Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south, Galilee to the north, the Jordan River to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The region is known in Arabic under two names, Samirah (, as-Sāmira), and Mount Nablus (جَبَل نَابُلُس, Jabal Nābulus).
The first-century historian Josephus set the Mediterranean Sea as its limit to the west, and the Jordan River as its limit to the east.
The name "Samaria" is derived from the ancient city of Samaria, capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The name Samaria likely began being used for the entire kingdom not long after the town of Samaria had become Israel's capital, but it is first documented after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which incorporated the land into the province of Samerina.
Samaria was used to describe the northern midsection of the land in the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. It became the administrative term in 1967, when the West Bank was defined by Israeli officials as the Judea and Samaria Area, of which the entire area north of the Jerusalem District is termed as Samaria. In 1988, Jordan ceded its claim of the area to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1994, control of Areas 'A' (full civil and security control by the Palestinian Authority) and 'B' (Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli–Palestinian security control) were transferred by Israel to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority and the international community do not recognize the term "Samaria"; in modern times, the territory is generally known as part of the West Bank.
Etymology
thumb|300px|Map of Samaria by [[John George Bartholomew|J.G. Bartholomew in 1894 book by George Adam Smith]]According to the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew name "Shomron" () is derived from the individual (or clan) Shemer (), from whom King Omri (ruled 880s–870s BCE) purchased the hill on which he built his new capital city of Shomron.
The fact that the mountain was called Shomeron when Omri bought it may indicate that the correct etymology of the name is to be found more directly in the Semitic root for "guard", hence its initial meaning would have been "watch mountain". In the earlier cuneiform inscriptions, Samaria is designated under the name of "Bet Ḥumri" ("the house of Omri"); but in those of Tiglath-Pileser III (ruled 745–727 BCE) and later it is called Samirin, after its Aramaic name, Shamerayin.
Roman-period definition
The classical Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote: