According to 1 Kings, Samaria became the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel under King Omri.
First Kings 16 says that Omri bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer and built a city there. He named the city Samaria after its former owner. The site became the political center of the northern kingdom and remained its capital until the kingdom was conquered by Assyria.
Samaria’s position on a hill offered strategic advantages, and the city developed into an important royal and administrative center. The biblical narrative later associates it with the reigns of Ahab and other northern kings.
Samaria should not be confused with Jerusalem, the capital of the southern Kingdom of Judah. Shechem had earlier served as an important northern center, but Omri’s foundation established Samaria as the kingdom’s enduring capital. The name later referred both to the city and to the surrounding region.