<P> Canaan (/ ˈkeɪnən /; Northwest Semitic: knaʿn; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍; Biblical Hebrew / Masoretic: כְּנָעַן ‎ Kənā'an; Ḵənā'an) was a Semitic - speaking region in the Ancient Near East during the late 2nd millennium BC . In the Bible it corresponds to the Levant, in particular to the areas of the Southern Levant that provide the main setting of the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, i.e., the area of Israel, Philistia, Phoenicia, and other nations . </P> <P> The name Canaan occurs commonly in the Hebrew Bible . In particular, the references in Genesis 10 and Numbers 34 define the "Land of Canaan" as extending from Lebanon southward to the "Brook of Egypt" and eastward to the Jordan River Valley . </P> <P> The word Canaanites serves as an ethnic catch - all term covering various indigenous populations--both settled and nomadic - pastoral groups--throughout the regions of the southern Levant or Canaan . Canaanite is by far the most frequently used ethnic term in the Bible . In the Book of Joshua, Canaanites are included in a list of nations to exterminate, and later described as a group which the Israelites had annihilated . </P> <P> Archaeological attestation of the name Canaan in Ancient Near Eastern sources relates almost exclusively to the period in which the region operated as a colony of the New Kingdom of Egypt (16th--11th centuries BC), with usage of the name almost disappearing following the Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1206--1150 BC). The references suggest that during this period the term was familiar to the region's neighbors on all sides, although scholars have disputed to what extent such references provide a coherent description of its location and boundaries, and regarding whether the inhabitants used the term to describe themselves . The Amarna Letters and other cuneiform documents use Kinaḫḫu (Kinakh'khu), while other sources of the Egyptian New Kingdom mention numerous military campaigns conducted in Ka - na - na . </P>

Who was the land of canaan named after