Sinites

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The Sinites (Hebrew: סיני, Sı̂ynı̂y) were the descendants of Sini, one of the sons of Canaan according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. The name of this people is still to be found today in the cities of Nahr as-Sinn and Sinn addarb, which are both in close proximity to Arqa. The Phoenicians knew the Sinites as the Usnu; the Assyrians called them the Usana and Siannu; and the Ugaritic tablets refer to them as the sn.

The Sinites are connected with "Sinim" which may be applied to the regions both east and south of the Holy Land. In any event, the name is certainly connected with the Sinai, sometimes spelt Thinai.

The name may be connected with the Sin-ai or Sin (Pelhusium in Egypt) (Ezek 30:15) or Syene (Aswan) (Ezek 29:10; 30:6) Also of interest is the prophecy in Isaiah which refers to exiles who:

Shall come from afar: and, lo, these from the North and from the West; and these from the land of Sinim. Isaiah 49:12

Here Sinim, in it's context is speaking of a land both south and east, or southeast of Palestine. Wherever the Sinites are today, they are in the land of Sinim. But, where is Sinim? Some may have migrated to just north of the Colchis region on the shores of the Black Sea which had a settlement of the Sinope according to Pliny. Even the Don River was known as the Sinus for a time. Some may have migrated into Thrace for a people known as the Singaei dwelt there and on the confines of Macedonia. Another people known as the Sintii dwelt in Thrace. There was also the Sindi people of European Scythia. These were very small tribes and nothing can be proven about their origin with Sini at this time.

They probably journeyed with the Cushites giving their name to the Sindhu River, Sind Sagar district and the Desert of Sind in northwest India by the Asikni River. Sindhu eventually became Hindhu and the Indus River.

Gesenius identifies Sinim with China. Others, too, identify it with Sinae (China). Further, the Greeks and Arabs at one time referred to China as Sin. In fact, at one stage southern China was actually known as Sinai according to Ancient India as described by Ptolmey which had some tribes of Ikhthyophagi Aithiopes - that is black fish eaters.

Many of the early traders with the Scythians were known as the Sinae with a capital at Thinae (modern Thsin) in Shensi Province. From here we get tge dynasty of Tsin, called by the Malays "Tchina", and so it remains today: China. Today, we still speak in terms of Sino-Soviet relations and so forth.

Of further interest is that the Chinese regard Siang-Fu (Father Sin), capital of Shensi Provence as the origin of their civilization. Undoubtedly, the Sinites spent some time in China anciently, lending their name to that country. But, where did they move to afterwards?

The Vulgate translation of the aforementioned prophecy in Isaiah is "Australis" - Australia. "Australis" means "south", and Australia was known to the Arabs before the white man came as "Terra Australis". The Aboriginals were once in southern China, or at least a branch of them were, with various other black peoples. A black people who could possibly be, at least in part, Sinites are the Murrayian Aboriginals living in southern Australia.

There is a noticeable (but by no means striking) variation between the Carpentarian Aboriginals farther north and those in the south, which has led to the suggestion that they are two sub-races, that is divisions of the same race with slight physical differences. The Murrayians are lighter-skinned than the Carpentarians, have straighter hair and in certain respects are like the eastern Polynesians and Ainu, who both were anciently in China. It could be true that the Sinites not only gave their name to China, but later migrated into Australia, forming the Murrayian Aboriginal people.