According to the Biblical record Hebron was established 7 years before Zoan (in Egypt).

Further, Hebron and Kiriyat Arba are the same place and Arba (a descendant of Canaan) was the father of Anak (of the Anakim). Zoan is commonly thought to be the ancient city of Tanis identified from infra-red satellite images several years ago. In one reading of the Biblical tradition we are led to believe that Ham, one of Noahs 3 sons, built Hebron for his son Canaan before he built Zoan for his older son Mitzrayim (Biblical Egypt) an event disruptively out of birth order. Canaans son Heth is the progenitor of the Hittites who occupied Hebron. It is also possible Canaans other sons Amori (Amorite) occupied land commonly associated with Biblical Moriah and Yevusi (Jebusite) with Jerusalem. Noahs other son Shem or Malchitzedek is a High Priest associated with Salem in the Bible which is traditionally related to Jerusalem. Abraham came from Ur Khasdim (Iraq) to take the land of Canaan because God promised it to him. Although Abraham did not follow Gods explicit instruction, because he quickly left Canaan for Egypt due to drought conditions, the account of his trip must acknowledge Abraham as descendant and ally of Shem, his ancient progenitor, who was living in Salem (Jerusalem) at the time. Could the Biblical record be telling us that Abraham built Hevron before he went on to Egypt to built Zoan? The Egyptian name for Zoan (Tanis - Greek name) is Djanet, which can metathesize to Goshen (its Biblical name). The metathesis occurs because GoSheN, the original Hebrew (Biblical) or Canaanite name, - G inflects to become Dj, Sh or S becomes T and N shifts (for lazy pronnounciation) to the middle of the word to form Djanet. Abrahams wife Hagar (concubine to his first wife Sarah) and their son Ishmael were blood relatives of Ephron (King of the Hittites) son of Zohar who sold the land at Hebron (Machpelah) to Abraham after his return from Egypt where he buried Sarah. Abrahams once removed relationship with Ephron occurs through the larger than life progenitor Ham and his brother (Abrahams direct relative) Shem. These close relationships illustrate the underlying framework of diplomacy between the families in sparsely populated Canaans land and their distancing relatives in Mitzrayims land. The above is important to the theory in which the Biblical record intersects with the presently inflated chronology of Egyptian Pharaohs and Zoan may be an important element that dates the Egyptian record to the later time of Noahs sons when Abraham entered the scene, aligning with his progenitor Shem and causing familial competition to stake their claims in his wake. Etymology demonstrates the language of Noah, Ham, Canaan and the third son Yapheth is the shared 22 letter alphabet often referred to as Canaanite, Phoenician or ancient Hebrew (sometimes proto-Hebrew). If it can be demonstrated that hieroglyphs were used to simplify writing for the benefit of advancing the illiterate, then a more realistic 4200 year proposition for the historical development of the region would be established and the modern historical record re-written to synchronize with the Biblical record.