Canaan, an area variously defined in historical and biblical literature, but always centered on Palestine. Its original pre-Israelite inhabitants were called Canaanites. The names Canaan and Canaanite occur in cuneiform, Egyptian, and Phoenician writings from about the 15th century BCE as well as in the Old Testament. In these sources, “Canaan” sometimes refers to an area encompassing all of Palestine and Syria, sometimes only to the land west of the Jordan River, and sometimes just to a strip of coastal land from Acre (ʿAkko) northward.
The Israelites occupied and conquered Palestine, or Canaan, beginning in the late 2nd millennium BCE, or perhaps earlier; and the Bible justifies such occupation by identifying Canaan with the Promised Land, the land promised to the Israelites by God.
The origin of the term is disputed, but it may derive from an old Semitic word denoting “reddish purple,” referring to the rich purple or crimson dye produced in the area or to the wool coloured with the dye. Biblically, Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Canaan, a son of Ham and grandson of Noah. See also Phoenicia.