Genesis 10:15-19

‘And Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusites and the Amorite and the Girgashite, and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite, and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite, and afterwards were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad, and the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon as you go towards Gerar, to Gaza as you go towards Sodom and Gomorrha and Admah and Zeboiim to Lasha.'

The mention of Sidon as the firstborn probably refers to the fact that Sidon (which is later closely linked with Tyre) was the place where the Canaanites first settled when they arrived in the area. However there is a possibility that it should be seen as an indication that Sidon was a real son, in contrast to most of the others who are clearly undisguised peoples. Heth represents the Hittites who were for centuries a great nation in Syria before their sudden demise in 12th century BC. These two, Sidon and Heth, mentioned by individual name, are clearly seen as being especially important. They are major players on the scene.

Exodus 13:5 and elsewhere refer to the ‘land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite'. In Deuteronomy 7:1 (see also Joshua 3:10; Joshua 24:11) the Girgashites are included (as well as the Perizzites) to make the divinely perfect seven. The lack of mention of the Perizzites here when the others are included again points to an early date for the account (they could hardly have been overlooked later), as does the mention of Sodom and Gomorrha and related cities (destroyed about 1900 BC - Genesis 19) which points to a date no later than that. The Hittites here are those of the Hittites who had taken up residence in the land of Canaan. The Hivites are similarly Hurrians.

Amorites or, in Akkadian, Amurru are well testified to elsewhere as a nomadic shepherd people from Western Mesopotamia and are testified to in Syria, where there was an Amorite state, as a more sedentary people. Joshua 13:4 refers to this specific Amorite area. They are also testified to in external records as a mountain shepherd people (compare Numbers 13:29; Joshua 11:3; Judges 1:34). The name was sometimes used in external records as applying to the whole of Syria including Palestine. They became part of the Hittite empire and declined with them. Like Habiru it was a term that could be used to refer to people of a distinct type, in their case a shepherd people. Its general more widespread use, often seemingly parallel to that of ‘Canaanite', was different from Canaanite in that it covered a wider area including Transjordan. Thus in Biblical usage the terms are not synonymous.

The Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites and the Hamathites are all Phoenician peoples, along with Sidon. The Arkites probably relate to the Phoenician city of Arqa mentioned in Egyptian records, including the Amarna letters, and in later Assyrian records. Arvad is mentioned in Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:11; (and in 1Ma 15:23 as Aradus) as a Phoenician city and is also referred to in Assyrian records. The Zemarites relate to Sumar mentioned in the Amarna letters, which is referred to as Simirra in Assyrian texts. The Hamathites relate to the city of Hamath which is regularly mentioned in the Bible and inscriptions, and was on the border of the land of promise (Numbers 34:8). It was on the main trade routes and was at one time controlled by Solomon.

So the descendants of Canaan were seen as the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and the Phoenicians to the North who are all seen as ‘Canaanites' in external records. (While of similar origin Ugarit prided itself on not being a Canaanite city).