human races

We live in a very difficult time, there are already about 6 billion people on earth. Among them there are no and cannot be two absolutely identical; even twins developing from the same egg, despite their great similarity appearance and the internal state always differ from each other in some small features. Bodily differences are especially noticeable between territorial groups of people who are distant from each other and live in different geographic and climatic conditions.

View division homo sapiens on race happened 2 and a half centuries ago. The origin of the term "race" is not exactly established. According to some scientists, this is a modification of the slave word "ras" (man, beginning, root). There is also an opinion that the term is related to the Italian "razza", which means "tribe". According to the French traveler Francois Bernier, the word "RASA" came from Sanskrit, the ancient language of the Indo-Aryans. In 1682 he created one of the first classifications of human races.

Metis(French métis, from late Latin misticius - mixed, from Latin misceo - I mix) - descendants from interracial marriages. Anthropologically, mestizos usually occupy an intermediate position between intermingling races. It is a mixture of one race with another.
Mulattos- descendants from mixed marriages representatives of the Negroid and Caucasian races.
Sambo(Spanish zambo) - descendants from mixed marriages of Indians and blacks. AT different countries and at different times the term had different meanings. Old dictionaries define him as a mixture of a black man and a mulatto, or a black woman and a mulatto. The old pronunciation is "zambo", "zamboin".

A great contribution to the description of human races was made by the Soviet scientist Valery Pavlovich Alekseev (1929-1991). In principle, we are now guided precisely by his calculations in this interesting anthropological issue.

So what is race?

This is a relatively stable biological characteristic of the human species. They are united by a common appearance and psychophysical characteristics. At the same time, it is important to understand that this unity does not in any way affect the form of the hostel and the ways of living together. General signs purely external, anatomical, but they cannot be used to judge the intellect of people, their ability to work, live, engage in science, art and other mental activities. That is, representatives different races in my own way mental development absolutely the same. They also have exactly the same rights, and, consequently, duties.

The ancestors of modern man are the Cro-Magnons. It is assumed that their first representatives appeared on Earth 300 thousand years ago in southeast africa. As the millennia passed, our distant ancestors spread throughout the world.

They lived in different climatic conditions, and therefore acquired strictly specific biological characteristics. A single habitat gave rise to a common culture.

And within this culture ethnic groups were formed. For example, the Roman ethnic group, the Greek ethnic group, the Carthaginian ethnic group and others.

Human races are divided into Caucasians, Negroids, Mongoloids, Australoids, Americanoids. There are also sub-races or minor races. Their representatives have their own specific biological traits that other people do not have.

1 - Negroid, 2 - Caucasoid, 3 - Mongoloid, 4 - Australoid, 5 - Americanoid

Caucasians - white race

The first Europeans appeared in Southern Europe and North Africa. From there they spread throughout the European continent, came to Central, Central Asia and Northern Tibet. They crossed the Hindu Kush and ended up in India. Here they settled the entire northern part of Hindustan. They also mastered the Arabian Peninsula and the northern regions of Africa. In the 16th century, they crossed the Atlantic and populated almost the entire North America and most of South America. Then it was Australia's turn and South Africa.

Negroids - black race

Negroids or Negroes are considered the indigenous inhabitants of the tropical zone. This explanation is based on melanin, which gives the skin its black color. It protects the skin from the burns of the scorching tropical sun. No doubt, it prevents burns. But what clothes do people wear on a hot sunny day - white or black? Of course white, because it reflects well Sun rays. Therefore, in extreme heat, having black skin is unprofitable, especially with high insolation. From this we can assume that the Negroes appeared in those climatic conditions where cloudiness prevailed.

Indeed, the oldest finds of Grimaldi (Negroids), belonging to the Upper Paleolithic, were discovered on the territory of Southern France (Nice) in the Grimaldi cave. In the Upper Paleolithic, this entire area was inhabited by people with black skin, woolly hair and large lips. They were tall, slender, long-legged hunters of large herbivores. But how did they end up in Africa? Just like the Europeans came to America, that is, they moved there, pushing the indigenous population.

Interestingly, South Africa was inhabited by Negroids - Bantu Negroes (the classic Negroes we know) in the 1st century BC. e. That is, the pioneers were contemporaries of Julius Caesar. It was at this time that they settled in the forests of the Congo, the savannas of East Africa, reached the southern regions of the Zambezi River and ended up on the banks of the muddy Limpopo River.

And who did these black-skinned European conquerors supplant? After all, someone lived before them on these lands. This is a special southern race, which is conditionally called " Khoisan".

Khoisan race

It includes Hottentots and Bushmen. They differ from blacks in brown skin and Mongoloid features. They have a different throat. They do not pronounce words on the exhale, like all of us, but on the inhale. They are considered the remnants of some ancient race that inhabited the Southern Hemisphere for a very long time. There are very few of these people left, and in the ethnic sense, they do not represent anything integral.

Bushmen - quiet and calm hunters. They were pushed out by Bichuani Negroes into the Kalahari Desert. That's where they live, forgetting their ancient and rich culture. They have art, but it is in a rudimentary state, since life in the desert is very difficult and you have to think not about art, but about how to get food.

Hottentots (the Dutch name of the tribes), who lived in the Cape Province (South Africa), became famous for being real robbers. They stole cattle. They quickly became friends with the Dutch and became their guides, translators and farm workers. When the British captured the Cape Colony, the Hottentots made friends with them. They live on these lands to this day.

australoids

Australoids are also called Australians. How they got to the lands of Australia is unknown. But they were there a long time ago. It was a huge number of small tribes with different customs, rituals and culture. They did not like each other and practically did not communicate.

Australoids are not similar to Caucasoids, Negroids and Mongoloids. They only look like themselves. Their skin is very dark, almost black. The hair is wavy, the shoulders are wide, and the reaction is extremely fast. Relatives of these people live in South India on the Deccan Plateau. Maybe from there they sailed to Australia, and also settled all the islands nearby.

Mongoloids - yellow race

Mongoloids are the most numerous. They are divided into a large number of subraces or minor races. There are Siberian Mongoloids, North Chinese, South Chinese, Malay, Tibetan. What they have in common is a narrow slit of the eyes. The hair is straight, black and coarse. The eyes are dark. The skin is swarthy, has a slight yellowish tint. The face is broad and flattened, the cheekbones protrude.

americanoids

Americanoids populate America from the tundra to Tierra del Fuego. Eskimos do not belong to this race. They are alien people. The hair of the Americanoids is black and straight, the skin is swarthy. The eyes are black and narrower than those of Caucasians. These people have a huge number of languages. Among them, it is even impossible to make any classification. There are many dead languages ​​now, as their speakers have died out and the languages ​​have been written down.

pygmies

Pygmies belong to the Negroid race. They live in the forests of equatorial Africa. Notable for their small stature. They have it 1.45-1.5 meters. The skin is brown, the lips are relatively thin, and the hair is dark and curly. Living conditions are poor, hence the small growth, which is the result of a small amount of vitamins and proteins necessary for the body for normal development. Currently, short stature has become a genetic heredity. Therefore, even if the pygmy babies are heavily fed, they will not become tall.

Thus, we have considered the main human races that exist on Earth. But it should be noted that race has never been of decisive importance for the formation of culture. It is also noteworthy that over the past 15 thousand years, no new biological types of people have appeared, and the old ones have not disappeared. Everything is still stable. The only thing is that there is a mixing of people of different biological types. There are mestizos, mulattos, sambo. But these are not biological and anthropological, but social factors determined by the achievements of civilization..

At present, according to various scientists, there are 34-40 races. Races differ from each other in 30-40 elements. Racial features are hereditary, are adaptive to the conditions of existence. There are three main approaches to the classification of races:

a) regardless of origin

b) taking into account origin and kinship

c) based on the population concept

The most plausible is the latter. It lies in the fact that large races are huge populations, small races are subpopulations of large ones, within which specific ethnic formations (nations, nationalities) are smaller populations. This results in a structure that includes levels of hierarchy:

Individual - ethnos - small race - big race.

The formation of races.

There are 4 stages of race formation.

At the first stage there was a formation of primary centers of race formation and the main racial trunks - western and eastern. Chronologically, this falls on the epochs of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, about 200 thousand years ago, i.e. coincide with the rise of modern man.

Consequently, the main racial combinations in the western and eastern regions of the Old World took shape simultaneously with the appearance of the signs inherent in modern man, as well as with the resettlement of part of humanity in the New World.

At the second stage the allocation of secondary centers of race formation and the formation of branches within the main racial trunks. Chronologically, this stage falls on the Upper Paleolithic, partly Mesolithic, ca. 15-20 thousand years ago.

At the third stage racial formation is the formation of local races. By time - this is the eve of the Mesolithic and Neolithic, approx. 10-12 years ago.

At the fourth stage Quaternary centers of race formation arose and populations with deep racial differentiation similar to modern ones formed. It began in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, i.e. in 4-3 thousand BC

Historians, as a rule, judge nations and peoples on the basis of the peculiarities of language and culture, but this is not enough. The language can be borrowed from another people, as, for example, the Russian language has become the predominant and even the only one for many small peoples of Russia (now you can meet representatives of the Chuvash, Mordovians, Komi and other peoples who speak only Russian and consider Russian as their native language) . The culture of peoples also changes in close contact with another people. The question of races, peoples and nations is very complex and confusing. However, the parallels drawn by no means claim to be true.

People fall in love, get married and start families. It does not matter that two people are completely different and have very little in common, they are united by love. A special contrast is obtained in pairs that are not at all similar in appearance, in those that belong to different races. And they, accordingly, have children who are very different from others.

It is believed that children from mixed marriages are much healthier and more beautiful. In most cases, this is true, but, unfortunately, this is observed only in the first generation and does not manifest itself in the future. It happens that in people with too different genetic lines, on the contrary, children can be born weak and with various deviations. The reason for this is the intrauterine conflict between the fetus and the mother due to the presence of daddy's genes in the baby's genotype.

Many believe that all children from mixed marriages are mestizos. But it is not so. Metis- These are people born from the Mongoloid and Caucasoid races. But the fruit of the combination of the Negroid and Caucasian races are mulattoes. Sambo call those people who are born from parents belonging to the Negroid and Mongoloid races. Although more often mestizos are called all people born from mixed marriages.

Now let's see who a child from a mixed marriage might look like. Thus, crossing a black and white race will always result in a child with dark skin. And in general, he will be more like his black parent. And all because the genes that determine the main features in negroid race are dominant in relation to the Caucasoid. These include the color of the skin, eyes, hair, the structure of the skull, the shape of the lips, eyes, nose, and others. It is also worth noting that more or less dark skin color and clear signs of racial affiliation will also depend on which of the parents is a representative of the Negroid race. So, for example, if the mother is white and the father is black, then the child as a result will not have such obvious signs of the Negroid race as if it were the other way around (father is white, mother is black). This is because in the black race, the X chromosome is not only the carrier of basic qualities, but also dominates the Y chromosome. And in the white race, the Y chromosome is dominant. It follows that racial qualities in the Negroid race are more likely to be transmitted through the mother, and in the white race - through the father. Let's not forget that this concerns the first generation of children. What will happen next is more difficult to predict.

Generally, from black and white parents a mulatto baby will be born with dark skin (different shades from black to light), dark hair and eyes, full lips, a big nose, and in itself it will most likely be large. Although there are dark-skinned people with blue eyes, but this is rare. In general, a wonderful and beautiful child, very different from others. Unless, of course, he was born somewhere in Latin America or where there are a lot of mulattoes. Unfortunately, in our country, such children do not feel very comfortable, because they are not like everyone else and there are not so many of them.

A similar situation occurs if parents are representatives of Caucasian and Mongoloid races. Mongoloid genes are dominant. Most likely, from a Russian and a Chinese, a child will be born with yellowish skin, dark hair, slanting dark eyes. This is, let's say, a typical representative of such a mixture. Although there are cases when a child is not at all like his Mongoloid parent, future generations are likely to show character traits this race. In addition, it should be borne in mind that both parents are most often not pure representatives of their races. In the family of a Russian or a European, there may be both Chinese and Japanese, in general, Mongoloid blood.

And a very interesting mixture is obtained when one of the parents is Negroid, and the other is Mongoloid. Both have strong genes. But always a darker skin color dominates over a lighter one. Therefore, in any case, the child will be dark, but it may be with a barely noticeable yellow tint, but in other external signs, such children may differ. So, for example, the cut of the eyes is likely to be the parent of a Mongoloid. But the body structure and high growth will be inherited from a dark-skinned parent. In addition, the hair may not be straight, like the Mongoloids, but curly, like the Negroids.

In general, genetics is a complicated thing and it is problematic to reliably predict which traits, from which parent, he will inherit. But in any case, if this child is desired, then the parents do not attach special significance who their baby looks like. After all, they did not interfere with the fact that outwardly they are completely different. And how others will look at it, let those around them worry.

"The ancient ancestors of man" - The figurines of animals were pierced with arrows, thus killing the beast. Views based on the fact that man was created by God or the gods. Australopithecus is considered to be all bipedal monkeys. Possessing developed speech, Neanderthals skillfully coordinated their actions. DRIOPITE? KI (Dryopithecinae, "tree monkeys"), a subfamily of extinct great apes.

"Ancient people" - Speech is articulate. Pithecanthropus. Heidelberg man. No. 6. What type are ancient people? Test 6. The oldest people belong to the species: A skilled person. Well developed chin. The most ancient people (archanthropes) include (_). Human Origins. Height is about 155-165 cm. Yes. 5. Could the earliest people make fire?

"Primitive society" - In the history of cave painting of the Paleolithic era, experts distinguish several periods. We repeat ... We can judge the beginning of the development of religion from archaeological sites. Homo habilis. Neanderthal.

"The origin and development of man" - Voice the religious version of the origin of man? Stages of development. Give examples of the mythological explanation of the origin of man? What do you understand by the term "lifelong learning"? We have come to the following conclusions: Statement of the question of the origin of man. Having carefully studied additional material, make a table "Stages of human development."

"Biology anthropogenesis" - Comparative anatomical. Anthropogenesis -. Test Yourself: Rudiments. Lesson Objective: What evidence is there for evolution? Biological. - the process of evolutionary origin and development of the species Homo sapiens ( Homo sapiens). Factors of human evolution. Paleontological. Evidence of anthropogenesis.

"The emergence of man" - Question 1. Features of the philosophical study of man. Hominid triad. Evolutionary factors of anthropogenesis. One of the specific properties human-analysis himself. The complex nature of anthropogenesis. Question 4. The philosophical meaning of the concept of "man". Man from a man's point of view. Historical forms of humanism.

In total there are 19 presentations in the topic

They are located at the geographical junctions of large races. On the territory of Russia there are 2 such races:

Ural small race forms the basis of the anthropological type of the peoples of the Mansi, Khanty, Selkups, some Volga peoples, as well as the peoples of Altai. Representatives of the Ural race are similar to representatives of the Laponoid race, but are somewhat larger and have some Mongoloid features. The skin is predominantly light. The hair is dark and dark blond, straight and broadly wavy, often soft. Eye color is predominantly mixed and dark shades, although there is a small percentage of light. The nose is straight or with a concave back, the tip is raised. Lips of medium thickness. The tertiary hairline is weakened. Body length is average and below average.

South Siberian small race concentrated in the steppes of Kazakhstan, the mountainous regions of the Tien Shan and Altai. Widespread among Kazakhs and Kirghiz. It is a variant of mixing the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races. The beginning of the formation of the South Siberian race is precisely established - this is the middle of the first millennium BC, when there was a mixture of Caucasoids and Mongoloids in this part of Eurasia. The skin color is dark and light. Pigmentation of hair and eyes is close to Ural, but a little darker. The nose is straight and sometimes with a convex back.

Ethiopian race localized in East Africa and is a product of a mixture of Caucasians and ancient Afro-Negroids. Skin color varies within various brown shades. Dark hair and eyes. Hair is usually curly, narrowly wavy. The tertiary hairline is weakened. The nose is usually straight, with a high bridge of nose and not wide. The face is narrow, the lips are of medium thickness. The body length is average and above average, the physique is dolichomorphic. This race is common in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan.

Dravidian or South Indian the race is located at the junction of the southern Caucasians and Veddoids in South India. Brownish skin. The eyes and hair are dark. The hair is straight and wavy.

Ainu, or Kuril race, currently occupies the island of Hokkaido. The origin is not exactly known. Skin color is dark. The hair is dark, coarse, wavy. The eyes are light brown. The tertiary hairline, especially on the face, is very strong, making up the world maximum (some groups of the Balkan-Caucasian m.r.). The face is low and broad, slightly flattened. The nose, mouth and ears are large, the lips are full. The body length is small, the neck is short, the arms are quite long, and the legs are relatively short. The physique is massive. The origin of the Kuril race is not exactly known. Some anthropologists distinguish it as a separate large race.

Polynesian minor race common on the islands Pacific Ocean and in New Zealand. The skin is swarthy, sometimes rather light, yellowish. Hair is dark, wavy or straight. The eyes are dark. The tertiary hairline on the body is weak, on the face is medium. The nose is moderately protruding and relatively wide. Lips are quite full. Characteristic large sizes bodies, a euryplastic type of constitution is very common.

The origin of the Polynesian minor race is not exactly known. It is classified either as Caucasoid, or Mongoloid, or australoid races. Some anthropologists believe that it occurred as a result of the mixing of all three large races. And there is also an opinion (Bunak) that this is a kind of pan-neicum group.

In this lesson, you will learn about how the representatives of the Homo sapiens species differ from each other. The lesson will talk about human races and their external features. You will learn about transitional groups and ethnic groups, as well as mixed races: mestizos, mulattoes and sambos. With all the diversity of representatives of our species, it should be noted that it still retains integrity, and the abilities and capabilities of people are primarily related to upbringing and environmental conditions. The concept of race is being criticized today, because, having penetrated into politics, it lost its connection with biological science and acquired non-scientific features.

All modern people belong to the same species Homo sapiens. About 15 thousand years ago, the range of our species was divided into several large subranges, which led to the geographical isolation of human populations. This led to the formation of phenotypically different groups of populations - races.

As a result, in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Hindustan, a Caucasoid race was formed (Fig. 1).

She is characterized by light or dark skin, straight or wavy soft hair, good development hairline on the face in men (this is a beard and mustache), a narrow protruding nose, thin lips. In Caucasians, the face is strongly profiled, that is, it has a sharp relief (see video).

Rice. 1. Representatives of the Caucasian race

Throughout much of Asia and North and South America the Mongoloid race was formed.

It is characterized by yellowish skin, straight, often coarse hair, a flattened broad face, strongly protruding cheekbones, an average width of the nose and lips, and a noticeable development of the epicanthus (a skin fold over the upper eyelid in the inner arches of the eye) (Fig. 2).

Mongoloids from Asia spread to North and South America.

Rice. 2. Representatives of the Mongoloid race

On the territory of Africa and Australia formed Australo-Negroid race.

Its representatives have a dark skin color, curly or wavy hair, a wide or slightly protruding nose, thick lips and dark eyes (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Representatives of the Australo-Negroid race

There are no clear boundaries between races. In addition to the three main races, there are more than 30 minor races and even more transitional groups and ethnic groups (see video).

Representatives of different races can have common children. They all belong to the same biological species. This also confirms their high biological similarity, as well as such morphological details as fingerprints and other features.

As a result of mixed marriages, mixed races appear. For example, mulattoes- this is the result of the combination of the Negroid and Caucasian races, mestizos- Mongoloid and Caucasoid, and sambo- Negroid and Mongoloid (Fig. 4).

These mixed races are now in very high numbers. So, on the American continent, mulattoes prevail over pure Negroids.

Rice. 4. Representatives of mixed races

The difference between human races is the result of geographical variability, which had an adaptive value in the distant past.

For example, skin pigmentation is more intense in the inhabitants of the tropics. Dark skin is less damaged by the rays of the sun, since a large amount of melanin prevents the penetration of ultraviolet rays deep into the skin and protects it from burns.

Curly hair on the head of Negroids creates a kind of hat that protects the head from the scorching rays of the sun (see video).

A wide nose and thick swollen lips with a larger surface of the mucous membranes contribute to evaporation and high heat transfer. The narrow palpebral fissure and epicanthus in Mongoloids is an adaptation to life in semi-desert landscapes.

Interestingly, the population of South Africa, who lived in similar geographical conditions, acquired some features close to the Mongoloids (see video).

The narrow protruding nose of the Caucasian contributes to the warming of the inhaled air (see video).

Thus, all people are representatives of a single species Homo sapiens. The human races are the result of long-standing geographic isolation.

The globalization of the twentieth century is gradually blurring the boundaries between races and ethnic groups.

Bibliography