In pre-Biblical times, the region between Gaza and Anatolia (essentially modern day Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Syria) was a single cultural unit. Despite the lack of any central political authority, the region shared a common language family (Northwest Semitic languages, including Phoenician, Ancient Hebrew and Aramaic), religion and way of life. This included some of the world's first permanent settlements arranged around early agricultural communities and independent city states, many of which maintained a wide network of trade relations throughout the Mediterranean and beyond.