Nearly every people group in the world has, at its roots, a story of the flood. Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth, and their families, settled near the base of the Ararat mountain range on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. God blessed them and commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply" and so they did.  It was there that Nimrod, one of Ham's grandsons, started one of the oldest known cultures.

Nimrod, a mighty enemy of God, united the tribes of the earth to build a tower from which he hoped to rule the world. One day God decided to check it out. Before the flood God noticed that man's thoughts were wicked from birth until death. After the flood, he commented that "whatever man could think, he could do." So he decided to put an end to Nimrod's project by confusing the languages, and scattering people all over the world (Genesis 11). Around this time the earth was divided into continents (Genesis 10:25).

Some families went to eastern Asia and became the Oriental races. Others moved to southern Asia and became the Indians, Islanders, and Australians. More tribes went to Africa and became the Egyptians and Africans. Still others moved to Europe and became the Europeans and Russians. Last of all some tribes moved to the lands that are now the Americas.