Hoshea ("salvation") was the last king of Israel and son of Elah. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 732 BC-721 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 732 BC-722 BC. There are two versions of how he became king. According to the author of "2 Kings", Hoshea conspired against and slew his predecessor, Pekah ("2 Kings" 15:30); Shalmaneser V then campaigned against Hoshea, and forced him to submit and render tribute (17:3). Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Hoshea. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshea