The Promised Land, a fertile corridor of hill country, valleys, and coast between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Not a nation but a land of small city-states, whose culture Israel constantly had to resist.
The Levant
Israel / Palestine / Lebanon / Syria coast
Canaan sat on the land bridge connecting the two great civilizations, so it was fought over and taxed by everyone. Its people (Canaanites) practiced the Baal fertility cult that Israel's prophets endlessly warned against. The whole Old Testament is the story of Israel learning to live in, and keep separate from, this land.
Canaan is about 200 miles long and 50-70 miles wide. Egypt's border lay about 100 miles southwest of Jerusalem; the great trade roads (Via Maris, King's Highway) ran along its coast and highlands.