In Genesis, Ham is the son of Noah whose descendants include Canaan.
Genesis 10:6 lists Ham’s sons as Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The chapter presents a genealogy of peoples after the flood, and Canaan is therefore identified as Ham’s descendant. This is a genealogical statement within the biblical table of nations.
Ham also appears in Genesis 9, where Noah becomes drunk and uncovered in his tent. Ham sees his father’s nakedness and tells his brothers; Shem and Japheth respond by covering Noah without looking at him. Afterward, Noah pronounces a curse on Canaan, not directly on Ham. The distinction matters because later readers sometimes inaccurately call the passage a curse on Ham.
Genesis 10 associates Canaan with peoples and territories in the ancient Levant. The text’s genealogy should not be confused with later racial theories, which misused the passage to justify slavery and racism. Those interpretations are historically influential but are not what the genealogy itself says.