Anthropologist Stanislav Drobyshevsky about the general characteristics of the Caucasian race, the main groups and the ways of settlement of its representatives. What characteristics are characteristic of the Caucasian race as a whole? What groups can be distinguished among Caucasians? What is the reason for variability within one race? Candidate of Biological Sciences Stanislav Drobyshevsky talks about this.
- The Caucasoid race is most often called this, although in Russian anthropology the term “Eurasian race” is adopted. One could call it the “Eurasian-African race,” but there is no such term. The Caucasoid race is not only settled in Europe, its range is much wider, even without taking into account the fact that at present Caucasoids have settled anywhere: in Australia, in America, in Africa.
Even the original area of formation of the Caucasoid race included, in addition to Europe itself, the north of Africa, up to the Sahara, and at some time the Sahara was a rather important region, and probably the same people lived there, as did the entire Middle East, which is geographically Asia, and further, up to Northern India. Currently, approximately half of India's population is, strictly speaking, Caucasian. In total, the Caucasoid race is one of the most widespread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, around the entire Mediterranean Sea. And naturally, over such a vast territory it is very heterogeneous, but there is general signs, allowing you to highlight it.
Caucasian characterized by the most light color skin, eyes and hair, but all northern Caucasians and those living outside the equatorial zone have much lighter skin, while the southernmost Caucasians are still darker. The center of skin lightness for Caucasians is located in the Baltic Sea region, the Baltic states, Finland, Karelia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the further south you go, the darker the skin becomes.
The eyes and hair of some Caucasians may be different shades, some generally have the lightest hair and eyes on the planet, while other Caucasians have very dark eyes and hair. Almost all Caucasians in Mediterranean countries have dark hair and eyes, but there are also lighter shades.
In North Africa, light eyes and hair are extremely rare. Caucasians in Northern Egypt have approximately 2% light eyes. Blonde hair and eyes are found among the Kabyles, for example, in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, but this is rare. Sometimes this slips through, say, in the Hindu Kush and Pakistan. And these individual light-colored people in the southern populations gave rise to talk about the warriors of Alexander the Great, who were, of course, blond and reached India, about the Vandals who passed through Africa to Tunisia and settled there, and their blood is now in the Kabyles. It is unlikely that the soldiers of Alexander the Great and the Vandals could have had such a strong influence on local residents. Moreover, fair-haired, light-eyed people in the south are individuals, and their fractions of a percent, as a rule, or 2% maximum for eyes in Egypt. There is variability from the very north to the south. This variability is quite tricky; it is not consistent everywhere, because the territory of both Europe and the entire western part of Asia is not blocked by any prohibitive geographical barriers. There are, of course, the Alps in the middle of Europe, there is the Caucasus, there is the same Hindu Kush, but they are completely bypassed. And Europe has always been a place of rapid population movements; people did not sit still. I’m not talking about the 20th century, but about earlier times: both in the Bronze Age and in the Neolithic, people wandered back and forth, and from north to south, and from south to north, from west to east, from east to west. Therefore, at present, it is extremely problematic to identify any strict variants of Caucasians.
There are several main groups of Caucasians. Lives in the Mediterranean zone and further up to India indo-mediterranean race, having the darkest pigmented skin. The facial features, like all Caucasians, are regular, thin lips, narrow nose. To the south live equatorials with a wide nose, and the contrast in appearance is very sharp. In India, the Dravidian race is very different from the South Indian race, and in West Africa, the facial features of the Ethiopian race are different from the Negroids. In history there was no period of isolation of proto-Europeans from proto-equatorial peoples and races. On a Caucasian scale, Indo-Mediterraneans have relatively small body sizes, they are quite graceful, but on a global scale they cannot be called particularly small. Although there are groups of almost pygmy height. For example, in the Sahara, Biasutti described the so-called Paleo-Saharan type of people; they are also found in Egypt. These are Bedouins, their height is about fifty meters. Low population growth occurs in conditions of isolation from all neighboring tribes; those living in oases are closed within their tribe and enter into closely related relationships, which leads to the degeneration of the people.
To the north of the Indo-Mediterranean people live groups of the Balkan-Caucasian race. The Balkan-Caucasian race is distributed mainly in the Balkans, including the Carpathians, nearby territories, and the Caucasus. The question arises: how related are the Caucasian and Balkan populations to each other? They could have acquired similar characteristics independently, but with high probability related to some extent. Sometimes they are also called Dinaric type . The Balkan-Caucasian race is different increased massiveness of the chest, and large dimensions of the face and nose. The North Caucasus has the widest faces in the world. In Georgia, the population is distinguished by very thick growth of hair all over the body, and especially thick beards and mustaches on the face. Such powerful vegetation has only been found in white people Ainu, the first inhabitants Japanese Islands, who have now become mestizos, mixed with the Japanese Mongoloids who came to the islands.
In Europe, the largest body sizes are among Montenegrins and some peoples of the Caucasus, for example, Ossetians are very tall. The Balkan-Caucasian race apparently arose in conditions of rather strong isolation, in mountain conditions, and there are clearly traces of adaptation to mountain conditions, including at the biochemical level. For example, increased development of muscles, because muscles store blood well and, accordingly, oxygen, development of the respiratory tract, that is big lungs and, accordingly, a large chest, a large nose with a hump.
Even further north is the zone of distribution of the Central European, or Middle European race. This is probably the largest part in terms of numbers, if we take the population within the Eurasian race. Although, considering that the population in India is close to a billion, and in Pakistan there is also a lot, then perhaps the Indo-Mediterranean race gives approximately the same number.
The Central European race as part of the Caucasian race is slightly average: with a straight nose, with a small face, most often with light brown, usually wavy hair - light brown, dark brown. Men sometimes grow beards and mustaches. Basically, representatives of the Central European race settled other parts of the world during the Age of Discovery, that is, they came to America, Australia, South Africa, there are not very many of them in India and Asia.
The facial features of people of the Central European race are quite variable, there are many variations. Many anthropologists have tried to find some logic in the distribution of these variants, but they are not very successful. The external characteristics of people of the Central European race change chaotically when looking from north to south, from west to east. The closest approximation in the similarity of facial features of the Central European race was found by Vasily Evgenievich Deryabin, who discovered that in the central part of Russia the signs of similarity among Russians are distributed not from west to east or from north to south, but along river valleys.
Perhaps in a similar way it will be possible to determine Western Europe signs of similarity between people of the Central European race. Since ancient times, the main roads in Russia were rivers; tribes settled along the rivers in the summer on boats and in the winter on sleighs. That is why the groups living along the river are similar to each other. All trade routes of Russia passed by hand - the path “from the Varangians to the Greeks” connected the Baltic Sea with the Aksinsky Pontus (Black Sea), the “Great Silk Road” was also laid along rivers. And since rivers flow in cunning zigzags, the distribution of anthropological characteristics of people of the Central European race in Russia turns out to be cunning zigzags.
The northernmost Caucasians are divided into two races. To the west - the Atlanto-Baltic race , is quite tall, big people, with very white skin, blond hair and eyes, with a straight narrow nose and an elongated, not wide face.
And further east, in the White Sea area - White Sea-Baltic race , its representatives are shorter, their faces are wider, their noses are slightly snub, more often the back of the nose is concave, their eyes are smaller, beards and mustaches grow poorly in men. Of course, this description may create the idea that just by looking at a person you can tell what race they are. This is not entirely true, because the described differences in the appearance of people are rather sketchy and average, and cannot be an accurate marker of differences between races. In each specific settlement you can find absolutely different types people, therefore, determining the type “by eye”, from a photograph or even from individual measurements, is impossible, that is, in general, the race can only be determined by studying the entire population of people.
Stanislav Drobyshevsky - Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, scientific editor of the portal "Anthropogenesis.ru"
Based on video materials
Instructions
Take a good look at yourself in the mirror. You are a representative of the Negroid (Australian-Negroid) race if you have the following characteristics: dark (dark brown, black, yellow or chocolate brown) skin with poorly developed hair on the body and face; full, fleshy lips, as if slightly turned out; wavy or curly, often coarse dark hair; dark (brown, black) eyes; a rather narrow face with weakly defined cheekbones; high (often) growth; wide large nose, rather flat.
You are a Caucasian (a representative of the Caucasian, Euro-Asian race) if you have: light or dark skin; soft straight or wavy hair of light brown shades; pronounced hair on the body (in men); light eyes (gray, gray-blue, greenish, blue, and so on); narrow nose; often thin lips; pronounced chin; medium or tall.
If you are a Mongoloid (a representative of the Asian-American, Mongoloid race), then your appearance probably has a number of characteristic features. Such as: dark or light skin with a yellowish, yellowish-brown tint; coarse black straight hair; narrow; flat, wide face with strongly defined cheekbones; flat wide nose; medium sized lips; weak hair; average or short stature.
Sometimes it is difficult to determine what race a person belongs to. The fact is that each “pure” race has several intermediate ones. The Ural and Lapanoid groups are intermediate between the Mongoloid and Caucasoid. And the Ethiopian race combines the features of Negroids and Caucasians.
In addition, within each race there are several small groups of races. The Caucasoid group unites the White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Atlantic-Baltic, Indo-Mediterranean, Balkan-Caucasian groups.
Within the Mongoloid race, they distinguish the Far Eastern (Koreans, Chinese, Japanese), North Asian, South Asian (Javanese, Malays), Arctic (Chukchi, Koryaks, Eskimos), American group. Negroids are divided into Australoids, Veddoids and Melanesians.
Sources:
- Races of man, their origin and unity. Features of human evolution on modern stage
The right clothes can completely change appearance person, highlight strengths, hide shortcomings. To find out your size, you need to make some simple calculations that will help you always buy the right clothes.
You will need
- Tape measure.
Instructions
Basic Russian table sizes is half girth, this rule works both. To get the desired figure, you need to measure the circumference of the chest with a centimeter at the most protruding points and divide the resulting number in half. A chest circumference of 96 centimeters corresponds to size 48, a chest circumference of 100 centimeters corresponds to size 50. If the number you get when measuring does not match the size guide, select the closest option. If your chest circumference is 95 centimeters, you can try on size 48.
Secondary measurements for a woman are hip and waist circumferences, for women - waist and neck circumferences. Because it often happens that the top and bottom of the figure do not correspond to the same size. Men need these measurements to purchase shirts and trousers, women - to purchase skirts and trousers.
As a rule, clothing labels indicate height. And in the case of clothing, body type is often indicated. When choosing clothes according to your height, make sure that your height differs by no more than 3 centimeters from that indicated on the label.
Often there is a need to compare domestic sizes with foreign ones. For men, to find out the American clothing size, you need to subtract 10 from the Russian one. Thus, 50 domestic size corresponds to 40. For women, to find out the American clothing size, you need to subtract 34 from the domestic one. This corresponds to 12. European and Russian sizes
Lesson Plan
1. What human races do you know?
2. What factors cause the evolutionary process?
3. What influences the formation of the gene pool of a population?
What are the human races?
Human predecessors are Australopithecines;
- ancient people- progressive australopithecus, archanthropus (pithecanthropus, synanthropus, Heidelberg man, etc.);
- ancient people - paleoanthropes (Neanderthals);
- fossil people of modern anatomical type - neoanthropes (Cro-Magnons).
The historical development of man was carried out under the influence of the same factors of biological evolution as the formation of other species of living organisms. However, humans are characterized by such a unique phenomenon for living nature as an increasing influence on anthropogenesis social factors (work activity, social way of life, speech and thinking).
For modern man Social-labor relations became leading and determining.
As a result social development Homo sapiens has acquired unconditional advantages among all living beings. But this does not mean that the emergence of the social sphere abolished the action of biological factors. Social sphere only changed their manifestation. Homo sapiens as a species is integral part biosphere and the product of its evolution.
These are historically established groupings (groups of populations) of people, characterized by similar morphological and physiological traits. Racial differences are the result of people's adaptation to certain conditions of existence, as well as the historical and socio-economic development of human society.
There are three large races: Caucasoid (Eurasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Austral-Negroid (Equatorial).
Chapter 8
Basics of ecology
After studying this chapter, you will learn:
What does ecology study and why does every person need to know its basics;
- what is the importance of environmental factors: abiatic, biotic and anthropogenic;
- what role do conditions play? external environment and internal properties of a population group in the processes of changes in its numbers over time;
- O various types interactions of organisms;
- about the features of competitive relations and the factors that determine the outcome of competition;
- about the composition and basic properties of the ecosystem;
- about energy flows and the circulation of substances that ensure the functioning of systems, and about the role in these processes
Back in the middle of the 20th century. the word ecology was known only to specialists, but now it has become very popular; it is most often used when talking about the unfavorable state of the nature around us.
Sometimes this term is used in combination with words such as society, family, culture, health. Is ecology really such a broad science that it can cover most of the problems facing humanity?
Kamensky A. A., Kriksunov E. V., Pasechnik V. V. Biology 10th grade
Submitted by readers from the website
I grew up in a provincial town, went to a regular high school, but I only read about representatives of other continents in books. One day a real African came to our school to tell us about hard life in my homeland. And it’s funny for me now to remember that schoolchildren were more interested in him unusual color skin, not a story. I will explain to you why the appearance of people on planet Earth differs.
Main differences between human races
Over several millennia, several races have formed on the planet, which are very different in appearance. Modern ethnologists distinguish four main ones (there are other theories): Caucasoids, Mongoloids, Negroids and Australoids. They are divided into subraces, nationalities and peoples.
All these differences, noticeable, as they say, with the naked eye, appeared under the influence of geographical factors.
Where all year round the sun was at its zenith, people's skin darkened, and for those living in the steppes, where winds often blow and sandstorms occur, the shape of the eyes became narrow, etc.
One of the main differences between races is skin color. For example, the Negroid race has dark skin, sometimes even black, the Mongoloids have yellowish skin, and the Caucasians are often light (although residents of southern Europe can be dark). But Australoids are similar to Negroids, only with lighter skin
Here are other signs by which races are distinguished:
- by hair: for example, Mongoloids have black and soft hair, Africans have hard, curly, dark hair;
- by face shape: for example, Mongoloids have flat faces and narrow eyes, but Europeans have narrow faces;
- there are differences (less obvious to a non-specialist) in the brow ridges, for example, in Australoids they are developed and pronounced.
All people are the same
Despite these external differences, we are all of the same species - Homo sapiens (reasonable man). Evolution proceeded evenly, and only geography influenced appearance.
Unfortunately, doctrines periodically appeared that one time is superior to another, and this provoked violence. I want to believe that common sense will triumph.
And the fires of racism will no longer blaze, people will no longer kill their own kind just because of the color of their skin.
Today, more than 7 billion people live on our planet. Scientists predict that by 2050 this figure could increase to 9 billion. We are all alike, and each of us is unique. People vary in appearance, skin color, culture and character. Today we will talk about the most obvious difference in our population - skin color.
Ras looks like this:
That is, our entire population is divided into 3 species, and the inhabitants of the continents one way or another belong to these three races. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
Caucasian population
- Caucasoid. White people are a large group whose habitat originally included not only Europe, but also the Middle East and even Northern India.
- Physical signs. Most Caucasians are people with the whitest skin tone (the tone of which, however, varies depending on where people live). Northern people are distinguished not only by light skin, but also by a light shade of eyes and hair, but the further south a person lives, the darker his eyes and hair. This transition is especially noticeable among Indians. Almost all Caucasians are tall or average height, have big eyes and dense hair on the body.
About 40% of the total population of our planet are white people. Now Caucasians are scattered all over the earth, but they mainly live in Europe, the USA, India, and North Africa, where the majority of the population is Arabs, who also belong to the Caucasian race. It also includes the Egyptians.
Main types of Caucasians
White people are divided into the following subspecies: Indo-Mediterranean, Balkan-Caucasian and Central European. The latter is the most numerous of all.
He is distinguished by a relatively thin build and narrow facial features combined with short stature. There are downright pygmy representatives of this group.
The Balkan-Caucasian race is more massive and has large, broad facial features. The characteristic hump on the nose, some say, is associated with a large lung capacity and a developed chest. Their hair color is predominantly dark, as are their eyes.
The European race of people also includes a Central European subspecies - this is a cross between the groups described above. The facial features of this group vary widely.
If we consider the issue of classifying Caucasians more narrowly, they can be divided into three groups - northern, transitional and southern with many subgroups and external features. However, they are all relative, and if you visit the habitat of any of them, you will understand that the similarities between the people of this group are relative.
Blue eyes are a sign of the Caucasian race
Blue eyes in humans are the result of mutation 86 of the gene. This mutation first appeared in people living off the coast of the Black Sea about 10,000 years ago.
People with white skin and blue eyes are very common, especially in the northern corners of our planet, but other races are deprived of this beauty. Although in Lately You can see Negroids with blue or blue eyes. Scientists believe that in this case, a blue-eyed Caucasian must be present among the child’s ancestors.
Mongoloid race
The Mongoloid race was located in Asia, Indonesia, part of Siberia and even America. These are people with yellow skin and characteristic narrow dark eyes. In outdated terminology this race is called “yellow”. These are the Yakuts, Buryats, Asian Eskimos, Indians and many others. In addition to the narrow shape of the eyes, this race is distinguished by a wide, high-cheekboned face, black hair and an almost complete absence of hair on the body (beard, mustache).
External features are determined by the climatic conditions in which the race originally lived. Thus, the narrow slits of the eyes are designed to protect from the wind, and the extensive nasal cavity performed the important function of heating the air entering the lungs. Growth is mostly low.
Types of the Mongoloid race
In turn, the Mongoloid race is divided into:
- Northern Mongoloid.
- Asian continental.
- American (or Indian).
The first group includes, for example, the Mongols and Buryats. These are typical representatives, however, with somewhat vague facial features and a lighter shade of skin, hair and eyes.
The Asian continental group living in Southeast Asia (Malays, Sundas, etc.) is distinguished by a narrower face and sparse facial hair. Height is significantly lower than other representatives of this race.
The American group discovers connections with both one and the other group. At the same time, there are some features “borrowed” from the Caucasian race. This group is characterized by having the darkest, brownish-yellowish skin tone, almost black eyes and hair. The face protrudes greatly.
Negroids in the classification of races
The Negroid race is perhaps the most recognizable even to the naked eye. People with dark skin (sometimes it has a golden brown tint), thick hair and characteristic wide lips, with prominent mucous membranes and nose. The growth rate here varies widely - from the highest to the smallest indicators.
The main habitat is Southern and although historical facts prove that initially representatives of this race lived in the North, and not equatorial Africa. Now North Africa is mainly inhabited by the Caucasian race.
Currently, the Negroid race can be found in various parts of the world - America, countries former USSR, France, Brazil, etc. Because of mixed marriages The boundary between racial differences is steadily blurring, which is especially evident among blacks, who show high birth rates.
Interesting fact: the first inhabitants of the Sahara belonged to the Negroid race.
The appearance of Negroids was formed against the backdrop of the climate of their historical homeland - dark skin protects from the sun, wide nostrils provide good heat transfer, and plump lips with protruding mucous membrane allow them to get rid of excess moisture. Negroids in their historical homeland are divided by skin tone, width of lips and nose, and these types are quite numerous. However, some are sure: there is only one type of Negroid race - Australoids.
Is there an Australoid race?
Yes, Austroloids exist, although they were often classified as blacks. Today it is believed that Australoids are a related race with Negroids, which makes up only 0.3% of the total population of the Earth. and blacks are really similar - the same dark skin, thick curly hair, dark eyes and large teeth. What distinguishes them is high growth. However, some still consider them a separate race, which may not be without reason.
Australoids are also divided into types - Australian, Vedoid, Ainu, Polynesian, Andaman types. They live on the mainland in tribes and are not much different from their ancestors in terms of education and living conditions. Another type disappeared in the 19th century, and the Ainu species is currently threatened with extinction. Scientists believe that, being the least numerous race, Australoids will disappear much faster than other types of races as a result of mixed marriages.
Conclusion
However, scientists claim that after thousands of years, the difference between races will no longer have any weight, because they will be completely erased from the face of the earth. As a result of numerous mixed marriages (such children are called sambo or mestizos, depending on what types of races the child combines), the border between historically established external characteristics is melting. Previously, races maintained their uniqueness through isolation, which is no longer the case. According to biological data, in marriages of Europeans and Mongoloids with blacks, the genes of the latter predominate.
