, a Jew converted to Christianity who became a missionary to the Jews of India, Persia, and Arabia. Following his contacts with the Jews of Dagestan, Jacob Samuel claimed that they are descendants from the Ten Lost Tribes, although the Jews of Dagestan themselves did not have such a belief, as stated by Jacob Samuel himself. His theories were published in An appeal on behalf of the Jews scattered in India, Persia, and Arabia (London, 1840) However, the Jews of Dagestan began to adopt this theory towards the end of the 19^th century, when again they were regarded as descendants from the Ten Lost Tribes, this time by Russian Jews who started traveling and settling in the Caucasus.

Various tribes of Afghanistan, especially the Pathans, have received perhaps the largest amount of attention from the seekers of Ten Lost Tribes. The theory was originally advanced by European travelers to the region, but it was later adopted by some Jews. They believe that Afghanistan is probably the most suitable place for a search for the Ten Lost Tribes, and even by some local Muslim inhabitants of Afghanistan. The earliest theory about the Ten Lost Tribes origin of Afghan tribes was lanced already towards the end of the 18th century by Sir William Jones (1746-1794), an early researcher of Indian studies, in an introduction that he wrote to the English translation of the "Secrets of the Afghans" by Henry Vasittart (1732-1770), the British governor of Bengal and one of the first Europeans with an interest in Afghan history and traditions. This theory found a strong supporter in Henry Walter Bellew (1834-1892), an Indian born English surgeon with a distinguished career in the British administration of India. Bellew elaborated extensively about the possible connection between various ethnic groups of Afghanistan and the Ten Lost Tribes and tried to prove his assumptions by suggesting a likeness between biblical and historic place names, Hebrew words and given names and local place names in Afghanistan and some words from the languages and dialects spoken in that country. He also advanced a supposed similarity of customs and habits between the two peoples and, typically for a 19th century researcher, even endeavored to establish a resemblance between the physiognomy of Afghan tribes and that of the "Jewish type". Bellew was succeeded by many travelers and explorers to Afghanistan and the neighboring areas who occasionally suggested new elements that could enhance the belief in a link between the tribes of Afghanistan and the Ten Lost Tribes.

An American military rabbi lecturing about Judaism and the Ten Lost Tribes in to members of the Group Holiness of the Saikun sect. Tokyo, Japan, c. 1950 Beth Hatefutsoth – Visual Documentation Center Courtesy of Sado Ohara

The Onyeulo family of the Ibo Tribe. Some members of the tribe attribute their origins to the ancient Israelites. Biafra, Nigeria, 1978 Beth Hatefutsoth – Visual Documentation Center Courtesy of Chima Davjudah Onyeulo, Israel

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