What does Genesis 10:2 mean?

The first section in chapter 10's "table of nations" follows the sons of Japheth. Japheth's descendants mostly settled to the north of the where the nation of Israel would eventually reside. While the Old Testament prophets sometimes mentioned them, they will not feature greatly in biblical events. Thus, less is said of Japheth's successors. They were not cursed, in the way that Canaan was (Genesis 9:25). Nor were they especially blessed, in the way Shem's descendants led to Abraham and the eventual Messiah, Jesus Christ (Genesis 9:26).

However, the names of Japheth's seven sons can be correlated with the names and peoples of specific geographic regions in the ancient world, some of whom would intersect with the people of Israel from time to time. Some of these names would be associated with city-states mentioned later in Scripture, such as Magog (Ezekiel 38:2), Tarshish (Genesis 10:4; Psalm 72:10; Ezekiel 38:13) and Kittim (Genesis 10:4; Numbers 24:24; Daniel 11:30).