Canaan was the son of Ham and the grandson of Noah. He was cursed by Noah after his father Ham saw Noah's nakedness. Canaan's descendants became the Canaanite peoples who settled in the land that later became known as the Land of Canaan.
23So Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it across their shoulders, and walked in backward to cover their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.
Canaan's descendants included Sidon (his firstborn), Heth, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hittites, and several other peoples who settled in the area known as the land of Canaan.
The Canaanite peoples later became the object of God's judgment when the Israelites under Joshua conquered the promised land, as prophesied through Noah's curse.
1When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of it, and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you—
2and when the LORD your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must devote them to destruction. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.
10And Joshua said, "By this you will know that the living God is among you and that he will surely drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.