Races of people and their characteristics. Origin and unity of human races
The Soviet scientist Valery Pavlovich Alekseev (1929-1991) made a great contribution to the description of human races. 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 their general 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 are purely external, anatomical, but they cannot be used to judge people’s intelligence, their ability to work, live, engage in science, art and other mental activities. That is, representatives of different races are absolutely identical in their mental development. They also have absolutely the same rights, and, therefore, responsibilities.
The ancestors of modern humans are Cro-Magnons. It is assumed that their first representatives appeared on Earth 300 thousand years ago in Southeast Africa. Over the course of thousands of years, our distant ancestors spread throughout the world. They lived in different climatic conditions, and therefore acquired strictly specific biological characteristics. A common habitat gave rise to a common culture. And within this culture ethnic groups were formed. For example, Roman ethnos, Greek ethnos, Carthaginian ethnos and others.
Human races are divided into Caucasoids, Negroids, Mongoloids, Australoids, and Americanoids. There are also subraces or minor races. Their representatives have their own certain biological traits that are absent in other people.
1 - Negroid, 2 - Caucasian, 3 - Mongoloid, 4 - Australoid, 5 - Americanoid
Caucasians - white race
The first Caucasians appeared in Southern Europe and North Africa. From there they spread throughout the European continent, reaching Central and 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 explored the Arabian Peninsula and the northern regions of Africa. In the 16th century, they crossed the Atlantic and settled almost all of North America and most of South America. Then it was the turn of Australia and South Africa.
Negroids - black race
Negroids or blacks 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 kind of clothes do people wear on a hot sunny day - white or black? Of course white, because it reflects the sun's rays well. Therefore, in extreme heat, it is unprofitable to have black skin, especially with high insolation. From this we can assume that blacks appeared in those climatic conditions where cloudiness prevailed.
Indeed, the oldest finds of Grimaldi (Negroids), dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, were discovered in 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? In the same way that Europeans got to America, that is, they moved there, displacing the indigenous population.
It is interesting that South Africa was inhabited by Negroes - Bantu Negroes (classical Negroes as we know them) 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 found themselves on the banks of the muddy Limpopo River.
And who did these European conquerors with black skin supplant? After all, someone lived before them on these lands. This is a special southern race, which is conventionally called " Khoisan".
Khoisan race
It includes the Hottentots and Bushmen. They differ from blacks in their brown skin and Mongoloid features. Their throats are structured differently. They pronounce words not on the exhale, like the rest of us, but on the inhale. They are considered the remnants of some ancient race that inhabited the Southern Hemisphere a long time ago. 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 driven out by the Bichuani blacks into the Kalahari Desert. This is 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 they have to think not about art, but about how to get food.
Hottentots(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 Cape Colony was captured by the British, the Hottentots became friends with them. They still live on these lands.
Australoids
Australoids are also called Australians. How they got to Australian lands is unknown. But they ended up 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 populated all the islands nearby.
Mongoloids - yellow race
Mongoloids are the most numerous. They are divided into a large number of subraces or small races. There are Siberian Mongoloids, North Chinese, South Chinese, Malay, Tibetan. What they have in common is a narrow eye shape. The hair is straight, black and coarse. The eyes are dark. The skin is dark and has a slight yellowish tint. The face is wide and flattened, cheekbones protrude.
Americanoids
Americanoids populate America from the tundra to Tierra del Fuego. Eskimos do not belong to this race. They are alien people. Americanoids have black and straight hair and dark skin. The eyes are black and narrower than those of Caucasians. These people have a huge number of languages. It is even impossible to make any classification among them. There are many dead languages now because their speakers have died out and the languages have been written down.
Pygmies and Caucasians
Pygmies
Pygmies belong to the Negroid race. They live in the forests of equatorial Africa. Remarkable for their small stature. Their height is 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 short stature, which is a consequence of the small amount of vitamins and proteins necessary for the body to develop normally. Currently, short stature has become a genetic heredity. Therefore, even if pygmy babies are fed intensively, they will not grow tall.
Thus, we have examined the main human races existing 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 at a stable level. The only thing is that people of different biological types are mixed. Mestizos, mulattoes, and Sambos appear. But these are not biological and anthropological, but social factors determined by the achievements of civilization.
The population of our planet is so diverse that one can only be surprised. What kind of nationalities and nationalities can you meet! Everyone has their own faith, customs, traditions, and orders. Its own beautiful and extraordinary culture. However, all these differences are formed only by people themselves in the process of social historical development. What lies behind the differences that appear externally? After all, we are all very different:
- dark-skinned;
- yellow-skinned;
- white;
- with different eye colors;
- different heights and so on.
Obviously, the reasons are purely biological, independent of people themselves and formed over thousands of years of evolution. This is how modern human races were formed, which explain the visual diversity of human morphology theoretically. Let's take a closer look at what this term is, what its essence and meaning are.
The concept of "race of people"
What is race? This is not a nation, not a people, not a culture. These concepts should not be confused. After all, representatives of different nationalities and cultures can freely belong to the same race. Therefore, the definition can be given as given by the science of biology.
Human races are a set of external morphological characteristics, that is, those that are the phenotype of a representative. They were formed under the influence of external conditions, the influence of a complex of biotic and abiotic factors, and were fixed in the genotype during evolutionary processes. Thus, the characteristics that underlie the division of people into races include:
- height;
- skin and eye color;
- hair structure and shape;
- hair growth of the skin;
- structural features of the face and its parts.
All those signs of Homo sapiens as a biological species that lead to the formation of a person’s external appearance, but do not in any way affect his personal, spiritual and social qualities and manifestations, as well as the level of self-development and self-education.
People of different races have completely identical biological springboards for the development of certain abilities. Their general karyotype is the same:
- women - 46 chromosomes, that is, 23 XX pairs;
- men - 46 chromosomes, 22 pairs XX, 23 pairs - XY.
This means that all representatives of Homo sapiens are one and the same, among them there are no more or less developed, superior to others, or higher. From a scientific point of view, everyone is equal.
The species of human races, formed over approximately 80 thousand years, have adaptive significance. It has been proven that each of them was formed with the aim of providing a person with the opportunity for a normal existence in a given habitat and facilitating adaptation to climatic, relief and other conditions. There is a classification showing which races of Homo sapiens existed before, and which ones exist today.
Classification of races
She's not alone. The thing is that until the 20th century it was customary to distinguish 4 races of people. These were the following varieties:
- Caucasian;
- Australoid;
- Negroid;
- Mongoloid.
For each, detailed characteristic features were described by which any individual of the human species could be identified. However, later a classification became widespread that included only 3 human races. This became possible due to the unification of the Australoid and Negroid groups into one.
Therefore, the modern types of human races are as follows.
- Large: Caucasoid (European), Mongoloid (Asian-American), Equatorial (Australian-Negroid).
- Small: many different branches that formed from one of the large races.
Each of them is characterized by its own characteristics, signs, external manifestations in the appearance of people. All of them are considered by anthropologists, and the science itself that studies this issue is biology. Human races have interested people since ancient times. After all, completely contrasting external features often became the cause of racial strife and conflicts.
Genetic research in recent years allows us to again talk about the division of the equatorial group into two. Let's consider all 4 races of people who stood out earlier and became relevant again recently. Let us note the signs and features.
Australoid race
Typical representatives of this group include the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, Melanesia, Southeast Asia, and India. The name of this race is also Australo-Veddoid or Australo-Melanesian. All synonyms make it clear which small races are included in this group. They are as follows:
- Australoids;
- Veddoids;
- Melanesians.
In general, the characteristics of each group presented do not vary too much among themselves. There are several main features that characterize all small races of people of the Australoid group.
- Dolichocephaly is an elongated shape of the skull in relation to the proportions of the rest of the body.
- Deep-set eyes, wide slits. The color of the iris is predominantly dark, sometimes almost black.
- The nose is wide, with a pronounced flat bridge.
- The hair on the body is very well developed.
- The hair on the head is dark in color (sometimes among Australians there are natural blondes, which was the result of a natural genetic mutation of the species that once took hold). Their structure is rigid, they can be curly or slightly curly.
- People are of average height, often above average.
- The physique is thin and elongated.
Within the Australoid group, people of different races differ from each other, sometimes quite strongly. Thus, a native of Australia may be tall, blond, of a dense build, with straight hair and light brown eyes. At the same time, a native of Melanesia will be a thin, short, dark-skinned representative with curly black hair and almost black eyes.
Therefore, the general characteristics described above for the entire race are only an average version of their combined analysis. Naturally, cross-breeding also occurs - the mixing of different groups as a result of natural crossing of species. That is why it is sometimes very difficult to identify a specific representative and attribute him to one or another small or large race.
Negroid race
The people who make up this group are the settlers of the following territories:
- Eastern, Central and Southern Africa;
- part of Brazil;
- some peoples of the USA;
- representatives of the West Indies.
In general, such races of people as Australoids and Negroids used to be united in the equatorial group. However, research in the 21st century has proven the inconsistency of this order. After all, the differences in the manifested characteristics between the designated races are too great. And some similar features are explained very simply. After all, the habitats of these individuals are very similar in terms of living conditions, therefore the adaptations in appearance are also similar.
So, the following characteristics are characteristic of representatives of the Negroid race.
- Very dark, sometimes bluish-black, skin color, as it is especially rich in melanin content.
- Wide eye shape. They are large, dark brown, almost black.
- The hair is dark, curly, and coarse.
- Height varies, often low.
- The limbs are very long, especially the arms.
- The nose is wide and flat, the lips are very thick and fleshy.
- The jaw lacks a chin protrusion and protrudes forward.
- The ears are large.
- Facial hair is poorly developed, and there is no beard or mustache.
Negroids are easy to distinguish from others by their external appearance. Below are the different races of people. The photo reflects how clearly Negroids differ from Europeans and Mongoloids.
Mongoloid race
Representatives of this group are characterized by special features that allow them to adapt to rather difficult external conditions: desert sands and winds, blinding snow drifts, etc.
Mongoloids are the indigenous people of Asia and much of America. Their characteristic signs are as follows.
- Narrow or oblique eye shape.
- The presence of an epicanthus - a specialized fold of skin aimed at covering the inner corner of the eye.
- The color of the iris is from light to dark brown.
- distinguished by brachycephaly (short head).
- The superciliary ridges are thickened and strongly protruding.
- Sharp, high cheekbones are well defined.
- Facial hair is poorly developed.
- The hair on the head is coarse, dark in color, and has a straight structure.
- The nose is not wide, the bridge is located low.
- Lips of different thicknesses, often narrow.
- Skin color varies among different representatives from yellow to dark, and there are also light-skinned people.
It should be noted that another characteristic feature is short stature, both in men and women. It is the Mongoloid group that predominates in numbers when comparing the main races of people. They populated almost all climatographic zones of the Earth. Close to them in terms of quantitative characteristics are Caucasians, whom we will consider below.
Caucasian
First of all, let’s designate the predominant habitats of people from this group. This:
- Europe.
- North Africa.
- Western Asia.
Thus, the representatives unite two main parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Since living conditions were also very different, the general characteristics are again an average option after analyzing all the indicators. Thus, the following appearance features can be distinguished.
- Mesocephaly - medium-headedness in the structure of the skull.
- Horizontal eye shape, lack of pronounced brow ridges.
- A protruding narrow nose.
- Lips of varying thickness, usually medium in size.
- Soft curly or straight hair. There are blondes, brunettes, and brown-haired people.
- Eye color ranges from light blue to brown.
- Skin color also varies from pale, white to dark.
- The hairline is very well developed, especially on the chest and face of men.
- The jaws are orthognathic, that is, slightly pushed forward.
In general, a European is easy to distinguish from others. Appearance allows you to do this almost without error, even without using additional genetic data.
If you look at all the races of people, the photos of whose representatives are located below, the difference becomes obvious. However, sometimes the characteristics are mixed so deeply that identifying an individual becomes almost impossible. He is able to relate to two races at once. This is further aggravated by intraspecific mutation, which leads to the appearance of new characteristics.
For example, albinos Negroids are a special case of the appearance of blondes in the Negroid race. A genetic mutation that disrupts the integrity of racial characteristics in a given group.
Origin of the races of man
Where did such a variety of signs of people’s appearance come from? There are two main hypotheses that explain the origin of human races. This:
- monocentrism;
- polycentrism.
However, none of them has yet become an officially accepted theory. According to the monocentric point of view, initially, about 80 thousand years ago, all people lived in the same territory, and therefore their appearance was approximately the same. However, over time, growing numbers led to a wider spread of people. As a result, some groups found themselves in difficult climatographic conditions.
This led to the development and consolidation at the genetic level of some morphological adaptations that help in survival. For example, dark skin and curly hair provide thermoregulation and a cooling effect for the head and body in Negroids. And the narrow shape of the eyes protects them from sand and dust, as well as from being blinded by white snow among Mongoloids. The developed hair of Europeans is a unique way of thermal insulation in harsh winter conditions.
Another hypothesis is called polycentrism. She says that different types of human races descended from several ancestral groups that were unequally distributed around the globe. That is, there were initially several foci from which the development and consolidation of racial characteristics began. Again influenced by climatographic conditions.
That is, the process of evolution proceeded linearly, simultaneously affecting aspects of life on different continents. This is how the formation of modern types of people from several phylogenetic lines took place. However, it is not possible to say for certain about the validity of this or that hypothesis, since there is no evidence of a biological and genetic nature, or at the molecular level.
Modern classification
The races of people, according to current scientists, have the following classification. There are two trunks, and each of them has three large races and many small ones. It looks something like this.
1. Western trunk. Includes three races:
- Caucasians;
- capoids;
- Negroids.
The main groups of Caucasians: Nordic, Alpine, Dinaric, Mediterranean, Falsky, East Baltic and others.
Small races of capoids: Bushmen and Khoisan. They inhabit South Africa. In terms of the fold above the eyelid, they are similar to the Mongoloids, but in other characteristics they differ sharply from them. The skin is not elastic, which is why all representatives are characterized by the appearance of early wrinkles.
Groups of Negroids: pygmies, nilots, blacks. All of them are settlers from different parts of Africa, so their appearance is similar. Very dark eyes, same skin and hair. Thick lips and lack of chin protuberance.
2. Eastern trunk. Includes the following large races:
- Australoids;
- Americanoids;
- Mongoloids.
Mongoloids are divided into two groups - northern and southern. These are the indigenous inhabitants of the Gobi Desert, which left its mark on the appearance of these people.
Americanoids are the population of North and South America. They are very tall and often have an epicanthus, especially in children. However, the eyes are not as narrow as those of the Mongoloids. They combine the characteristics of several races.
Australoids consist of several groups:
- Melanesians;
- Veddoids;
- Ainians;
- Polynesians;
- Australians.
Their characteristic features were discussed above.
Minor races
This concept is a rather highly specialized term that allows you to identify any person to any race. After all, each large one is divided into many small ones, and they are compiled on the basis of not only small external distinctive features, but also include data from genetic studies, clinical tests, and facts of molecular biology.
Therefore, small races are what make it possible to more accurately reflect the position of each specific individual in the system of the organic world, and specifically, within the species Homo sapiens sapiens. What specific groups exist was discussed above.
Racism
As we have found out, there are different races of people. Their signs can be very polar. This is what gave rise to the theory of racism. It says that one race is superior to another, since it consists of more highly organized and perfect beings. At one time, this led to the emergence of slaves and their white masters.
However, from a scientific point of view, this theory is completely absurd and untenable. The genetic predisposition to the development of certain skills and abilities is the same among all peoples. Proof that all races are biologically equal is the possibility of free interbreeding between them while maintaining the health and vitality of the offspring.
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 first and second class races (more details:)? What unites people into one humanity? What traits separate people by nationality?
Skin color in people
Humanity as a biological species emerged quite a long time ago. Skin color the first people It was unlikely that he was very dark or very white; most likely, some had slightly whiter skin, others - darker. The formation of races on Earth based on skin color was influenced by the natural conditions in which certain groups found themselves.
Formation of races on Earth
White and dark skinned people
For example, some people found themselves in the tropical zone of the Earth. Here, the merciless rays of the sun can easily burn a person’s naked skin. From physics we know: black color absorbs the sun's rays more completely. And that’s why black skin seems to be harmful.
But it turns out that only ultraviolet rays burn and can burn the skin. Pigment coloring becomes like a shield protecting human skin.
Everyone knows that white man gets sunburned faster than a black person. In the equatorial steppes of Africa, people with dark skin turned out to be more adapted to life, and Negroid tribes descended from them.
This is evidenced by the fact that not only in Africa, but also in all tropical regions of the planet, people live dark-skinned people. The first inhabitants of India are very dark-skinned people. In the tropical steppe regions of America, the people living here had 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 tropical forests - the pygmies - have lighter skin than their neighbors who are engaged in agriculture and are almost always exposed to the sun.
The Negroid race, in addition to skin color, has many other features formed during the development process, and due to the need to adapt to tropical living conditions. For example, curly black hair protects the head well from overheating by direct rays of the sun. Narrow elongated skulls are also one of the adaptations against overheating.
The Papuans from New Guinea have the same skull shape (more details:) as well as the Malanesians (more details:). Features such as skull shape and skin color helped all these peoples in the struggle for existence.
But why did the white race have whiter skin than 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 must have white skin that is transparent to sunlight in order to receive as much ultraviolet radiation as possible.
Residents of northern latitudes
People with dark skin constantly experienced vitamin starvation and were less resilient than white-skinned people.
Mongoloids
Third race - Mongoloids. Under the influence of what conditions were its distinctive features formed? Their 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 needs to be made about 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 difference in temperatures between winter and summer, day and night, and the steppes in these parts are interspersed with deserts.
Strong winds blow almost continuously and carry huge amounts of dust. In winter there are sparkling tablecloths of endless snow. And today, travelers to the northern regions of our country wear glasses that protect them from this glare. And if they are not there, they are paid with eye disease.
An important distinguishing feature of Mongoloids is the narrow slits of the eyes. And the second is a small fold of skin covering the inner corner of the eye. It also protects your eyes from dust.
This fold of skin is commonly called the Mongolian fold. From here, from Asia, people with prominent cheekbones and narrow slits of eyes dispersed throughout Asia, Indonesia, Australia, and Africa.
Well, 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. At one time they even thought that Mongoloids lived in these parts of Africa, having moved here from Asia. Only later did we figure out this mistake.
Division into large human races
Thus, under the influence of purely natural conditions, the main races of the Earth were formed - white, black, yellow. When did this happen? A question like this is not easy to answer. Anthropologists believe that division into large human races occurred no earlier than 200 thousand years ago and no later than 20 thousand.
And it was probably 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 later divided into white and yellow, and the equatorial, Negroid.
Others, on the contrary, believe that first the Mongoloid race separated from the common tree of humanity, and then the Euro-African race was divided into whites and blacks. Well, anthropologists divide large human races into small ones.
This division is unstable; the total number of small races varies in the classifications given by different scientists. But there are, of course, 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 dividing into races
But for what reasons? criteria compare race? By head shape, brain size, blood type? Scientists have not discovered any fundamental signs that would characterize any races for better or worse.
Brain weight
It has been proven that brain weight varies among different races. But it is different for 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 the no less brilliant Ivan Turgenev reached a huge weight - 2012 grams. We can confidently say: between these two extremes all the races of the Earth are located.
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 brain weight of an Englishman is 1456 grams, and of Indians - 1514, Bantu blacks - 1422 grams, French - 1473 grams. It is known that Neanderthals had greater brain weight than modern humans.
It is unlikely that they were smarter than you and me, however. And yet there are still racists on the globe. They are in both the USA and South Africa. True, they do not have any scientific data to confirm their theories.
Anthropologists - scientists who study humanity precisely from the perspective of the characteristics of individual people and their groups - unanimously state:
All people on Earth, regardless of their nationality and race, are equal. This does not mean that racial and national characteristics do not exist, they do exist. But they do not determine either mental abilities or any other qualities that could be considered decisive for the division of humanity 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 there would be no point in developing it further. And anthropology is developing. With its help, it was possible to look into the most distant past of humanity and understand many previously mysterious moments.
It is anthropological research that allows us to penetrate into the depths of thousands of years, to the very first days of the appearance of man. And that long period of history when people did not yet have writing at their disposal becomes 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, a traveler limited himself to describing them, then at present this is far from enough.
The anthropologist must now make numerous measurements, leaving nothing unattended - not the palms of the hands, not the soles of the feet, not, of course, the shape of the skull. He takes blood and saliva, prints of feet and palms for analysis, and takes x-rays.
Blood group
All received data are summarized, and from them special indices are derived that characterize a particular group of people. It turns out that blood types- precisely those blood groups that are used for 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 none at all in South Africa, China and Japan, there are almost no third group in America and Australia, and 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 searched for many decades for the remains of the most ancient human cultures in America, 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 analyzing 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 aborigines - the Indians.
And this happened in the Bering Strait area, from where they moved relatively slowly south all the way 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 did not accidentally have people with these groups.
The question arises: were there many of these discoverers in this case? Apparently, for this accident to manifest itself, there were few of them. They gave rise to all the Indian tribes with the endless variety of their languages, customs, and beliefs.
And one more thing. After this group set foot on Alaskan soil, 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 Columbuses 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 a second blood group among native South Americans. This means that 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 there were no people with the third and fourth groups...
Probably everyone has read the famous book by Thor Heyerdahl “Journey to Kon-Tiki”. This journey was intended to prove that the ancestors of the inhabitants of Polynesia could have arrived here not from Asia, but from South America.
This hypothesis was prompted by some similarities in the cultures of the Polynesians and South Americans. Heyerdahl understood that with his magnificent journey he did not provide decisive proof, but most readers of the book, intoxicated by the greatness of the scientific feat and the literary talent of the author, steadily believe that the brave Norwegian was right.
And yet, apparently, Polynesians are descendants of Asians, not South Americans. The decisive factor, again, was the composition of the blood. We remember that South Americans do not have a second blood type, but among Polynesians there are many people with this blood type. You are inclined to believe that the Americans did not take part in the settlement of Polynesia...
How were races formed on planet Earth?
So, “homo sapiens” appeared in East Africa. What were they like, the first representatives of the species to which you and I belong? Most likely - short and dark-skinned, with thick hair, a flat nose and deep-set dark eyes.
By creating a “verbal portrait” of an ancient ancestor, scientists seem to be looking back at our closest relatives - the great apes, who lived in Africa for millions of years. But where did all these red-haired Anglo-Saxons, grey-eyed blond Norwegians and Russians, yellow-faced Chinese, mahogany-skinned Indians, black inhabitants of West Africa and olive-swarthy inhabitants of the Mediterranean come from? After all, they are all people, which means they belong to the same species.
People settled around the Earth, and over time, the variability of the human body made itself felt: the signs that appeared in new living conditions became characteristic of large groups of people. Scientists called these groups races. Today there are three main races on Earth: European, Negroid and Mongoloid, that is, white, black and yellow. In addition, there are over a dozen intermediate races. Only in Europe live representatives of the Alpine, White Sea-Baltic, Indo-Afghan and sometimes Mediterranean.
Human races differ not only in appearance. There are other signs characteristic of each of them. Thus, among the Mongoloids, people with the blood type predominate; smallpox epidemics often occurred in China, Mongolia and Southeast Asia, and people with this blood type easily tolerate this disease. Black people in Africa do not suffer from most of the tropical diseases that plague Europeans. There are also differences in the structure of the teeth, skull, and also in the patterns on the fingertips of people belonging to different races and subraces. And that's all. Otherwise, the people of Earth are biologically no different from each other. People of different races marry and produce healthy children who inherit the characteristics of both races. Black, yellow, white - all contributed to the treasury of human thought, science, culture and art. The absurd inventions of racists who insist on the superiority of some races over others are becoming simply ridiculous in our time.
Eternal Wanderers
The settlement of people, which began 150 thousand years ago, took them tens of thousands of kilometers from the places where they originally lived. Our ancestors wandered from continent to continent, even crossed oceans and often found themselves in conditions that were in no way similar to their ancestral home - East Africa. Suffice it to say that already a hundred thousand years ago, primitive hunters learned to successfully survive in the harsh climate of Eastern Siberia and Alaska. In this they were helped not only by the amazing adaptability of the human body, but also by something that animals do not have - intelligence and the ability to use tools to obtain food. People were driven to travel not only by climate change, the depletion of natural resources, or the hostility of their closest neighbors. Since ancient times, man has sought by all means to understand the world in which he lives. Curiosity, the “greed” of the mind, the desire to see and understand what is hidden behind the foggy horizon remain one of the most important qualities of “homo sapiens” even today, when people have already stepped far beyond the boundaries of their planet.
Three colors of humanity
The Negroid race is characterized by dark brown skin and a thick head of curly hair, strongly protruding jaws and a wide nose. All this, as well as thicker lips and wide nostrils, made it possible to better regulate body temperature in the hot and humid equatorial climate.
People with light, smooth or wavy hair and pale skin had the greatest chance of survival in the cool climate of Europe, where the number of sunny days during the post-glacial period was very small. Europeans most often have light brown to pale blue eyes, and a narrow nose with a high bridge.
The Mongoloid race formed in the semi-deserts of Central Asia. The main characteristics of this race are yellowish skin, coarse dark hair, narrow eyes, a flat face with strongly prominent cheekbones. All these characteristics arose as a result of living in a climate with sharp temperature changes and frequent dust storms. The Indians of North and South America are also close to the Mongoloid race.
All people living on planet Earth currently belong to one species - Homo sapiens. Within this species, scientists distinguish human races.
The human race is a historically established group of people with common hereditary morphological characteristics.
Such features include: hair type and color, skin and eye color, shape of the nose, lips, eyelids, facial features, body type, etc. All of these characteristics are hereditary.
A study of the fossil remains of Cro-Magnons showed that they had features characteristic of modern human races. For tens of thousands of years, the descendants of the Cro-Magnons lived in a wide variety of geographical areas on the planet. This means that each human race has its own area of origin and formation. Differences between human races are the result of natural selection in different environments in the presence of geographic isolation. Long-term exposure to environmental factors in places of permanent residence led to the gradual consolidation of a set of characteristics characteristic of these groups of people. Currently, there are three large human races. They, in turn, are divided into small races (there are about thirty of them).
Representatives Caucasian (Eurasian) race adapted to life in cold and humid climates. The distribution area of the Caucasoid race is Europe, North Africa, a small part of Asia and India, as well as North America and Australia. They are characterized by predominantly light or slightly dark skin. This race is characterized by straight or wavy hair, a narrow, prominent nose and thin lips. Men have prominent facial hair (in the form of a mustache and beard). The protruding narrow nose of Caucasians helps to warm the inhaled air in cold climates.
People Negroid (Australian-Negroid) race are most represented in areas of the planet with a hot climate. They inhabit Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Adaptations to these climatic conditions include dark skin color and curly or wavy hair. For example, curly hair on the heads of representatives of the Negroid race forms a kind of air cushion. This feature of the hair arrangement protects the head from overheating. Representatives of the Negroid race are also characterized by a flat, slightly protruding nose, thick lips and dark eye color.
Mongoloid (Asian-American) race distributed in areas of the Earth with a harsh continental climate. Historically, this race inhabited almost all of Asia, as well as North and South America. Mongoloids are characterized by dark skin and straight, coarse dark hair. The face is flattened, with well-defined cheekbones, the nose and lips are of medium width, the facial hair is poorly developed. There is a fold of skin in the inner corner of the eye - epicanthus. The narrow eye shape and epicanthus of Mongoloids are adaptations to frequent dust storms. The formation of thick fatty subcutaneous tissue allows them to adapt to the low temperatures of cold continental winters.
The unity of human races is confirmed by the absence of genetic isolation between them. This is expressed in the possibility of fertile offspring in interracial marriages. Another proof of the unity of the races is the presence of arched patterns on the fingers of all people and the same pattern of hair on the body.
Racism- a set of teachings about the physical and mental inequality of human races and the decisive influence of racial differences on the history and culture of society. The ideas of racism arose when the laws of evolution of living nature discovered by Charles Darwin began to be transferred to human society.
The main ideas of racism are the ideas about the original division of people into superior and inferior races due to their biological inequality. Moreover, representatives of higher races are the only creators of civilization and are called upon to dominate the lower ones. This is how racism seeks to justify social injustice in society and colonial policies.
Racist theory existed in practice in Nazi Germany. The Nazis considered their Aryan race to be superior and this justified the physical destruction of a huge number of representatives of other races. In our country, as one of the most affected by the aggression of the fascist occupiers, any adherence to the ideas of fascism is condemned and punished by law.
Racism has no scientific basis, since the biological equivalence of representatives of all races and their belonging to the same species has been proven. The differences in the level of development are a consequence of social factors.
Some scientists have suggested that the main driving force in the evolution of human society is the struggle for existence. These views formed the basis of social Darwinism - a pseudoscientific movement according to which all social processes and phenomena (the emergence of states, wars, etc.) are subject to the laws of nature. Proponents of this doctrine consider social inequality of people as a consequence of their biological inequality, which arose as a result of natural selection.
Features of human evolution at the present stage
In modern society, at first glance, there are no obvious signs of further evolution of the species Homo sapiens. But this process continues. Social factors play a decisive role at this stage, but the role of some biological factors of evolution also remains.
Constantly arising under the influence of environmental factors mutations and their combinations change the genotypic composition of the human population. They enrich human phenotypes with new characteristics and maintain their uniqueness. In turn, harmful and incompatible mutations with life are removed from the human population by natural removal. Pollution of the planet, primarily by chemical compounds, causes an increase in the rate of mutagenesis and accumulation of genetic load (harmful recessive mutations). This fact may one way or another have an impact on human evolution.
The species Homo sapiens, which was formed about 50 thousand years ago, has undergone virtually no external changes to date. This is the result of an action stabilizing natural selection in a relatively homogeneous human environment. One example of its manifestation was the increased survival rate of newborns with a body weight within the average range (3-4 kg). However, at the present stage, thanks to the development of medicine, the role of this form of selection has significantly decreased. Modern medical technologies make it possible to care for low birth weight newborns and enable premature babies to develop fully.
Leading role isolation in human evolution was traced at the stage of formation of human races. In modern society, thanks to the variety of means of transportation and the constant migration of people, the importance of isolation is almost negligible. The absence of genetic isolation between people is an important factor in enriching the gene pool of the planet's population.
In some relatively limited territories, such a factor as genetic drift. Currently, it manifests itself locally in connection with natural disasters. Natural disasters sometimes kill tens or even hundreds of thousands of people, as happened in early 2010 with the earthquake in Haiti. This undoubtedly has an impact on the gene pool of human populations.
Consequently, the evolution of the species Homo sapiens Currently, only the mutation process is affected. The effect of natural selection and isolation is minimal.
All people living on planet Earth at the present time belong to one species - Homo sapiens. Within this species, human races are distinguished. Traits of races were formed under the influence of environmental factors. Currently, there are three large human races: Caucasian, Australian-Negroid and Mongoloid. At the present stage, of the biological factors, only the mutation process affects human evolution in an unchanged form. The role of natural selection and genetic drift has decreased significantly, and isolation has practically lost its significance.