the Holy Land did not spread. If anything, it has shrunk since ancient times.
The earliest Jews outside of the Holy Land were in Egypt (in Jeremiah's time), Assyria, Aram and Babylonia.
Israel.
At the time of the First Destruction (over two millenia ago), the Jews were exiled from the Holy Land. At that time, the first Jews began living in (southern) Europe.
Israel is the Jewish homeland. It is where the Jews originated from.
The Romans
Diaspora
The Holy Land.
Reb Saunders believes, like a number of Orthodox Jews, that the Galut (the Exile from the Holy Land) was a divine act of punishment because Jews had violated the commandments that God had given them. When God believed that the Jewish people had repented and were ready for the Messiah, this Messiah would come and bring the Jews back to the Holy Land. Until that time, Jews will remain in exile. They see a Return to the Holy Land as being an act of blasphemy because Jews should wait for God to bring them into the Holy Land and not to physically move there of their own free will.
Jesus did not lead the Jews to freedom. The Romans went on to destroy the Holy Temple and expel the Jews from the land.
Diaspora. It refers to the emigration of the Jews into areas outside Palestine.
Christians, Jews, and Muslims
God directed the Jews, who were led by Moses and Joshua.