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Ham son of the Biblical Patriarch Noah

 

Also Kham. Literal meanings are hot, burnt or dark (father of the Mongoloid and Negroid races - Hamites). He was the progenitor of:

 

Canaan "down low" (sons were Zidon, Heth, Amori, Gergashi, Hivi, Arkee, Seni, Arodi, Zimodi and Chamothi) - also Canaanites, Cana, Chna, Chanani, Chanana, Canaana, Kana, Kenaanah, Kena'ani, Kena'an, Kn'nw, Kyn'nw, Kinnahu, Kinahhi, Kinahni, Kinahna, Kinahne (Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Asians, Malayasians, AmerIndians, Eskimos, Polynesians, Pacific Islanders, related groups); 

 

Japheth

Also Diphath. Literal meanings are opened, enlarged, fair or light (father of the Caucasoid/Indo-Europoid, Indo-European, Indo-Germanic, or Indo-Aryan races - Japhethites). Japheth is the progenitor of seven sons:

 

Magog "land of God" (sons were Elichanaf, Lubal, Baath, Jobhath and Fathochta) - also Gog, Gogh, Magug, Magogae, Mugogh, Mat Gugi, Gugu, Gyges, Bedwig, Moghef, Magogian, Massagetae, Dacae, Sacae, Scyth, Scythi, Scythia, Scythae, Sythia, Scythes, Skuthai, Skythai, Scythia, Skythia, Scynthia, Scynthius, Sclaveni, Samartian, Scoloti, Skodiai, Scotti, Skoloti, Skoth-ai, Skoth, Skuthes, Skuth-a, Askuza, Askuasa, Alani, Alans, Alanic, Ulan, Uhlan (Scythians, Scots, Irish); also Rasapu, Rashu, Rukhs, Rukhs-As, Rhos, Ros, Rosh, Rox, Roxolani, Rhoxolani, Ruskolan, Rosichi, Rhossi, Rusichi, Rus, Ruska, Rossiya, Rusian (Russians3, Belarusians, Ukrainians); also Mas-ar, Mas-gar, Masgar, Mazar, Madj, Madjar, Makr-on, Makar, Makaroi, Merkar, Magor, Magar, Magyar (Hungarians - also Hungar, Hunugur, Hurri, Gurri, Onogur, Ugor, Ungar, Uhor, Venger); Finns, Lapps, Estonians, Siberians, Yugoslavians, Croatians, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Serbians, Slovenians, Slovakians, Bulgarians, Poles, Czechs, and other related groups); 

 

Tiras "desire" (sons were Benib, Gera, Lupirion and Gilak) - also Tiracian, Thracian, Thirasian, Thuras, Troas, Tros, Troia, Troi, Troy, Trajan, Trojan, Taunrus, Tyrsen, Tyrrhena, Rasenna, Tursha, Tusci, Tuscany, Etruscan, Eturscan, Erul, Herul, Heruli, Erilar, Vanir, Danir, Daner, Aesar, Aesir, Asir, Svear, Svea, Svie, Svioner, Svenonian, Urmane, Norge (Trojans, Etruscans, Pelasgians, Scandinavians, Varangians, Vikings, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Icelandics, other related groups). 

 

 

This list of pre-Columbian cultures includes those civilizations and cultures of the Americas which flourished prior to theEuropean colonization of the Americas.  Many pre-Columbian civilizations established permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, and complex societal hierarchies.Watson Brake, Louisiana 3500 BCIn North America, indigenous cultures in the Lower Mississippi Valley during the Middle Archaic period built complexes of multiple mounds, with several in Louisiana dated to 5600–5000 BP (3700 BC–3100 BC). Watson Brake is considered the oldest, multiple mound complex in the Americas, as it has been dated to 3500 BC. It and other Middle Archaic sites were built by pre-ceramic, hunter-gatherer societies. They preceded the better known Poverty Point culture and its elaborate complex by nearly 2,000 years. The Mississippi Valley mound-building tradition extended into the Late Archaic period, longer than later southeastern mound building dependent on sedentary, agricultural societies.(Russo, 1996:285).

 

Some of these civilizations had long ceased to function by the time of the first permanent European arrivals (ca. late 15th – early 16th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations or oral history from tribes today. Others were contemporary with this period, and are also known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec, and Nahua had their own written records. However, most Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical and burned most of them. Only a few documents were hidden and thus remain today, leaving modern historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

 

From both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilizations at the time of European encounter possessed many impressive attributes, having populous cities, and having developed theories of astronomy and mathematics.

 

Where they persist, the societies and cultures which gave rise to these civilizations continue to adapt and evolve; they also uphold various traditions and practices which relate back to these earlier times, even if combined with those more recently adopted.

 

A word on human sacrifice. This was a religious practice principally characteristic of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization although other Mesoamerican civilizations like the Maya and the Zapotec practiced it as well. The extent of the practice is debated by modern scholars.

 

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, and their descendants. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborigen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, whereas "Amerindian" is used in Quebec and The Guianas but not commonly in other countries. Indigenous peoples are commonly known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, which include First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives.  

 

According to the prevailing New World migration model, migrations of humans from Asia (in particular North Asia) to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The majority of experts agree that the earliest migration via Beringia took place at least 13,500 years ago, with disputed evidence that people had migrated into the Americas much earlier, up to 40,000 years ago. These early Paleo-Indians spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of creation myths.

 

Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many Indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, but also cater to modern needs. Some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western society, and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples.

 

Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single ancestral population, one that developed in isolation, conjectured to be Beringia. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10,000–20,000 years.  Around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets. Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would have been covered by a sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age.

 

The Clovis culture, the earliest definitively dated prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture in the Americas, appears around 11,500 RCBP (radiocarbon years before present), equivalent to 13,500 to 13,000 calendar years ago. In 2014, the autosomal DNA of a 12,500+-year-old infant from Montana found in close association with several Clovis artifacts was sequenced. The data indicate that the individual was from a population directly ancestral to present South American and Central American Native American populations, and closely related to present North American Native American populations. The implication is that there was an early divergence between North American and Central American plus South American populations. Hypotheses which posit that invasions subsequent to the Clovis culture overwhelmed or assimilated previous migrants into the Americas were ruled out.

 

Similarly, the skeleton of a teenage girl (named 'Naia', after a water nymph from Greek mythology) found in the underwater cave system of Sac Actun in Mexico's eastern Yucatán peninsula in 2007 has had DNA extracted, and at 13,000 years old is considered the oldest genetically intact human skeleton ever found in the Americas. The DNA indicates she was from a lineage derived from Asian origins that is represented in the modern native population's DNA.

 

The Olmec, who may have been the precursors to the Mayans (or possibly conquered by them), did have an ancient written language that has not been entirely deciphered yet.2 And there is controversy at this stage as to whether this language is of African descent—specifically West African, as some linguists are claiming. If this claim is verified, then it has a Babel connection. Many in West Africa are descendants of Phut, Noah’s grandson through Ham, who settled along the northwest of the African continent and spread around the coast (for example, the Moors of old and modern Mauritania, Morocco, and so on came from Phut). Others of Ham’s descendants also inhabited Africa, such as Cush (Ethiopia) and Mitzraim (Egypt and Libya), and their descendants settled other parts of Africa too.

 

What we can learn is that there were several language families, which means that there were likely several family groups (or at least their descendants) that made it from Babel to North America. But without much written history over the past 4,000 years or so, although this is helpful, we need other angles.

 

For example, in Norse and Germanic mythologies, there is a person named Oden (Woden), and he happens to be found in post-Flood genealogies to lead to many royal houses throughout Europe. In Greek and Roman mythologies, there are a few correlations to the biblical Table of Nations, such as Chronos (or Saturn) being Kittim/Cethimus under Javan. So mythologies often have a remnant of truth in them, but the stories are embellished.

 

This would be an exciting area of study for Native Americans to evaluate their historical traditions and to pick out the nuggets of truth in them—especially looking for any connections back to Genesis 10. Keep in mind language variations and the possibility that some of these traditions are farther removed from Babel.

 

A number of Native American legends are posted on the Internet, but well-versed individuals may be familiar with others. Some of these legends obviously have ties as far back as creation, which we would expect. Naturally, the stories have deviated over several thousand years. This is where discernment is needed. 

 

Many have wondered about the origin of the American Indian. By comparing the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 with secular histories and genealogies, we can broadly trace the descendants of the sons of Noah. From his offspring stem all the nations and peoples on earth today.

 

We know, for example, that the children of Ham very early settled in portions of Africa, the Middle East, and in India. Likewise, the sons of Shem established themselves in the Middle East and in western Europe. Finally, we can identify the descendants of the sons of Japheth with major nations and peoples in Eurasia—except for his seventh son, Tiras. There is little historical mention—and no biblical mention apart from Genesis 10 and I Chronicles 1:5—of Tiras. His descendants are the only people whose identity is not clearly verifiable in Middle Eastern history.

 

At the same time, the American Indian has long been a puzzle to many historians and genealogists. We should therefore ask ourselves, could there be a link between the American Indian and the biblical Tiras, son of Japheth?

 

Shortly after the Flood, as the families of mankind spread out over the known world, most of Tiras' descendants apparently moved completely beyond the customary boundaries of early civilization. That would explain why the literature of antiquity makes no clear reference to Tiras and his people.

 

Ethnologists have established that the American Indian is closely related to groups of Asiatic peoples in eastern Asia, who descended from Japheth. It should also not be surprising that we find the name "Tiras" or derivations of it preserved among various New World Indian tribes: Tauri, Taras, Turas, Dures, Dorasques, and Atures (The American Race by Daniel G. Brinton). Yet another revealing link is that of language. Certain American Indian tribes are closely related linguistically to peoples of northeastern Asia. Thus, concluding that the American Indian is descended from Tiras is biblically reasonable.

 

The people of Tiras had been separated from the sphere of most of civilization for so long that when the European explorers first came upon the American Indian they reported that they had discovered a "new man." But they may have simply come across the most isolated branch of Noah's grandsons—Tiras.  Evidence for diverse migrations into the Americas comes from research on living American Indian populations, which includes data from Mitochondrial DNA. These studies have consistently shown similarities between American Indians and recent populations in Asia, Siberia and northern Scandinavia. These groups include the Lapps in northern Europe/Scandinavia, the Yukaghir in Siberia, plus Indians and Eskimos/Aleuts throughout Canada and America. Ancient skeletal remains show a range of physical attributes (round-headed) suggesting separate migrations of different populations from Asia and the South Pacific, representing 95 percent of all modern American Indian populations. What of the other 5 percent?

 

There are exceptions. For example, the Siouan family of tribes (Sioux Indians), the popular red-skinned tribes having a long-head shape similar to that of early Italic peoples in Europe. They are thought to be descendants of Canaanites who intermarried with Indo-Europeans while migrating across Europe, and subsequently sailing to America. Settling along the eastern shores of America, and according to tradition, they populated the Carolinas, then migrated to the regions of Mississippi, Missouri, and eventually Minnesota and the Dakotas. Many of these tribes had fortified villages similar to ancient Canaanites. Archaelogical evidence shows they constructed towns and cities with pyramids and vast road systems throughout the Mississippi Valley. Many groups migrated southwest into Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and eventually Mexico, establishing the powerful Aztec tribes with their beautiful fortified cities. The Aztec's traditions and legends are largely ignored by modern scholars as myths and fables.

 

The Aztecs, according to their own legends, departed from a region in the north called Chicomoztoc, a region that is today the areas of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. They reached the valley of Mexico in the 12th century A.D. Their language, Nahuatl, was linguistically related to other native language groups throughout the U.S. southwest and northern Mexico. Linguists note, for instance, the Shoshoni language in the Utah-Nevada region was understood by all the tribes from Mexico, without difficulty. Other related tribes included the Paiute, Hopi, Pima, Yaqui/Apache, Tepehuan, Kiowas and Mayos. Catholic missionaries in the 1850's established the fact that all of those peoples were of one language family. While there are other examples of language similarities, studies of the native languages of the Americas have shown them to be extremely diverse, representing nearly two hundred distinct families, some consisting of a single isolated language.