Noah’s Family on the Map after the Flood

Where did Noah’s Family go on the map after the flood?

Like many, I’m reading the Bible in a year again (third year in a row).

On day three, I read about Noah’s ark, the flood, and then his family.

(You’ll remember the three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth).

We all know the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat. The family lived in it until the earth appeared, and it was safe to leave.

Noah set up an altar; we had the embarrassing scene with the sons, and then they dispersed.

Obviously, over the face of the earth.

But where, on the map, at first?

Noah’s family on the map in the Middle East.

Wikimedia Commons had an 1854 map by Lyman Coleman, which they updated to look like this:

Coleman published An Historical Text Book and Atlas of Biblical Geography in 1854.

The map above follows the lines of Noah’s sons in color–enabling us to see how they spread about the earth.

Feel free to argue among yourselves if the flood covered the entire globe or not. Like Dr. Hugh Ross, I believe it was a localized flood–we see what happened from Noah’s point of view.

Regardless, Noah’s kin spread out, and the map shows us where.

Another excellent map comes from HisKingdom.us.

Some names are recognizable with contemporary locations.

The map above shows the generations after the flood and where Noah’s family and descendants settled.

The information comes from Genesis 10.

EnduringWord’s commentary on the passage provides further details.

Some of these names were associated with specific regions of the modern globe.

Cush, for example, is an old name for Ethiopia.

Caanan, I recognized as the early name for what is now Israel.

Memphis is the ancient name for Cairo.

Javan’s children were the ancient Greeks.

Japheth’s descendants

• Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
• Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah
• Javan’s boys: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim

Other than the large Mediterranean islands, most of Japheth’s descendants headed north. They seemed to like the areas near the Black Sea and the mountains of what is now Armenia.

Ashkenaz and his family lived near Ararat, which is in Armenia. The earliest Christians outside of the Judean area were in that part of the world.

Ham’s Descendants

Ham’s sons:

• Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan
• The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
• Cush also begat Nimrod, the most famous of the sons.

Except for Nimrod, who founded Nineveh and Babylon, Ham’s sons headed south.

They settled the land of Canaan and all the nations that later harassed the Israelites.

They also went throughout the African continent.

What about Shem?

His sons included Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram, along with a host of others!

One of those descendants was named Jobab, whom some believe was Job.

The map shows his family in blue.

The most notable member of Shem’s family was Abraham–the patriarch of the Bible.

Abraham began at the source of the Euphrates River and traveled south under God’s direction.

And the rest is history.

Other ideas about Noah, Noah’s family, and the ark stories

Several years ago, I read Jill Eileen Smith’s novel The Ark and the Dove.

I’ve known Jill for years. I know how scrupulously she researches.

In her novel, Smith brought up ideas I’d not considered before. Of course, Noah must have been a master architect/engineer. I didn’t recall from Scripture that Methuselah’s death would mark the beginning of the flood.

And, of course, Hugh Ross’ non-fiction book!

Meanwhile, Chad Bird had an interesting reflection on the story itself here.

Your thoughts?

Happy Bible study throughout 2026.