Human race

Race- a system of human populations characterized by similarity in a set of certain hereditary biological characteristics. Traits that characterize different races often arise as a result of adaptation to different environmental conditions over many generations.

Racial studies, in addition to the above-mentioned problems, also studies the classification of races, the history of their formation and such factors of their occurrence as selective processes, isolation, mixing and migration, the influence of climatic conditions and the general geographical environment on racial characteristics.

Racial studies became especially widespread in National Socialist Germany, fascist Italy and other Western European countries, as well as earlier in the United States (Ku Klux Klan), where it served as a justification for institutionalized racism, chauvinism and anti-Semitism.

Sometimes racial studies are confused with ethnic anthropology - the latter refers, strictly speaking, only to the study of the racial composition of individual ethnic groups, i.e. tribes, peoples, nations, and the origin of these communities.

In that part of racial research that is aimed at studying ethnogenesis, anthropology conducts research together with linguistics, history, and archeology. When studying driving forces race formation, anthropology comes into close contact with genetics, physiology, zoogeography, climatology, general theory speciation. The study of race in anthropology has implications for many problems. It is important for resolving the question of the ancestral home of man modern look, the use of anthropological material as historical source, covering problems of systematics, mainly small systematic units, understanding the patterns of population genetics, clarifying some issues of medical geography.

Racial studies studies geographical variations in the physical type of people, without taking into account linguistic and cultural isolation. And ethnic anthropology studies what racial variants and anthropological types are inherent in a given ethnic group, people. For example, to establish into which groups it is divided indigenous people Volga-Kama region, to identify their general portraits, average height, level of pigmentation - this is the task of a racial scientist. And to recreate the appearance and trace possible genetic connections Khazars are the task of an ethnic anthropologist.

Modern division into races

There are many opinions about how many races can be distinguished within the species Homo sapiens.

Studies of classical anthropology show that there are two trunks - eastern and western, equally distributing the six races of humanity. The division into three races - “white”, “yellow” and “black” - is an outdated position. Despite all their external dissimilarity, the races of the same trunk are connected by a greater commonality of genes and habitats than neighboring races. According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary, there are about 30 human races (racial-anthropological types), united in three groups of races, which are called “large races”. However, in non-scientific literature the term “race” is still applied to large races, and the races themselves are called “subraces”, “subgroups”, etc. It is worth noting that the races themselves (small races) are divided into subraces, and there is no consensus regarding the belonging of certain subraces to certain races (small races). In addition, different anthropological schools use different names for the same races.

Western trunk

Caucasians

The natural range of Caucasoids is Europe to the Urals, North Africa, Southwest Asia and Hindustan. Includes Nordic, Mediterranean, Phalic, Alpine, East Baltic, Dinaric and other subgroups. It differs from other races primarily in its strong facial profile. Other signs vary widely.

Negroids

Natural range - Central, Western and Eastern Africa. Characteristic differences are curly hair, dark skin, widened nostrils, thick lips, etc. There is an eastern subgroup (Nilotic type, tall, narrowly built) and a western subgroup (Negro type, round-headed, medium height). The group of pygmies (Negrill type) stands apart.

Pygmies

Pygmies compared to a person of average height

The natural range of pygmies is the western part of Central Africa. Height from 144 to 150 cm for adult males, light brown skin, curly, dark hair, relatively thin lips, large body, short arms and legs, this physical type can be classified as a special race. The possible number of pygmies can range from 40 to 200 thousand people.

Kapoids, Bushmen

Caucasoid (Eurasian) races

Northern forms Atlanto-Baltic White Sea-Baltic Transitional (intermediate) forms Alpine Central European Eastern European Southern forms Mediterranean Indo-Afghan Balkan-Caucasian Near Asian (Armenoid) Pamir-Fergana Mongoloid (Asian-American) races

Asian branch of Mongoloid races Continental Mongoloids North Asian Central Asian Arctic race Pacific Mongoloids American races

Australoid (Oceanian) races

Veddoids Australians Ainu Papuans and Melanesians Negritos Negroid (African) races

Negroes Negrilli (Pygmies) Bushmen and Hottentots Mixed forms between Caucasians and the Asian branch of the Mongoloids

Central Asian groups South Siberian race Ural race and subural type Laponoids and sublapanoid type Mixed groups of Siberia Mixed forms between Caucasoids and the American branch of Mongoloids

American mestizos Mixed forms between the Caucasoid and Australoid major races

South Indian race Mixed forms between the Caucasoid and Negroid major races

Ethiopian race Mixed groups of Western Sudan Mixed groups of Eastern Sudan Mulattoes South African "coloreds" Mixed forms between the Asian branch of Mongoloids and Australoids

South Asian (Malay) race Japanese East Indonesian group Other mixed race forms

Malagasy Polynesians and Micronesians Hawaiians and Pitcairns

Idaltu

Idaltu (lat. Homo sapiens idaltu) - one of the most ancient races of people of the modern species. The Idaltu inhabited the territory of Ethiopia. The approximate age of the found Idaltu man is 160 thousand years.

See also

Notes

Links

Races
Western trunk
Caucasian	Alpine type | Borreby | Brunns | Gorids | Dinaric type | Indo-Afghan type | (Armenoids | Caucasians | Caspians | Pontids) | Cordida | Ladoga type | Neodanubian type | Northern European type (Atlanto-Baltic type | East Baltic type) | Mediterranean type | Trenders | Falsky type
Negroid race	Negrillian type | Negro type | Nilotic type
Capoid minor race
Ethiopian minor race
Eastern trunk
Mongoloid race	Laponoid type | Sinids | Tungids | Turanids
Amerinda	Paleoamerican type | Patagonian minor race

Federal Agency for Education of the Russian Federation

State educational institution higher vocational education

"Michurinsky State Pedagogical Institute"

Department of Biology and Fundamentals agriculture

according to the theory of evolution

Human races and their origins

Completed:

student 52 / 3 groups

Faculty of Biology

Teacher:

Michurinsk, 2008

1. The concept of “human race”

2. Large races of man

5. Race and racism

Conclusion

Bibliography

1. The concept of “human race”

Human races (French, singular race) are systematic divisions within the species Homo sapiens. The concept of “race” is based on the biological, primarily physical, similarity of people and the commonality of the territory (area) they inhabit in the past or present. Race is characterized by a complex of inherited characteristics, which include skin color, hair, eyes, shape of hair, soft parts of the face, skull, partly height, body proportions, etc. But since most of these characteristics in humans are subject to variability, and mixtures have occurred and are occurring between races (mixed race), a particular individual rarely possesses the entire set of typical racial characteristics.

2. Large races of man

Since the 17th century, a lot has been proposed various classifications human races Most often, three main, or large, races are distinguished: Caucasian (Eurasian, Caucasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Equatorial (Negro-Australoid).

The Caucasian race is characterized by fair skin (with variations from very light, mainly in Northern Europe, to dark and even brown), soft straight or wavy hair, horizontal eye shape, moderately or strongly developed hair on the face and chest in men, noticeably protruding nose, straight or slightly sloping forehead.

Representatives of the Mongoloid race have skin color ranging from dark to light (mainly among North Asian groups), hair is usually dark, often coarse and straight, the protrusion of the nose is usually small, the palpebral fissure has an oblique cut, the fold of the upper eyelid is significantly developed and, in addition, In addition, there is a fold (epicanthus) covering internal corner eyes; the hairline is weak.

The equatorial, or Negro-Australoid race is distinguished by dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes, curly or wide-wavy (Australian) hair; the nose is usually wide, slightly protruding, the lower part of the face protrudes.

3. Small races and their geographical distribution

Each large race is divided into small 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. Nowadays, Caucasians inhabit virtually all inhabited land, but until the mid-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 minor races are represented, but the Central European variant predominates numerically (often found among Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians); in general, its population is very mixed, especially in cities, due to relocations, 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, and the latter is sometimes considered as a separate large race. The Mongoloids populated all climatic and geographical zones (Northern, Central, Eastern and Southeast Asia, islands Pacific Ocean, Madagascar, Northern and South America). Modern Asia is characterized by a wide variety of anthropological types, but various Mongoloid and Caucasian groups predominate in numbers. Among the Mongoloids, the most common are the Far Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and South Asian (Malays, Javanese, Sundas) minor races, and among the Caucasians - the Indo-Mediterranean. In America, the indigenous population (Indians) is a minority compared to various Caucasian anthropological types and population groups of representatives of all three major races.

Rice. 4. Scheme of the anthropological composition of the peoples of the world (small races distinguished within large ones are not so different from each other essential features).

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, race, which in some classifications is distinguished as an independent large race, as well as the Melanesian and Veddoid). 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 small race predominates numerically; in the north and south of the continent there is a significant specific gravity Caucasian population.

In Australia, the indigenous population is a minority compared to migrants from Europe and India; representatives of the Far Eastern race (Japanese, Chinese) are also quite numerous. In Indonesia, the South Asian race predominates.

Along with the above, there are races with a less definite position, formed as a result of long-term mixing of the population of individual regions, for example, the Lapanoid and Ural races, combining the features of Caucasoids and Mongoloids, or the Ethiopian race - intermediate between the Equatorial and Caucasian races.

4. Origin of human races

The races of man appear to have appeared relatively recently. According to one data-driven scheme molecular biology, the division into two large racial trunks - Negroid and Caucasoid-Mongoloid - most likely occurred about 100 thousand years ago, and the differentiation of Caucasoids and Mongoloids - about 45-60 thousand years ago. Large races were mainly formed under the influence of natural and socio-economic conditions during the intraspecific differentiation of already established Homo sapiens, starting from the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic, but mainly in the Neolithic. The Caucasoid type was established from the Neolithic, although some of its features can be traced in the Late or even Middle Paleolithic. There is virtually no reliable evidence for the presence of Mongoloids in East Asia during the pre-Neolithic era, although they may have existed in North Asia as early as the Late Paleolithic. In America, the ancestors of the Indians were not fully formed Mongoloids. Australia was also populated by racially “neutral” neoanthropes.

According to the theory of polycentrism, modern human races arose as a result of a long parallel evolution of several phyletic lines on different continents: Caucasoid in Europe, Negroid in Africa, Mongoloid in Central and East Asia, Australoid in Australia. However, if the evolution of racial complexes proceeded in parallel on different continents, it could not be completely independent, since the ancient protoraces had to interbreed at the boundaries of their ranges and exchange genetic information. In a number of areas, intermediate small races formed, characterized by a mixture of characteristics of different large races. Thus, an intermediate position between the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races is occupied by the South Siberian and Ural minor races, between the Caucasoid and Negroid races - the Ethiopian, etc.

From the standpoint of monocentrism, modern human races formed relatively late, 25-35 thousand years ago, in the process of settlement of neoanthropes from the area of ​​their origin. At the same time, the possibility of crossing (at least limited) of neoanthropes during their expansion with displaced populations of paleoanthropes (as a process of introgressive interspecific hybridization) with the penetration of alleles of the latter into the gene pools of neoanthrope populations is also allowed. This could also contribute to racial differentiation and the stability of certain phenotypic traits (like the spade-shaped incisors of the Mongoloids) in the centers of race formation.

There are also concepts that compromise between mono- and polycentrism, allowing for the divergence of phyletic lines leading to different large races at different levels (stages) of anthropogenesis: for example, Caucasoids and Negroids, who are closer to each other, already at the stage of neoanthropes with the initial development of their ancestral trunk in the western part of the Old World, while even at the stage of paleoanthropes the eastern branch could have separated - the Mongoloids and, perhaps, the Australoids.

The great races of man occupy vast territories, encompassing peoples who vary in level economic development, culture, language. There are no clear coincidences between the concepts of “race” and “ethnicity” (people, nation, nationality). At the same time, there are examples of anthropological types (small and sometimes large races) that correspond to one or more close ethnic groups, for example, the Lapanoid race and the Sami. Much more often, however, the opposite is observed: one anthropological type is widespread among many ethnic groups, as, for example, in the indigenous population of America or among the peoples of Northern Europe. In general, all large nations, as a rule, are heterogeneous in anthropological terms. There is also no overlap between races and language groups - the latter arose later than races. Thus, among the Turkic-speaking peoples there are representatives of both Caucasians (Azerbaijanis) and Mongoloids (Yakuts). The term "race" does not apply to language families- for example, we need to talk not about the “Slavic race”, but about a group of related peoples speaking Slavic languages.

5. Race and racism

Many racial characteristics have adaptive value. For example, among representatives of the equatorial race, dark skin pigmentation protects against the burning effects of ultraviolet rays, and the elongated proportions of the body increase the ratio of body surface to its volume and thereby facilitate thermoregulation in hot climates. However, racial characteristics are not decisive for human existence, therefore they in no way indicate any biological or intellectual superiority or, on the contrary, inferiority of a particular race. All races are at the same level of evolutionary development and are characterized by the same species characteristics. Therefore, the concepts of the supposed inequality of human races in physical and mental relations (racism), put forward since the mid-19th century, are scientifically untenable. Racism has distinct social roots and has always been used as a justification for violent land grabs and discrimination against indigenous peoples. Racists tend to ignore the fact that differences between achievements different nations fully explained by the history of their cultures, depending on external factors, on their historically changing role. It is enough to compare the level of cultural development of the population of Northern Europe today and in the era of the great civilizations of the past in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley.

Conclusion

Human races are systematic divisions within the species Homo sapiens. The concept of “race” is based on the biological, primarily physical, similarity of people and the commonality of the territory (area) they inhabit in the past or present.

Most often, three main, or large, races are distinguished: Caucasian (Eurasian, Caucasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Equatorial (Negro-Australoid). Each large race is divided into small races, or anthropological types.

There are two main hypotheses for the origin of human races - polycentrism and monocentrism.

According to the theory of polycentrism, modern human races arose as a result of a long parallel evolution of several phyletic lines on different continents: Caucasoid in Europe, Negroid in Africa, Mongoloid in Central and East Asia, Australoid in Australia.

From the standpoint of monocentrism, modern human races formed relatively late, 25-35 thousand years ago, in the process of settlement of neoanthropes from the area of ​​their origin.

There are also concepts that compromise between mono- and polycentrism, allowing for the divergence of phyletic lines leading to different large races at different levels (stages) of anthropogenesis.

Large human races occupy vast territories, covering peoples who differ in level of economic development, culture, and language. There are no clear coincidences between the concepts of “race” and “ethnicity” (people, nation, nationality). In general, all large nations, as a rule, are heterogeneous in anthropological terms. There is also no overlap between races and language groups - the latter arose later than races.

Many racial characteristics have adaptive significance and are not decisive for human existence, therefore they in no way indicate any biological or intellectual superiority or, on the contrary, inferiority of a particular race. All races are at the same level of evolutionary development and are characterized by the same species characteristics. Therefore, the concepts of the supposed inequality of human races in physical and mental relations (racism), put forward since the mid-19th century, are scientifically untenable. Racism has distinct social roots and has always been used as a justification for violent land grabs and discrimination against indigenous peoples. Racists usually ignore the fact that the differences between the achievements of different peoples are entirely explained by the history of their cultures, depending on external factors, on their historically changing role.

Bibliography

1. Georgievsky, A.B. Darwinism: Textbook. manual for students of biology. and chem. specialist. ped. Institute / A.B. Georgievsky. – M.: Education, 1985. – 271 p.

2. Iordansky, N.N. Evolution of life: Textbook. aid for students higher ped. textbook establishments / N.N. Jordan. – M.: Academy, 2001. – 432 p.

3. General biology: Textbook. for 10 – 11 grades. with depth studying biology at school. / L.V. Vysotskaya, S.M. Glagolev, G.M. Dymshits et al.; Under. ed. V.K. Shumny and others – 3rd ed., revised. – M.: Education, 2001. – 462 p.

4. Paramonov, A.A. Darwinism: Textbook. biol manual specialist. for pedagogical students in-tov / A.A. Paramonov. – M.: Education, 1978. – 335 p.

5. Yablokov, A.V. Evolutionary doctrine: Textbook. manual for university students / A.V. Yablokov, A.G. Yusufov. – 2nd ed., revised. and additional – M.: graduate School, 1981. – 343 p.

There are four human races (some scientists insist on three): Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid and Australoid. How does division occur? Each race has hereditary characteristics unique to it. Such signs include the color of skin, eyes and hair, the shape and size of such parts of the face as eyes, nose, lips. In addition to the obvious external distinctive features of any human race, there are a number of characteristics of creative potential, abilities for one or another labor activity and even the structural features of the human brain.

Speaking about the four large groups, one cannot help but say that they are all divided into small subraces, which are formed from various nationalities and nationalities. No one has been arguing about the species unity of man for a long time; the best proof of this same unity is our life, in which representatives of different races get married, and in these races viable children are born.

The origin of races, or rather their formation, begins thirty to forty thousand years ago, when people began to populate new geographical areas. A person adapted to live in certain conditions, and the development of certain racial characteristics depended on this. identified these signs. At the same time, all human races retained common species characteristics that characterize Homo sapiens. Evolutionary development, or rather its level, is the same among representatives of different races. Therefore, all statements about the superiority of any nation over others have no basis. The concepts of “race”, “nation”, “nationality” cannot be mixed and confused, since representatives of different races speaking the same language can live on the territory of one state.

Caucasian race: inhabiting Asia, North Africa. Northern Caucasians are fair-skinned, while southerners are dark-skinned. Narrow face, strongly protruding nose, soft hair.

Mongoloid race: the center and eastern part of Asia, Indonesia and the expanses of Siberia. Dark skin with a yellowish tint, straight, coarse hair, a wide, flat face and a special eye shape.

Negroid race: most of the population of Africa. The skin is dark in color, dark brown eyes, black hair is thick, coarse, curly, large lips, and the nose is wide and flat.

Australoid race. Some scientists distinguish it as a branch of the Negroid race. India, Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania (ancient black populations). Strongly developed brow ridges, the pigmentation of which is weakened. Some Australoids from western Australia and southern India are naturally blonde in their youth, which is due to the mutation process that once took hold.

The characteristics of each race of man are hereditary. And their development was determined primarily by the need and usefulness of this or that characteristic for a representative of a certain race. So, the vast one warms cold air faster and easier before it enters the Mongoloid’s lungs. And for a representative of the Negroid race, dark color was very important skin and the presence of thick curly hair, which formed an air layer that reduced the effect of sunlight on the body.

For many years, the white race was considered superior, since it was beneficial for Europeans and Americans conquering the peoples of Asia and Africa. They started wars and seized foreign lands, mercilessly exploited, and sometimes simply destroyed entire nations.

Today in America, for example, they look less and less at racial differences, there is a mixing of races, which sooner or later will certainly lead to the emergence of a hybrid population.

Anthropology is the science of the emergence and development of man. The education of human races, their properties and characteristics is studied by its branch - race studies.

Humanity develops within one species, Homo sapiens, but over millennia under the influence of climate, environmental conditions, geographical location localities, individual groups of people were endowed with characteristics that began to distinguish them from each other. This is how races were formed. Differences between people lie in different colors of the skin, irises of the eyes, shape of the nose, lips, hair structure, etc.

Basic evidence of the unity of human races

The kinship and unity of human races is based on a number of characteristics:

• Similarity of origin;
• the presence of the same morphological structure of organs and tissues;
• the possibility of crossing between races and the birth of normal offspring;
• 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 conducted with genetic material people of different races. Scientists have found that the genetic nature of all peoples is the same. The only difference is the number that encode features. 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 darkish tint in the south, smooth or slightly curled hair is characteristic, soft to the touch, the nose protrudes, the forehead is straight. The male half has thick hair, a mustache, and a beard.

Mongoloid race(Asian, American) represented by the indigenous people of central Asia, Indonesia, America (Indians). Distinctive characteristics: dark skin, fold on the upper eyelid, slanted (the inner corner of the eyeball is located below the outer), narrow eyes, predominantly black or brown. Thickened nostrils, a wide nose, developed cheekbones, a large face, straight, coarse hair are signs of a Mongoloid.

There is a hypothesis about the origin of the Mongoloids, which states that a large Mongoloid group originated in the steppes of central Asia, in desert places where a constant occurrence there were winds dust storms, sudden change in temperature. Habitat determined external characteristics Mongoloids: narrow, squinted eyes, epicanthus - 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, kinky hair with a coarse structure, full lips, a flat and wide nose (allows you to regulate temperature in a hot climate). The hairline is poorly developed on the face and body.

External signs

Small group

The formation of small races occurred due to genetic fusion between the peoples of large races and the settlement of people to all corners of the Earth, where people developed new characteristics for adaptation.

The Caucasian race includes the following subraces:

• Atlantic;
• Baltic;
• White Sea-Baltic;
• Central European (dominates in numbers);
• Mediterranean.

The Mongoloid race is divided into:

• South Asian;
• North Chinese;
• East Asian;
• Arctic;
• American (some authors classify it as large).

The predominant Mongoloids are the Chinese, the Korean population, and the Japanese, who are included in the East Asian subrace.

The Negroid race is divided into:

• Negro;
• Bushman;
• Australian;
• Melanesian.

Branch of minor races

Origin of races

The formation of modern racial characteristics began 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 influence of climate and the influence of society during the Neolithic period, each group of people began to acquire characteristic features. Isolated pure races existed for a long period. Since the population on the planet was small and the territory was quite large, there was no relationship between representatives of the races.

In the process of development, evolutionary growth, the emergence of communication connections, people migrated, which resulted in the emergence of small races. Children born to people of different racial backgrounds had characteristics of both groups and were named accordingly.

• Mulattos– is a mixture of Negroid and Caucasian races;
• mestizos- children of Mongoloids and Caucasians;
• sambo- the offspring of Mongoloids and Negroids.

Theories of the origin of human races

Two theories about the origin of human races dominate among scientists: polycentric and monocentric.

Supporters polycentric theory origins say that humanity originated in different parts of the world and developed independently, independently on its own territory. The races were formed in parallel over many decades.

Monocentric theory considers the origin of races as the dispersal of the primitive ancestors of humanity who lived in East Africa to all parts of the Earth. Most scientists question this version.

At the present stage of development, the line between the differences between species groups of people is gradually blurring. 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 human races are one, people are built the same, despite the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes, and race does not make any sense.

Racism

The formation of distinctive features is associated with their habitat and environmental conditions.

Dark skin protects the body from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays, coarse, curly hair create an air cushion - it prevents overheating, wide nostrils cools the inhaled air, and light skin Northern residents need it to produce vitamin D, which is synthesized under the influence of sunlight.

These signs are necessary for people to function normally and survive, and do not serve as criteria for the dominance or 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.

Racists who put forward theories about the superiority of some races over others used this for their own purposes. The displacement of indigenous people from their habitats, the outbreak of wars, and the seizure of territory are the main reasons for the development of racism in the 19th century.

Shatova Polina

Human races

The modern racial appearance of humanity was formed as a result of the complex historical development of racial groups that lived separately and mixed, evolved, and disappeared. It is of particular importance to us to study all that we can learn about the human races in order to understand what really defines the human race. Even without outside help, by observing, you can see that people in the world are divided into different 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 the 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; examines the problems of classification of races, their origin, settlement by to the globe, development and interaction in connection with the specific history of human populations, drawing 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 relationships between them at different stages of historical development, and the disclosure of the causes and mechanisms of racial differentiation.

A large place in racial studies is occupied by the study of demarcating racial characteristics, their heredity, dependence on the surrounding natural-geographical and socio-cultural environment, gender differences, age dynamics, geographical variations and epochal changes. Racial studies data are used to refute pseudoscientific racist concepts and formulate a correct understanding of the differences in the morphological appearance of people.

The origin of the term "race" is not precisely established. It is possible that it represents 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 as it is used now is found already in the French scientist Francois Bernier, who published one of the first classifications of human races in 1684.
Races exist primarily in a social sense and represent one of the forms social classification which is used in a particular society. However, in a biological sense, there is no clear division into races. Anthropology does not deny the existence of distinct morphological and genetic diversity in humanity. Different researchers in different periods meant different concepts by “race”.

Races are historically established groupings (population groups) of people of different numbers, characterized by similarities in 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: Caucasian (Eurasian, Caucasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Equatorial (Negro-Australoid). The Caucasian race is characterized by fair skin (with variations from very light, mainly in Northern Europe, to dark and even brown), soft straight or wavy hair, horizontal eye shape, moderately or strongly developed hair on the face and chest in men, noticeably protruding nose, straight or slightly sloping forehead.

Representatives of the Mongoloid race have skin color ranging from dark to light (mainly among North Asian groups), hair is usually dark, often coarse and straight, the protrusion of the nose is usually small, the palpebral fissure has an oblique cut, the fold of the upper eyelid is significantly developed and, in addition, In addition, there is a fold (epicanthus) covering the inner corner of the eye; the hairline is weak.

The equatorial race is distinguished by dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes, curly or wide-wavy (Australian) hair; the nose is usually wide, slightly protruding, the lower part of the face protrudes.

Small races and their geographical distribution

Each large race is divided into small 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. Nowadays, Caucasians inhabit virtually all inhabited land, but until the mid-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 minor races are represented, but the Central European variant predominates numerically (often found among Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians); in general, its population is very mixed, especially in cities, due to relocations, 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, and the latter is sometimes considered as a separate large race. The Mongoloids populated all climatic and geographical zones (North, Central, East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Madagascar, North and South America). Modern Asia is characterized by a wide variety of anthropological types, but various Mongoloid and Caucasian groups predominate in numbers. Among the Mongoloids, the most common are the Far Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and South Asian (Malays, Javanese, Sundas) minor races, and among the Caucasians - the Indo-Mediterranean. In America, the indigenous population (Indians) is a minority compared to various Caucasian 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, race, which in some classifications is distinguished as an independent large race, as well as the Melanesian and Veddoid). 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 small race numerically predominates; in the north and south of the continent, the proportion of the Caucasian population is significant.
In Australia, the indigenous population is a minority compared to migrants from Europe and India; representatives of the Far Eastern race (Japanese, Chinese) are also quite numerous. In Indonesia, the South Asian race predominates.

Along with the above, there are races with a less definite position, formed as a result of long-term mixing of the population of individual regions, for example, the Lapanoid and Ural races, combining the features of Caucasoids and Mongoloids, or the Ethiopian race - intermediate between the Equatorial and Caucasian races.

Races of man
Negroid race	Mongoloid race	Caucasian
dark skin color curly, spiral hair wide and slightly protruding nose thick lips	dark or light skin straight and fairly coarse hair flattened face shape with prominent cheekbones and protruding lips narrow palpebral fissure strong development of the upper eyelid fold presence of epicanthus, “Mongolian fold”	light or dark skin straight or wavy soft hair narrow protruding nose light eye color thin lips
There are two large branches - African and Australian: the blacks of West Africa, the Bushmen, the Pygmies-Negritos, the Hottentots, the Melanesians and the aborigines of Australia	Indigenous people of Asia (with the exception of India) and America (from the northern Eskimos to the Indians of Tierra del Fuego)	Population of Europe, the Caucasus, southwest Asia, northern Africa, India, as well as the population of America

Race and psyche

For a long time, sharp mental differences have been incorrectly attributed to the races. The famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was the first scientist to propose more or less scientific classification human races according to their physical characteristics, but at the same time in vain he attributed, for example, to the “Asiatic man” cruelty, melancholy, stubbornness and stinginess; “African” - anger, cunning, laziness, indifference; “European” - mobility, wit, ingenuity, i.e. high mental abilities. Thus, Linnaeus exalted the “white” race over others.

Darwin, unlike Linnaeus, recognized the existence of fundamental similarities 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 an explanation for this in factors of a social nature.

Speaking about the expression of emotions, or mental experiences, with the help of facial muscles, Darwin comes to the conclusion that among representatives of different races the similarity or identity in this regard is striking.
Elsewhere, Darwin draws attention to the fact of extraordinary similarity in the forms and methods of producing stone tips for weapons, collected from the most diverse countries of the earth and dating back to the ancient eras of mankind. He explains this by the similarity of inventive and mental abilities among the most diverse human races even in past times.

They often try to justify the opinion about the natural fundamental differences in the psyche of different races by the fact that the weight of the brain in different racial groups fluctuates within several hundred grams. However, a person's abilities cannot be judged by the weight of his brain.

Outstanding people come from a wide variety of races. Mao Tse-tung is the largest statesman new China, where the people of six hundred million, having overthrown the yoke of foreign imperialist invaders and completely freed themselves from the yoke of feudalism, are busy peacefully building a new, happy life. The world-famous singer Paul Robeson is a prominent peace fighter, laureate of the Stalin Prize “For Strengthening Peace Between Nations.” There are many similar examples that can be given.

Reactionary bourgeois scientists, with the help of special psychotechnical tests, so-called tests, strive to show the alleged mental superiority of one race over another. Such attempts have been made more than once and, moreover, without taking into account the difference in social status, in the education and upbringing received among the groups being examined and compared with each other. Genuine scientists, understandably, have a sharply negative attitude towards these toasts, as tools unsuitable for determining psychic abilities.

Some reactionary German anthropologists tried to prove the existence and inheritance of mental racial traits in their reports and speeches at the International Congress on Anthropology and Ethnography, held in Copenhagen in August 1938. In their preaching of racism, they went so far as to claim that Australians were because of “bad racial psyche" have almost become extinct, while the Maoris from the island of New Zealand successfully perceive European culture, since, according to these anthropologists, they belong to the Caucasian race.

At the same congress, however, strong objections were heard from 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. Scientific evidence is inconsistent. with allegations of the existence of a special “racial instinct”, which supposedly causes enmity between the races of mankind. Under favorable social conditions, peoples of any racial composition can create an advanced culture and civilization. Psyche individuals, their national character and behavior are determined and shaped under the predominant, decisive influence of the social environment: racial characteristics in development mental activity do not play any role.

The outstanding Russian ethnographer and anthropologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay set one of the chains of his research on the uncultured peoples of Oceania to determine the level of their natural intelligence. Having spent many years in friendly communication with the Papuans, he encountered many striking facts confirming that these inhabitants of New Guinea have the same high mental characteristics as the Europeans. For example, when Miklouho-Maclay was drawing a map of the area in which he lived, a Papuan who was observing his work and did not know the map before immediately discovered an error made when drawing the coastline and very accurately corrected it.
Miklouho-Maclay characterizes the Papuans as reasonable and not devoid of artistic taste people who skillfully carve figurines of their ancestors and make 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 limitless cultural development. In this respect, they are in no way inferior to the Europeans.
Miklouho-Maclay's research revealed the unscientific and biased views of racists about the natural inability of dark-skinned races to creatively master the spiritual wealth accumulated by humanity.

All my short life Miklouho-Maclay devoted himself to the struggle for the idea of ​​the biological equivalence of human races. He considered people of all races to be fully capable of the highest achievements in the field of culture. Principles of progressive scientific and social activities Miklouho-Maclay developed at a time when the revolutionary democratic views of the greatest Russian thinker Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, who was especially interested in questions about human races, were being formed. Chernyshevsky, focusing his attention on the features of racial differences and similarities, denied the claims of racists about the physical and mental inequality of human races. He rejected the influence of race on historical development and using the example of black slavery in the USA, he revealed the reactionary essence of racism. Chernyshevsky based his views on race and racism on solid scientific evidence. Among the latter, he especially highly valued the achievements of physiology. nervous system, clearly visible in Russian science thanks to the brilliant works of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.

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RACES OF HUMAN We humans differ from each other in eye color, hair color, skin tone, height, body weight, facial features. These are all individual differences. But there are signs that distinguish entire communities of people - races. Race is a historically established group of people united by: - ​​a common origin; - territory of residence; - general morphological and physiological - hereditary characteristics; - traditions and customs. Francois Bernier
The question of the origin and classification of races has a long history. The first attempt to describe human races was made in the 17th century. Frenchman Bernier. Carl Linnaeus
Later, K. Linnaeus identified four races: American, European, Asian, African. Currently, most scientists distinguish three large races and several dozen small ones. Large races - Equatorial (Australian-Negroid), Eurasian (Caucasoid), 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 dark 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. Representatives of this race have straight, black, coarse hair, and their mustache and beard grow weakly. The skin is more dark than light. The Mongols have a nose of medium width and protrudes slightly, while the American Indians have a long, strongly protruding nose. The most characteristic features of this race are a wide face, prominent cheekbones, a narrow palpebral fissure, medium-thick lips, and an upper eyelid closed by 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 is not very similar in appearance to a Buryat or an Evenk. The Negroid pygmies from the banks of the Congo River differ from the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Caucasians of Northern Europe (Norwegians, Swedes) - light-eyed, fair-haired, light-skinned - bear little resemblance to southerners, most of whom are brown-eyed and dark-skinned. Therefore, scientists identify several dozen smaller races - second and third order. Currently, people are actively moving around the world, moving from place to place. Representatives of different races marry. Races arose a long time ago. The first division into two large trunks, the Mongoloid and 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 race formation. Many characteristics of races are clearly adaptive in nature. Thus, the dark skin of Negroids protects them better from ultraviolet rays than the light skin of Caucasians. Curly hair serves as a good heat insulator in the sun. An important factor in the formation of races could be their isolation. In groups of people living isolated from the rest of the world, certain new characteristics arose - the shape of the nose, lips, etc. People - carriers of this trait married only within their group. Their offspring also married within this group. Over time 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 single state and speak the same language. The presence of speech centers is a biological feature of the human species. What language a person speaks depends not on his belonging to one or another 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, mature, intelligent person first sets goals, plans his actions, and only then acts.