British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a doctrine based on the hypothesis that people of Western European and Northern European descent are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of the ancient Israelites, particularly in Great Britain. The doctrine often includes the tenet that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David. The movement never had a head organisation or a centralized structure. Various British Israelite organisations were set up throughout the British Empire and in America from the 1870s; a small number of such organisations are still active today.