This chapter goes through the genealogies of the three sons of Noah. There are a 70 names listed, and several of them are the names of tribes and nations that later pop up in the Bible times and still today. 

Japheth has seven sons listed and of those sons, seven significant grandsons are also listed. The Bible notes that they later populate the coastal regions (Greece) and north (Anatolia and Russia), each with his own clans and languages.

Ham has four sons listed that are namesakes of several nations that become significant later, including Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Put (Libya), and Canaan (Western regions). Then the chapter lists grandsons and great grandsons and all their subsequent clans and tribes. It notes a mighty man named Nimrod. Several of the men listed are namesakes of people groups and important cities will show up later in Genesis including the Assyrians and their city of Nineveh. Others listed include the various groups in the land of Sidon (the Mediterranean coast). 

The chapter lists the elder son Shem last with his five sons, and their eight grandsons and several significant grandsons who became namesakes of tribes, cites and religions. Elam becomes the Elamites, Asshur the Assyrians, and Aram the ancestor of the Armenians. Much of the later stories in Genesis will include these groups and this chapter is often referred to as the Table of Nations and is a reminder of our common humanity.