1 Chronicles 5:23 places it in the northern part of the region east of the river Yarden (Jordan), with Mount Chermon to its north, the river Yavok (Jabbok) and Mount Gil'ad (Gilead) to its south - the land of the Repha'im in Av-Raham's time, later the land of Gil'ad and Midyan and associated with Ya'akov's treaty with Lavan.
At the time of the Mosaic division of the land (Numbers 32), the tribe of Menasheh went to Mosheh and asked if half of their tribe could remain east of the Yarden, along with Gad and Re'u-Ven; this was agreed, on condition that all three remained with the Beney Yisra-El for the conquest of Kena'an, only taking up their "inheritance" afterwards. This became reality when Yehoshu'a completed the conquest. The land taken by East Menasheh included the land of Bashan (Joshua 17).
Psalm 68:16 gives "the hill of Bashan" as a synonym for Mount Chermon. The Beney Yisra-El under Yehoshu'a (Joshua 12:4) captured it from their king Og, and gave the land, with part of Gil'ad, to the half-tribe of Menasheh, though Deuteronomy 3 had already attributed this to Mosheh.
Isaiah 2:13, Ezekiel 27:6 and Zechariah 11:2 say that it was famed for its oak trees; Deuteronomy 32:14, Psalm 22:13 and Ezekiel 39:18 for its rich pastures, abundant cattle, and the quality of its sheep and goats; the latter interesting to note, as Bashan occupied precisely the geographical limits of Ya'akov's experiments in genetic engineering with the flocks of his uncle Lavan (Genesis 30-32).
In today's geography, Bashan is now known as the Golan Heights.
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