What race is dominant. The origin and unity of the human races. Mongoloid, Equatorial and Caucasoid races
Anthropology It is the science of the origin and development of man. The formation of human races, their properties and characteristics studies its branch - racial science.
Humanity develops within one species Homo sapiens, but over the millennia, under the influence of climate, environmental conditions, and the geographical location of the area, certain groups of people were endowed with features that began to distinguish them from each other. This is how races were formed. The differences between people are in the different color of the skin, the iris of the eyes, the shape of the nose, lips, hair structure, etc.
The main evidence of the unity of human races
The kinship and unity of human races is based on a number of features:
- similarity of origin;
- the presence of the same morphological structure of organs and tissues;
- the possibility of interbreeding between races and the birth of normal offspring;
- the identity of the development of mental and physical abilities in the process of evolution.
Also, with the development of medicine and science, a number of studies have been carried out with the genetic material of people of different races. Scientists have found that the genetic nature of all peoples is the same. Distinctive is only the number that encodes signs. These characteristics serve as proof of the unity of the human races.
Large and small racial group
Scientists divide the population into racial groups: large and small.
large group
The large group consists of three races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Equatorial (Negroid).
People who enter caucasian race(Eurasian, Caucasian) inhabit the European region, South Asian territory, North Africa, it represents 50% of the earth's population. Recognizable features: the skin is light in color (in the northern part) and has a swarthy hue in the south, hair is smooth or slightly curled, soft to the touch, the nose protrudes, the forehead is straight. The male half has thick hair, mustache, beard.
Mongoloid race(Asian, American) is represented by the indigenous people of the central part of Asia, Indonesia, America (Indians). Distinctive characteristics: dark skin, crease on the upper eyelid, slanting ( inner corner the eyeball is located below the outer), narrow eyes, mostly black or Brown. Thickened nostrils, a wide nose, developed cheekbones, a large face, straight, hard hair are signs of a Mongoloid.
There is a hypothesis about the origin of the Mongoloids, which says that a large Mongoloid group originated in the steppes of central Asia, in desert places where winds, dust storms, and a sharp change in temperature were a constant phenomenon. The habitat determined the external characteristics of the Mongoloids: narrow, squinted eyes, epicanthus - the fold of the upper eyelid (protective mechanisms).
equatorial race(African, Australian) lives near the equator, on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The equatorial group is characterized by: dark skin color (protection from the scorching sun), curly, curly hair, with a rough structure, full lips, a flat and wide nose (they allow you to regulate the temperature in a burning climate). The hairline is poorly developed in the front part and on the body.
External signs small group
The formation of small races occurred due to the genetic merger between the peoples of large races and the resettlement of people in all corners of the Earth, where new signs appeared for people to adapt.
The Caucasoid race includes the following subraces:
- Atlantic;
- Baltic;
- White Sea-Baltic;
- Central European (predominant in numbers);
- mediterranean.
The Mongoloid race is divided into:
- South Asian;
- northern Chinese;
- East Asian;
- arctic;
- American (some authors classify it as large).
The Chinese, the Korean population, the Japanese, who are included in the East Asian subrace, predominate among the Mongoloids.
The Negroid race is divided into:
- negro;
- Bushman;
- Australian;
- Melanesian.
Offshoot of minor races Origin of races
The beginning of the formation of modern racial characteristics originated long before our era (80-100 thousand years ago), then the Earth was inhabited by two racial groups - Negroid and Caucasoid-Mongoloid. The collapse of the latter into Mongoloid and Caucasoid occurred 45 thousand years ago.
Due to the impact of climate, the influence of society during the Neolithic period, each group of people began to acquire characteristics. For a long period there were isolated pure races. Since the population on the planet was small, and the territory was quite large, there was no relationship between the representatives of the races.
In the process of development, evolutionary growth, the emergence of communication links, people migrated, resulting in the emergence of small races. The children born of people with different races had the characteristics of both groups and were named accordingly.
- Mulattos- this is a mixture of the Negroid race and the Caucasian;
- mestizos- children of Mongoloids and Caucasians;
- sambo- offspring of Mongoloids and Negroids.
Theories on the origin of human races
Among scientists, two theories about the origin of human races dominate: polycentric and monocentric.
Supporters polycentric theory origins say that mankind originated in various parts of the world and developed independently, on its own territory. Races formed in parallel over many decades.
Monocentric theory considers the origin of races as the resettlement of the primitive ancestors of mankind, who lived in East Africa in all parts of the Earth. Most scientists question this version.
On present stage development gradually erased the line between the differences in species groups of people. Constant mixing, migration, modern adaptation of people to bad weather conditions, the absence of isolation of peoples is the path to the disappearance of racial differences. People are increasingly realizing that the human races are one, a person is the same, despite the color of the skin, the shape of the eyes, and race does not make any sense.
Racism
Formation hallmarks related to their habitat and environmental conditions.
Dark skin Protects the body from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays coarse, curly hair create air cushion- it prevents overheating, wide nostrils cool the inhaled air, and bright skin the inhabitants of the north need them to produce vitamin D, which is synthesized under the action of sunlight.
These signs are necessary for people for normal functioning and survival, and do not serve as criteria for the superiority, mental advantage of a particular race. Humanity is at the same stage of development and differences in economic level and cultural achievements are not related to race.
The racists who put forward theories about the superiority of some races over others used this to their advantage. The displacement of indigenous people from their habitats, the outbreak of wars, the seizure of territory are the main reasons for the development of racism in the 19th century.
The current appearance of humanity is the result of a complex historical development of human groups and can be described by highlighting special biological types - human races. It is assumed that their formation began to occur 30-40 thousand years ago, as a result of the settlement of people in new geographical zones. According to the researchers, their first groups moved from the region of modern Madagascar to South Asia, then Australia, a little later to the Far East, Europe and America. This process gave rise to the original races from which all subsequent diversity of peoples arose. Within the framework of the article, it will be considered which main races are distinguished within the species Homo sapiens (reasonable man), their characteristics and features.
Race Meaning
To summarize the definitions of anthropologists, a race is a historically established set of people who have a common physical type (skin color, structure and hair color, skull shape, etc.), the origin of which is associated with a certain geographical area. At the present time the relation of race to area is not always sufficiently clear, but it definitely took place in the distant past.
The origin of the term "race" is not reliably defined, but there has been much debate in scientific circles over its use. In this regard, initially the term was ambiguous and conditional. There is an opinion that the word represents a modification of the Arabic lexeme ras - head or beginning. There is also every reason to believe that this term may be related to the Italian razza, which means "tribe". Interestingly, in modern meaning given word first found in the writings of the French traveler and philosopher Francois Bernier. In 1684 he gives one of the first classifications of the major human races.
races
Attempts to put together a picture classifying the human races were made by the ancient Egyptians. They identified four types of people according to their skin color: black, yellow, white, and red. And for a long time this division of mankind persisted. The Frenchman Francois Bernier tried to give a scientific classification of the main types of races in the 17th century. But more complete and constructed systems appeared only in the twentieth century.
It is known that there is no generally accepted classification, and all of them are rather conditional. But in the anthropological literature most often refer to Ya. Roginsky and M. Levin. They identified three large races, which in turn are divided into small ones: Caucasoid (Eurasian), Mongoloid and Negro-Australoid (Equatorial). When constructing this classification, scientists took into account morphological similarities, the geographical distribution of races and the time of their formation.
Race characteristics
The classical racial characteristic is determined by a complex of physical features related to the appearance of a person and his anatomy. The color and shape of the eyes, the shape of the nose and lips, the pigmentation of the skin and hair, the shape of the skull are the primary racial features. There are also secondary traits such as physique, height and proportions. human body. But in view of the fact that they are very variable and depend on environmental conditions, they are not used in racial science. Racial traits are not interconnected by one or another biological dependence, therefore they form numerous combinations. But it is stable traits that make it possible to single out races of a large order (basic), while small races are distinguished on the basis of more variable indicators.
Thus, the main characteristic of a race includes morphological, anatomical and other features that are of a stable hereditary nature and are minimally subject to the influence environment.
Caucasian race
Almost 45% of the world's population are Caucasians. The geographical discoveries of America and Australia allowed her to settle around the world. However, its main core is concentrated within Europe, the African Mediterranean and southwestern Asia.
In the Caucasoid group, the following combination of signs is distinguished:
- clearly profiled face;
- pigmentation of hair, skin and eyes from the lightest to dark shades;
- straight or wavy soft hair;
- medium or thin lips;
- narrow nose, strongly or moderately protruding from the plane of the face;
- poorly formed fold of the upper eyelid;
- developed hairline on the body;
- large hands and feet.
The composition of the Caucasoid race is distinguished by two large branches - northern and southern. The northern branch is represented by Scandinavians, Icelanders, Irish, British, Finns and others. South - Spaniards, Italians, southern French, Portuguese, Iranians, Azerbaijanis and others. All the differences between them are in the pigmentation of the eyes, skin and hair.
Mongoloid race
The formation of the Mongoloid group has not been fully explored. According to some assumptions, the nationality was formed in the central part of Asia, in the Gobi desert, which was distinguished by its harsh sharply continental climate. As a result, representatives of this race of people generally have strong immunity and good adaptation to cardinal changes in climatic conditions.
Signs of the Mongoloid race:
- brown or black eyes with a slanted and narrow slit;
- overhanging upper eyelids;
- moderately extended nose and lips of medium size;
- skin color from yellow to brown;
- straight hard dark hair;
- strongly protruding cheekbones;
- poorly developed body hair.
The Mongoloid race is divided into two branches: northern Mongoloids (Kalmykia, Buryatia, Yakutia, Tuva) and southern peoples (Japan, residents of the Korean Peninsula, South China). Ethnic Mongols can act as prominent representatives of the Mongoloid group.
The equatorial (or Negro-Australoid) race is a large group of people that makes up 10% of humanity. It includes Negroid and Australoid groups, which mostly live in Oceania, Australia, the tropical zone of Africa and in the regions of South and Southeast Asia.
Most researchers consider the specific characteristics of a race to be the result of the development of a population in hot and cold conditions. humid climate:
- dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes;
- coarse curly or wavy hair;
- the nose is wide, slightly protruding;
- thick lips with a significant mucous part;
- protruding lower face.
The race is distinctly divided into two trunks - eastern (Pacific, Australian and Asian groups) and western (African groups).
Minor races
The main races in which humanity has been successfully imprinted on all the continents of the earth, branching out into a complex mosaic of people - small races (or races of the second order). Anthropologists distinguish from 30 to 50 such groups. The Caucasoid race consists of the following types: White Sea-Baltic, Atlanto-Baltic, Middle Caucasoid, Balkan-Caucasian (Ponto-Zagros), and Indo-Mediterranean.
The Mongoloid group distinguishes: Far Eastern, South Asian, North Asian, Arctic and American types. It is worth noting that the last of them in some classifications tends to be considered as an independent large race. In today's Asia, the Far Eastern (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese) and South Asian (Javanese, Probes, Malays) types are most prevalent.
The equatorial population is divided into six small groups: the African Negroids are represented by the Negro, Central African and Bushman races, the Oceanian Australoids are the Veddoid, Melanesian and Australian (in some classifications it is put forward as the main race).
mixed race
In addition to races of the second order, there are also mixed and transitional races. Presumably, they were formed from ancient populations within the boundaries of climatic zones, through contact between representatives of different races, or appeared during long-distance migrations, when it was necessary to adapt to new conditions.
Thus, there are Euro-Mongoloid, Euro-Negroid and Euro-Mongol-Negroid sub-races. For example, the Laponoid group has signs of three main races: prognathism, prominent cheekbones, soft hair, and others. The carriers of such characteristics are the Finno-Permian peoples. Or Ural which is represented by Caucasoid and Mongoloid populations. She is characterized by the following dark straight hair, moderate skin pigmentation, Brown eyes, moderate hairline. Distributed mostly in Western Siberia.
- Until the 20th century, there were no representatives of the Negroid race in Russia. In the USSR, during the cooperation with developing countries, about 70 thousand blacks remained to live.
- Only one Caucasian race is capable of producing lactase throughout its life, which is involved in the absorption of milk. In the other major races, this ability is observed only in infancy.
- Genetic studies have determined that the fair-skinned inhabitants of the northern territories of Europe and Russia have about 47.5% of Mongolian genes and only 52.5% of European ones.
- A large number of people who self-identify as pure African Americans have European ancestry. In turn, Europeans can find Native Americans or Africans in their ancestors.
- The DNA of all the inhabitants of the planet, regardless of external differences (skin color, hair texture), is 99.9% the same, therefore, from the standpoint of genetic research, the existing concept of "race" loses its meaning.
Race- this is a group of people united on the basis of their mutual relationship, common origin and some external hereditary physical characteristics (skin and hair color, head shape, structure of the face as a whole and its parts - nose, lips, etc.). There are three main races of people: Caucasoid (white), Mongoloid (yellow), Negroid (black).
The ancestors of all races lived 90-92 thousand years ago. Starting from that time, people began to settle in territories that differ sharply from each other in terms of natural conditions.
According to scientists, in the process of formation modern man in Southeast Asia and neighboring North Africa, which are considered the ancestral home of man, two races arose - southwestern and northeastern. Subsequently, Caucasoids and Negroids descended from the first, and Mongoloids from the second.
The separation of the Caucasoid and Negroid races began about 40 thousand years ago.
Displacement of recessive genes to the outskirts of the population range
The outstanding geneticist N. I. Vavilov in 1927 discovered the law of the exit of individuals with recessive traits beyond the center of origin of new forms of organisms. According to this law, forms with dominant traits dominate in the center of the species distribution area, they are surrounded by heterozygous forms with recessive traits. The marginal part of the range is occupied by homozygous forms with recessive traits.
This law is closely connected with the anthropological observations of N. I. Vavilov. In 1924, the expedition members led by him witnessed an amazing phenomenon in Kafiristan (Nuristan), located in Afghanistan at an altitude of 3500-4000 m. They found that most of the inhabitants of the northern highlands had blue eyes. According to the hypothesis prevailing at that time, northern races were widespread here from ancient times and these places were considered a center of culture. N. I. Vavilov noted the impossibility of confirming this hypothesis with the help of historical, ethnographic and linguistic evidence. In his opinion, the blue eyes of the Nuristanis are a clear manifestation of the law of the exit of the owners of recessive genes to the outskirts of the range. Later this law was convincingly confirmed. N. Cheboksarov on the example of the population of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The origin of the signs of the Caucasian race is explained by migration and isolation.
All mankind can be divided into three large groups, or races: white (Caucasian), yellow (Mongoloid), black (Negroid). Representatives of each race have their own distinctive, inherited features of the body structure, hair shape, skin color, eye shape, skull shape, etc.
The representatives of the white race have light skin, protruding noses, the people of the yellow race have a bony face, special form eyelid, yellow skin. Blacks, who belong to the Negroid race, have dark skin, wide noses, and curly hair.
Why are there such differences in the appearance of representatives of different races, and why do each race have certain characteristics? Scientists answer this as follows: the human races were formed as a result of adaptation to different conditions of the geographical environment, and these conditions left their imprints on representatives of various races.
Negroid race (black)
Representatives of the Negroid race are distinguished by black or dark brown skin, black curly hair, a flattened wide nose and thick lips (Fig. 82).
Where blacks live, there is an abundance of sun, it's hot - people's skin is more than adequately exposed to sunlight. And overexposure is harmful. And so the body of people in hot countries for thousands of years has adapted to an excess of sun: a pigment has been developed in the skin that retains part of the sun's rays and, therefore, saves the skin from burns. Dark skin coloration is inherited. Hard curly hair, which forms an air cushion on the head, reliably protects a person from overheating.
Caucasian race (white)
Caucasians are characterized by fair skin, soft straight hair, a thick mustache and beard, a narrow nose and thin lips.
Representatives of the white race live in the northern regions, where the sun is a rare visitor, and they really need the sun's rays. In their skin, pigment is also produced, but at the height of summer, when the body, thanks to the sun's rays, is replenished with the right amount of vitamin D. At this time, representatives of the white race become swarthy.
Mongoloid race (yellow)
People belonging to the Mongoloid race have dark or lighter skin, straight coarse hair, sparse or undeveloped mustaches and beards, prominent cheekbones, lips and nose of medium thickness, almond-shaped eyes.
Where the representatives of the yellow race live, winds are frequent, even storms with dust and sand. And the locals endure such windy weather quite easily. Over the centuries, they have adapted to strong winds. Mongoloids have narrow eyes, as if on purpose, so that sand and dust get into them less, so that the wind does not irritate them, and they do not water. This sign is also inherited and is found in people of the Mongoloid race and in other geographical conditions.material from the site
Among people there are those who believe that people with white skin belong to the higher races, and those with yellow and black skin belong to the lower races. In their opinion, people with yellow and black skin are incapable of mental work and should only do physical work. These harmful ideas are still guided by racists in a number of third world countries. There, the work of blacks is paid lower than whites, blacks are subjected to humiliation and insults. In civilized countries, all peoples have the same rights.
Studies by N. N. Miklukho-Maclay on the equality of races
Russian scientist Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklukho-Maclay, in order to prove the complete failure of the theory of the existence of "lower" races that are not capable of mental development, in 1871 he settled on the island of New Guinea, where representatives of the black race lived - the Papuans. For fifteen months he lived among the island-chans, became close to them, studied them
Shatova Polina
human races
The modern racial image of humanity was formed as a result of the complex historical development of racial groups that lived apart and mixed, evolved, and disappeared. It is of particular importance for us to study all that we can learn about the human races in order to understand what really defines the human race. Even without extraneous clues, by observing, one can be convinced that people in the world are divided into various groups. The members of each are in some way more closely related to each other than to the members of the other group. For this reason, they are more similar to each other than to others.
The section of anthropology - racial studies - summarizes data on the study of the anthropological composition of the peoples of the globe in the present and past, that is, on the formation and distribution of races on Earth; considers the problems of classification of races, their origin, settlement around the globe, development and interaction in connection with the specific history of human populations, based on data from morphology and physiology, genetics and molecular biology. The main problems of this section are the history of the formation of races, the relationship between them at different stages of historical development, the disclosure of the causes and mechanisms of racial differentiation.
A large place in racial science is occupied by the study of delimiting racial characteristics, their heredity, dependence on the surrounding natural-geographical and socio-cultural environment, gender differences, age dynamics, geographical variations and epoch-making changes. Racial data are used to refute pseudoscientific racist concepts and form a correct idea of the differences in the morphological appearance of people.
The origin of the term "race" is not exactly established. It is possible that it is a modification of the Arabic word "ras" (head, beginning, root). There is also an opinion that this term is associated with the Italian razza, which means "tribe". The word "race" in approximately the sense in which it is now used is already found in the French scientist Francois Bernier, who published in 1684 one of the first classifications of human races.
Races exist predominantly in a social sense and are one of the forms of social classification that is used in a particular society. However, in the biological sense, a clear division into races does not exist. Anthropology does not deny the existence of a distinct morphological and genetic diversity of mankind. Various researchers in different periods“race” meant different concepts.
Races are historically formed groupings (population groups) of people of different sizes, characterized by the similarity of morphological and physiological properties, as well as the commonality of the territories they occupy.
Large races of man
Since the 17th century, many different classifications of human races have been proposed. Most often, three main, or large, races are distinguished: Caucasoid (Eurasian, Caucasoid), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Equatorial (Negro-Australoid). The Caucasoid race is characterized by fair skin (with variations from very light, mainly in Northern Europe, to swarthy and even brown), soft straight or wavy hair, horizontal slit eyes, moderately or strongly developed hair on the face and chest in men, prominently protruding nose, straight or slightly sloping forehead.
In the Mongoloid race, the skin color varies from dark to light (mainly in North Asian groups), the hair is usually dark, often coarse and straight, the protrusion of the nose is usually small, the palpebral fissure has an oblique incision, the fold of the upper eyelid is significantly developed and, in addition to in addition, there is a fold (epicanthus) covering the inner corner of the eye; hairline is weak.
The equatorial race is distinguished by dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes, curly or broadly wavy (Australian) hair; the nose is usually wide, slightly protruding, the lower part of the face protrudes.
Small races and their geographical distribution
Each major race is subdivided into minor races, or anthropological types. Within the Caucasoid race, the Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Balkan-Caucasian and Indo-Mediterranean minor races are distinguished. Now Caucasians inhabit virtually the entire inhabited land, but until the middle of the 15th century - the beginning of the great geographical discoveries- their main range included Europe, North Africa, Western and Central Asia and India. In modern Europe, all small races are represented, but the Central European variant prevails numerically (often found among Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians); in general, its population is very mixed, especially in cities, due to migrations, miscegenation and the influx of migrants from other regions of the Earth.
Within the Mongoloid race, the Far Eastern, South Asian, North Asian, Arctic and American small races are usually distinguished, the latter sometimes being considered as a separate large race. Mongoloids inhabited all climatic and geographical zones (Northern, Central, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Madagascar, North and South America). Modern Asia is characterized by a wide variety of anthropological types, but various Mongoloid and Caucasoid groups predominate in number. Among the Mongoloids, the Far Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and South Asian (Malays, Javanese, Probes) small races are most common, among Caucasians - the Indo-Mediterranean. In America, the indigenous population (Indians) is a minority, compared with various Caucasoid anthropological types and population groups of representatives of all three major races.
The equatorial, or Negro-Australoid, race includes three small races of African Negroids (Negro, or Negroid, Bushman and Negrillian) and the same number of Oceanic Australoids (Australian, or Australoid, a race that is distinguished in some classifications as an independent large race, as well as Melanesian and vedoid). The range of the equatorial race is not continuous: it covers most of Africa, Australia, Melanesia, New Guinea, and partly Indonesia. In Africa, the Negro minor race is numerically predominant; in the north and south of the continent, the proportion of the Caucasoid population is significant.
In Australia, the indigenous population is a minority in relation to migrants from Europe and India, and representatives of the Far Eastern race (Japanese, Chinese) are quite numerous. Indonesia is dominated by the South Asian race.
Along with the above, there are races with a less definite position, formed as a result of a long-term mixing of the population of certain regions, for example, the Lapanoid and Ural races, combining the features of Caucasoids and Mongoloids, or the Ethiopian race - intermediate between the Equatorial and Caucasoid races.
| Races of man | ||
| Negroid race | Mongoloid race | Caucasian race |
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| There are two major branches - African and Australian: Negroes West Africa, Bushmen, Negritos Pygmies, Hottentots, Melanesians and Australian Aborigines | The indigenous population of Asia (with the exception of India) and America (from the northern Eskimos to the Indians of Tierra del Fuego) | The population of Europe, the Caucasus, southwest Asia, northern Africa, India, as well as in the composition of the population of America |
Race and psyche
From time immemorial sharp psychic differences have been incorrectly attributed to races. The famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was the first of the scientists to propose a more or less scientific classification of human races according to their physical characteristics, but at the same time he vainly attributed, for example, cruelty, melancholy, stubbornness and stinginess to the “Asiatic man”; "African" - anger, cunning, laziness, indifference; "European" - mobility, wit, ingenuity, that is, high mental abilities. Thus Linnaeus extolled the "white" race over the others.
Darwin, unlike Linnaeus, recognized the existence of a fundamental similarity in the manifestations of higher nervous activity in people of different races.
Darwin was very far from explaining the low cultural level of the Fuegians by their mental racial characteristics. On the contrary, he sought explanations for this in social factors.
Speaking about the expression of emotions, or emotional experiences, with the help of the mimic muscles of the face, Darwin comes to the conclusion that representatives of different races have a striking similarity or identity in this respect.
Elsewhere, Darwin draws attention to the fact of the extraordinary similarity of the forms and methods of making stone tips for weapons, collected from the most various countries earth and relating to the ancient epochs of mankind. He explains this by the proximity of inventive and mental capacity among the most diverse human races in past times.
The opinion about the natural fundamental difference in the psyche of different races is often tried to be substantiated by the fact that the weight of the brain in different racial groups varies within several hundred grams. However, a person's abilities cannot be judged by the weight of his brain.
Outstanding people come from a variety of races. Mao Tse-tung is the biggest statesman new China, where the people of 600 million, having overthrown the yoke of foreign imperialist invaders and completely freed themselves from the yoke of feudalism, are engaged in the peaceful construction of a new, happy life. The world-famous singer Paul Robeson is a prominent fighter for peace, laureate of the Stalin Prize "For strengthening peace among peoples." There are many such examples.
Reactionary bourgeois scientists, with the help of special psychotechnical tests, the so-called tests, seek to show the alleged mental superiority of one race over another. Such attempts were made more than once and, moreover, without taking into account the difference in social position, in the education and upbringing of the examined and compared groups. Genuine scientists, of course, are sharply negative about these toasts, as they are means unsuitable for determining mental abilities.
Some reactionary German anthropologists at the International Congress on Anthropology and Ethnography, held in Copenhagen in August 1938, tried to prove the existence and inheritance of mental racial traits in their reports and speeches. racial psyche" almost died out, while the Maori from the island New Zealand successfully perceive European culture, since, according to these anthropologists, they belong to the Caucasoid race.
At the same congress, however, strong objections were raised by a number of its more progressive members. They denied the presence of natural racial traits in the psyche and pointed to differences in the level of culture, which are reflected in the mental makeup of tribes and peoples. The scientific evidence is inconsistent. with statements about the existence of a special "racial instinct", which allegedly causes enmity between the races of mankind. Under favorable social conditions, peoples of any racial composition can create an advanced culture and civilization. The psyche of individual people, their national character, behavior are determined and shaped under the predominant, decisive influence of the social environment: racial characteristics in the development of mental activity do not play any role.
The outstanding Russian ethnographer and anthropologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklukho-Maclay set as one of the chains of his study of the uncultured peoples of Oceania the determination of the level of their natural intelligence. Having spent many years in friendly communication with the Papuans, he met with many striking facts confirming that these inhabitants of New Guinea have the same high mental characteristics as the Europeans. For example, when Miklukho-Maclay was drawing a map of the area in which he lived, a Papuan who was watching his work and who had not known the map before immediately discovered the mistake made when drawing the coastline and corrected it very accurately.
Miklukho-Maclay characterizes the Papuans as intelligent people, not devoid of artistic taste, skillfully carving figurines of their ancestors and making various ornaments.
As a result of many years of anthropological and ethnographic research, which made the works of Miklouho-Maclay classic, he irrefutably proved that the Papuans are quite capable of unlimited cultural development. In this respect, they are in no way inferior to Europeans.
The studies of Miklouho-Maclay revealed the unscientific and biased opinion of the racists about the natural inability of the dark-skinned races to creatively master the spiritual wealth accumulated by mankind.
All my short life Miklouho-Maclay dedicated to the struggle for the idea of the biological equivalence of human races. He considered people of all races fully capable of the highest achievements in the field of culture. The principles of progressive scientific and social activity of Miklukho-Maclay developed at the time when the revolutionary-democratic views of the greatest Russian thinker Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, who was especially interested in questions of human races, were taking shape. Chernyshevsky, dwelling on the features of racial difference and similarity, denied the claims of the racists about the physical and mental inequality of human races. He rejected the influence of race on historical development and, using the example of Negro slavery in the USA, revealed the reactionary essence of racism. In his views on race and racism, Chernyshevsky relied on solid scientific data. Among the latter, he especially highly valued the achievements of the physiology of the nervous system, which were clearly marked in Russian science thanks to the brilliant works of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
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RACES OF HUMANS We - people differ from each other in eye color, hair, skin tones, height, body weight, facial features. All of these are individual differences. But there are signs that distinguish entire communities of people - races. A race is a historically established group of people united by: - a common origin; - the territory of residence; - common morphological and physiological - hereditary features; - traditions and customs. Francois Bernier
The question of the origin and classification of races has a long history. The first attempt to describe the human races was made in the 17th century. French Bernier. Carl Linnaeus
Later, K. Linnaeus singled out four races: American, European, Asian, African. At present, most scientists distinguish three large races and several dozen small ones. Large races - equatorial (Australian-Negroid), Eurasian (Caucasian), Asian-American (Mongoloid). Representatives of the equatorial race live mainly in some tropical regions of the Old World. They are characterized by dark skin, wavy or curly hair, a wide flattened nose with large nostrils, and thick lips. The area of distribution of the Eurasian race is Europe, part of Asia, North Africa, America. Its representatives are characterized by light, sometimes swarthy skin, straight, sometimes wavy soft hair, a long nose, thin lips, and usually well-developed facial hair (mustache, beard). The Asian-American race is common in America, Central and East Asia. The representatives of this race have straight, black, coarse hair, and their mustaches and beards grow weakly. The skin is more dark than fair. The nose of the Mongols is of medium width, protrudes little, while the nose of the American Indians is long, strongly protruding. The most characteristic features of this race are a wide face, protruding cheekbones, a narrow palpebral fissure, lips of medium thickness, and an upper eyelid closed with a leathery fold (“third eyelid”). However, even within the same race there are groups of people who differ from each other. For example, a Malay does not outwardly look too much like a Buryat or an Evenk. The Negroid Pygmies of the Congo River are different from the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Caucasoids of Northern Europe (Norwegians, Swedes) - light-eyed, fair-haired, fair-skinned - bear little resemblance to southerners, mostly brown-eyed and dark-skinned. Therefore, scientists distinguish several dozen smaller races - the second and third order. Currently, people are actively moving around the world, moving from place to place. Representatives of different races intermarry. Races have been around for a very long time. The first division into two large trunks, the Mongoloid and the Caucasian-Negroid races, occurred 90-92 thousand years ago. It is believed that the separation of Caucasians and Negroids occurred 50 thousand years ago. Scientists are still arguing about the mechanism of formation of races. Many characteristics of races are clearly adaptive in nature. So, the dark skin of Negroids protects them better from ultraviolet rays than the light skin of Caucasians. Curly hair is a good heat insulator in the sun. An important factor in the formation of races could be their isolation. In groups of people living in isolation from the rest of the world, some new signs arose - the shape of the nose, lips, etc. e People - carriers of this trait married only within their group. Their offspring also intermarried within this group. Over time, the new sign became the property of all members of this group. Despite the differences between races, all modern humanity is represented by one species - Homo sapiens. Races should not be confused with the concepts of "nation" and "people" Representatives of different races can be members united state and speak the same language. The presence of speech centers is a biological feature of the human species. What language a person speaks does not depend on belonging to a particular race or nationality, but on social factors - on who the person lives with and who will teach him. Through speech, the ability to control one's behavior is realized: an adult, a mature man of sense first sets goals, plans his actions, and only then acts.
Formation of races on earth, is a question that remains open, even for modern science. Where, how, why did races arise? Is there a division into races of the first and second grade, (more:)? What brings people together one humanity? What traits separate people by nationality?
Skin color in humans
Humanity as a biological species stood out a long time ago. Color of the skin the former of people it was unlikely to be very dark or very white, most likely some skin turned out to be somewhat whiter, others darker. The formation of races on Earth by skin color was influenced by the natural conditions in which certain groups found themselves.
Formation of races on earth
White and black people
For example, some people found themselves in the conditions of the tropical zone of the Earth. Here, the merciless rays of the sun can easily burn the bare skin of a person. We know from physics that black absorbs the rays of the sun more completely. And so black skin seems to be harmful.
But it turns out that only ultraviolet rays burn, and can burn the skin. Pigment coloration becomes like a shield that protects the human skin.
Everyone knows that white man gets sunburn faster than a black man. In the equatorial steppes of Africa, people with dark color skin, from them the Negroid tribes originated.
This is evidenced by the fact that not only in Africa, but also in all tropical regions of the planet, live black people. The original inhabitants of India are very dark-skinned people. In the tropical steppe regions of America, the people living here turned out to have darker skin than their neighbors, who lived in and hid from the direct rays of the sun in the shade of trees.
And in Africa, the indigenous inhabitants of the rainforests - the pygmies - have lighter skin than their neighbors, who are engaged in agriculture and are almost always under the sun.
The Negroid race, in addition to skin color, has many other features formed in the process of development, and due to the need to adapt to tropical conditions life. For example, curly black hair protects the head well from overheating in the direct rays of the sun. Narrow elongated skulls are also one of the adaptations from overheating.
The same skull shape is found among the Papuans from New Guinea, (more details:) as well as among the Malanesians, (more details:). Features such as the shape of the skull and skin color helped all these peoples in the struggle for existence.
But why did the skin of the white race turn out to be whiter than that of primitive people? The reason is the same ultraviolet rays, under the influence of which vitamin B is synthesized in the human body.
People of temperate and northern latitudes should have white, transparent skin for the sun's rays in order to get as much ultraviolet light as possible.
Inhabitants of northern latitudes Dark-skinned people constantly experienced vitamin starvation and turned out to be less hardy than white-skinned people.
Mongoloids
Third race - Mongoloids. Under the influence of what conditions its distinctive features were formed? Skin color, apparently, has been preserved from their most distant ancestors, it is well adapted to the harsh conditions of the North and the hot sun.
And here are the eyes. Special mention must be made of them.
It is believed that the Mongoloids first appeared in areas of Asia, located far from all oceans; the continental climate here is characterized by a sharp temperature difference between winter and summer, day and night, and the steppes in these parts are covered with deserts.
Strong winds blow almost continuously and carry a huge amount of dust. In winter, there are sparkling tablecloths of endless snow. And today, travelers in the northern regions of our country put on glasses that protect against this brilliance. And if they are not found, they are paid with an eye disease.
Important distinguishing feature Mongoloids - narrow slits of the eyes. And the second is a small skin fold that covers the inner corner of the eye. It also keeps dust out of the eyes.
This skin fold is commonly referred to as the Mongolian fold. From here, from Asia, people with prominent cheekbones and narrow slits of the eyes dispersed throughout Asia, Indonesia, Australia, and Africa.
But is there another place on Earth with a similar climate? Yes, I have. These are some areas of South Africa. They are inhabited by Bushmen and Hottentots - peoples belonging to the Negroid race. However, the Bushmen here usually have dark yellow skin, narrow eyes and a Mongolian fold in place. At one time, they even thought that Mongoloids who migrated here from Asia live in these parts of Africa. It was only later that this mistake was sorted out.
Division into large human races
So influenced purely natural conditions the main races of the Earth were formed - white, black, yellow. When did it happen? It is not easy to answer such a question. Anthropologists believe that division into large human races occurred not earlier than 200 thousand years ago and not later than 20 thousand.
And probably it was a long process that took 180-200 thousand years. How this happened is a new mystery. Some scientists believe that at first humanity was divided into two races - the European, which then divided into white and yellow, and the equatorial, Negroid.
Others, on the contrary, believe that at first the Mongoloid race separated from the common tree of mankind, and then the Euro-African race divided into whites and blacks. Well, anthropologists divide large human races into small ones.
This division is unstable, the total number of small races fluctuates in the classifications given by different scientists. But there are certainly dozens of small races.
Of course, races differ from each other not only in skin color and eye shape. Modern anthropologists have found a large number of such differences.
Criteria for division into races
But for what criteria compare race? Head shape, brain size, blood type? Scientists have not found any fundamental signs that would characterize any race for better or worse.
brain weight
Proved that brain weight different races are different. But it is also different different people belonging to the same nationality. So, for example, the brain of the brilliant writer Anatole France weighed only 1077 grams, and the brain of no less brilliant Ivan Turgenev reached a huge weight - 2012 grams. It can be confidently said: between these two extremes are placed all the races of the Earth.
The fact that the weight of the brain does not characterize the mental superiority of the race is also indicated by the figures: the average weight of the brain of an Englishman is 1456 grams, and that of the Indians - 1514, the Bantu Negroes - 1422 grams, the French - 1473 grams. It is known that Neanderthals had a larger brain than modern humans.
It is unlikely that they, however, were smarter than you and me. And yet the racists the globe remained. They are in the US and South Africa. True, they have no scientific data to confirm their theories.
Anthropologists - scientists who study humanity precisely from the standpoint of the characteristics of individuals and their groups - unanimously assert:
All people on Earth, regardless of their nationality and race, are equal. This does not mean that there are no racial and national characteristics, they are. But they do not determine either mental abilities or any other qualities that could be considered decisive for the division of mankind into higher and lower races.
We can say that this conclusion is the most important of the conclusions of anthropology. But this is not the only achievement of science, otherwise it would not make sense to develop it further. And anthropology is evolving. With its help, it was possible to look into the remotest past of mankind, to understand many previously mysterious moments.
It is anthropological research that allows one to penetrate into the depths of millennia, to the very first days of the appearance of man. Yes, and that long period of history, when people did not yet have writing at their disposal, is becoming clearer thanks to anthropological research.
And, of course, the methods of anthropological research have expanded incomparably. If just a hundred years ago, having met a new unknown people, the traveler limited himself to describing them, then at present this is far from enough.
The anthropologist must now make numerous measurements, leaving nothing unattended - neither the palms of the hands, nor the soles of the feet, nor, of course, the shape of the skull. He takes blood and saliva, prints of feet and hands for analysis, and takes x-rays.
Blood type
All the data obtained are summed up, and special indices are derived from them that characterize a particular group of people. It turns out, and blood groups- exactly those blood groups that are used in transfusions - can also characterize the race of people.
Blood type determines race It has been established that there are most people with the second blood group in Europe and not at all in South Africa, China and Japan, there are almost no third group in America and Australia, less than 10 percent of Russians have the fourth blood group. By the way, the study of blood groups made it possible to make many important and interesting discoveries.
Well, for example, the settlement of America. It is known that archaeologists, who have been looking for the remains of ancient human cultures in America for many decades, had to state that people appeared here relatively late - only a few tens of thousands of years ago.
Relatively recently, these conclusions were confirmed by the analysis of the ashes of ancient fires, bones, and the remains of wooden structures. It turned out that the figure of 20-30 thousand years quite accurately determines the period that has passed since the days of the first discovery of America by its natives - the Indians.
And this happened in the area of the Bering Strait, from where they moved relatively slowly south to Tierra del Fuego.
The fact that among the indigenous population of America there are no people with the third and fourth blood groups indicates that the first settlers of the giant continent accidentally did not have people with these groups.
The question arises: were there many of these discoverers in this case? Apparently, in order for this randomness to manifest itself, there were few of them. It was they who gave rise to all Indian tribes with an endless variety of their languages, customs, and beliefs.
And further. After this group set foot on the soil of Alaska, no one could follow them there. Otherwise, new groups of people would bring with them one of the important blood factors, the absence of which determines the absence of the third and fourth groups among the Indians.
blood.
But the descendants of the first Columbus reached the Isthmus of Panama. And although in those days there was no canal separating the continents, this isthmus was difficult to overcome for people: tropical swamps, diseases, wild animals, poisonous reptiles and insects made it possible for another, equally small group of people to overcome it.
Proof? Absence of the second blood type among native South Americans. So, the accident repeated itself: among the first settlers of South America there were also no people with the second blood group, as among the first settlers of North America - with the third and fourth groups ...
Probably everyone has read the famous book by Thor Heyerdahl "Journey to Kon-Tiki". This trip was conceived to prove that the ancestors of the inhabitants of Polynesia could come here not from Asia, but from South America.
This hypothesis was prompted by a certain commonality of cultures between Polynesians and South Americans. Heyerdahl understood that even with his magnificent journey he did not give decisive evidence, but most of the readers of the book, intoxicated by the greatness of the scientific feat and the literary talent of the author, steadily believe in the rightness of the brave Norwegian.
And yet, apparently, the Polynesians are the descendants of Asians, not South Americans. Again, the decisive factor was the composition of the blood. We remember that South Americans do not have a second blood type, and among Polynesians there are many people with such a blood type. You are inclined to believe that the Americans did not take part in the settlement of Polynesia ...
