Ham is the son of Noah traditionally linked with the peoples of Canaan in Genesis.
Genesis 10 presents a “Table of Nations” tracing groups and territories through Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham’s listed descendants include Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. Mizraim is commonly associated with Egypt, while Canaan is explicitly connected with the land and peoples known by that name in the biblical narrative.
The association comes from the genealogical table after the flood, not from the ark’s construction or the rainfall itself. Genesis 9 also contains the episode involving Noah, Ham, and Canaan, which has generated extensive later interpretation.
A major historical caution is that later readers misused the so-called “curse of Ham” to justify racism and slavery. The biblical passage does not identify Black people as cursed, and that later racial interpretation is not a valid description of the text’s genealogy.