Characteristic features of human races. How races appeared

On planet Earth, there is a huge variety of nationalities, which are characterized by a certain religion, traditions, cultural values. Races are a broader concept, uniting people according to morphological characteristics. They were formed as a result of evolution and socio-historical development of the population. The racial affiliation of a person has always been of interest, anthropology studies its origin, formation, signs.

concept

The etymology of the word "race" appeared from the middle of the 19th century as a result of borrowing from French race, German language"rasse". The further fate of the word is unknown. However, there is a version that the concept came from Latin word"generatio", which means "ability to be born."

A race is such a system of human populations, which is characterized by similarity in hereditary biological characteristics (external phenotype), which were formed in a certain geographical area.

Morphological features that allow dividing the population into groups include:

growth;
body type;
the structure of the skull, face;
skin color, eyes, hair, their structure.

Do not confuse the concepts of nationality, nation and race. The latter may include representatives of different nationalities and cultures.

The significance of races lies in the formation of adaptive features in the population that facilitate existence in a certain territory. The study of groups of people with identical morphological features deals with the section of anthropology - racial studies. Science considers the definition, classification, how they appeared, the factors of development and the formation of racial characteristics.

What are the races: the main types and resettlement

Until the 20th century, the number of races in the world was 4, depending on characteristic features. Large groups united representatives of humanity, while differences in appearance often became the reason why strife and conflicts occurred between peoples.

The main races of people that are on earth, taking into account the territory of settlement, are shown in the table:

There are no Negroids outside the African continent. Australoids are located within a certain range. The percentage of races on earth was distributed according to the following indicators:

Asian population - 57%;
Europeans (without Russia) - 21%;
Americans - 14%;
Africans - 8%;
Australians - 0.3%.

There are no inhabitants in Antarctica.

Modern classification

After the 20th century, the following classification became widespread, which includes 3 racial types. This phenomenon is due to the unification of the Negroid and Australoid groups into mixed races.

Allocate modern varieties of races:

large (European, mixture of Asian and Negroid, equatorial race - Australo-Negroid);
small ( different types, which were formed from other races).

The racial division includes 2 trunks: western and eastern.

Caucasians;
negroids;
capoids.

The eastern stem includes Americanoids, Australoids and Mongoloids. According to anthropological characteristics, Indians belong to the Americanoid race.

There is no generally accepted classification of separation according to various characteristics, which is considered direct evidence of the continuity of biological processes of variability.

Signs of human races

Racial features include many characteristics of the human structure, which are formed under the influence of the hereditary factor and the influence of the environment. Biology studies the external signs of the human appearance.

Races have been of interest to specialists since ancient times. Them distinctive features, description, pictures, help to understand the race of a particular person.

Caucasoid

Representatives of white people are characterized by a light or swarthy skin tone. The hair is straight or wavy from light to dark in color. In men, hair grows on the face. The shape of the nose is narrow and protruding, the lips are thin. belong to this race.

There are sub-races of the Caucasoid race:

southern Caucasian;
northern european.

The first type is characterized by dark, and the second - light hair, eyes and skin.

The appearance of a classical European is personified by the Falian race. The Falids are a variety of the Cro-Magnid race, which has undergone Nordic influence. The second name of this subtype is northern Cro-Magnid. They differ from the Nordids by a low and wide face, a low-set bridge of the nose, a pronounced red skin tone, a steep forehead, a short neck and a massive body.

Falids are common in the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, the western part of the Baltic states. In Russia, falids are rare.

australoid

Australoids include the Veddoids, Polynesians, Ainu, Australians, and Melanisians.

There are several features of the Australoid race:

The skull is elongated in relation to other parts of the body - dolichocephaly.
The eyes are set wide apart, the incision is wide with a dark or black iris.
A wide nose with a pronounced flat bridge of the nose.
Body hair is developed.
Dark coarse hair, sometimes blond due to a genetic mutation. Hair may be slightly curly or curly.
Average height, sometimes above average.
Lean and lean physique.

It is difficult to recognize a representative of the Australoid race due to the mixing of different nations.

Mongoloid

Mongoloid people have special features that allow them to adapt to complex climatic conditions: sands and winds in the desert, snowdrifts.

The characteristics of the Mongoloid appearance include a number of features:

Oblique cut of the eyes.
On the inner corner the eyes have an epicanthus - a fold of skin.
Light, dark brown iris.
Short-headedness (a feature of the structure of the skull).
Thickened, strongly protruding ridges above the eyebrow.
Weak hair on the face and body.
Dark straight hair with a rigid structure.
A narrow nose with a low nose bridge.
Narrow lips.
Yellow or swarthy skin.

A distinguishing feature is a small growth.

Yellow-skinned Mongoloids predominate in numbers among the population.

Negroid

The fourth group is characterized by a list of features:

Blue-black coloring of the skin due to the increased content of the pigment - melanin.
The eyes are large in shape with a wide slit, black or dark brown.
Rigid, curly black hair.
Short stature.
Long hands.
Flat, wide nose.
Lips are thick.
The jaw protrudes forward.
Ears are large.

On the face, the hairline is not developed, the beard and mustache are weakly expressed.

Origin

For a long period of time, people with white skin were considered representatives of the superior race. On the basis of this, military conflicts were unleashed in the struggle for the first race on earth. Entire peoples were mercilessly exterminated for the right to dominate the planet.

Note some Interesting Facts about the origin of races. The German anthropologist F. Blumenbach considered the most beautiful representatives of the Georgians. There is a special term "Caucasian race", which is considered the most numerous.

Mixing of the blood of representatives is common different groups. For example, mulatto is a term for a mixture of an Asian and a European. A mixture of a Negroid and a Mongoloid race is defined by Sambo, and a Caucasoid and a Mongoloid is a mestizo.

Of interest is the question of which race the Indians belong to - they were formed from the Australoid group.

Rasen are one of the well-known varieties Great Race. In world history, her descendants were called Tyrrhenians.

The appearance of the Rasen is characterized by a number of features:

Brown eyes;
dark blond or dark brown hair;
short stature.

Most often, racens have 2 blood types. The representatives of this race are characterized by steadfastness, a strong spirit and rage, which contributed to high level military readiness.

They act as an East Slavic ethnic group. In terms of numbers, this is the most numerous people on the planet. According to Wikipedia, there are a total of 133 million representatives of Russian nationality.

Racism

Deciphering racism: "Discrimination against people on the basis of ethnic origin, skin color, culture, citizenship, religion and mother tongue."

The term refers to reactionary ideology and politics, which is aimed at the justified exploitation of people.

Racism flourished in the middle of the 19th century in America and England, Germany and France. It was this that served as ideological support for the slave trade, the seizure of land by colonies in Oceania, Australia, Asia, Africa, and America.

Racists adhere to the ideology that between the mental, intellectual, social qualities and physical structure there is a certain connection. Higher and lower races were distinguished.

Adherents of the racist ideology believed that initially pure races arose, and later a mixture of peoples formed new ones. Children appeared with combined features appearance.

It is believed that the mestizo is different from its blood parents:

attractive appearance;
poor adaptation to the conditions of existence;
predisposition to genetic diseases;
low reproductive function, blocking further mixing of blood;
possible homosexual preferences.

The problem of incest is a crisis of self-identification: during military conflicts, it is difficult to determine a person to one citizenship and nationality.

Crossbreeding is constantly observed and as a result, transitional types appear at the boundaries of the ranges, smoothing out the differences.

The mixing of races from the point of view of science is considered as the species unity of people, their relationship and fertility of offspring. However, the problem is the possible disappearance of a small people or a small branch of a large race.

Racism is contrary to the ideals of any human society. He performs global problem humanity.

Beginning with XVII century science has put forward a number of classifications of human races. Today their number reaches 15. However, all classifications are based on three racial pillars or three large races: Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid with many subspecies and branches. Some anthropologists add to them the Australoid and Americanoid races.

Racial trunks

According to the data of molecular biology and genetics, the division of mankind into races occurred about 80 thousand years ago.

First, two stems emerged: Negroid and Caucasoid-Mongoloid, and 40-45 thousand years ago, differentiation of proto-Caucasoids and proto-Mongoloids took place.

Scientists believe that the origins of the origin of races originate in the Paleolithic era, although the process of modification en masse humanity only from the Neolithic: it is in this era that the Caucasoid type crystallizes.

The process of race formation continued during migration primitive people from continent to continent. Thus, anthropological data show that the ancestors of the Indians who moved to the American continent from Asia were not yet established Mongoloids, and the first inhabitants of Australia were racially "neutral" neoanthropes.

What does genetics say?

Today, questions of the origin of races are for the most part the prerogative of two sciences - anthropology and genetics. The first, on the basis of human bone remains, reveals the diversity of anthropological forms, and the second tries to understand the relationship between the totality of racial traits and the corresponding set of genes.

However, there is no agreement among geneticists. Some adhere to the theory of uniformity of the entire human gene pool, others argue that each race has a unique combination of genes. However, recent studies more likely indicate the correctness of the latter.

The study of haplotypes confirmed the relationship between racial traits and genetic characteristics.

It has been proven that certain haplogroups are always associated with specific races, and other races cannot obtain them except through the process of racial mixing.

In particular, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, a professor at Stanford University, based on an analysis of the “genetic maps” of European settlement, pointed out significant similarities in the DNA of the Basques and the Cro-Magnon. The Basques managed to preserve their genetic uniqueness largely due to the fact that they lived on the periphery of migration waves and practically did not undergo miscegenation.

Two hypotheses

Modern science relies on two hypotheses of the origin of human races - polycentric and monocentric.

According to the theory of polycentrism, humanity is the result of a long and independent evolution of several phyletic lines.

Thus, the Caucasoid race was formed in Western Eurasia, the Negroid race in Africa, and the Mongoloid race in Central and East Asia.

Polycentrism involves the crossing of representatives of protoras at the borders of their ranges, which led to the appearance of small or intermediate races: for example, such as the South Siberian (mixing of Caucasoid and Mongoloid races) or Ethiopian (mixing of Caucasoid and Negroid races).

From the position of monocentrism, modern races emerged from one area the globe in the process of settling neoanthropes, who subsequently spread across the planet, displacing more primitive paleoanthropes.

The traditional version of the settlement of primitive people insists that the human ancestor came from Southeast Africa. However, the Soviet scientist Yakov Roginsky expanded the concept of monocentrism, suggesting that the habitat of the ancestors of Homo sapiens went beyond the African continent.

Recent research by scientists from the Australian national university in Canberra and completely questioned the theory of a common African ancestor of man.

So, DNA tests of an ancient fossilized skeleton, which is about 60 thousand years old, found near Lake Mungo in New South Wales, showed that Australian aborigine has nothing to do with the African hominid.

The theory of multi-regional origin of races, according to Australian scientists, is much closer to the truth.

An Unexpected Ancestor

If we agree with the version that the common ancestor of at least the population of Eurasia came from Africa, then the question arises about its anthropometric characteristics. Was he similar to the current inhabitants of the African continent, or did he have neutral racial characteristics?

Some researchers believe that the African species Homo was closer to the Mongoloids. This is indicated by a number of archaic features inherent in the Mongoloid race, in particular, the structure of the teeth, which are more characteristic of the Neanderthal and Homo erectus ( Homo erectus).

It is very important that the population of the Mongoloid type has a high adaptability to various habitats: from equatorial forests to the arctic tundra. But representatives of the Negroid race are largely dependent on increased solar activity.

For example, in high latitudes, children of the Negroid race have a lack of vitamin D, which provokes a number of diseases, primarily rickets.

Therefore, a number of researchers doubt that our ancestors, similar to modern Africans, could have successfully migrated around the globe.

northern ancestral home

Recently, more and more researchers claim that the Caucasoid race has little in common with the primitive man of the African plains and argue that these populations developed independently of each other.

Thus, the American anthropologist J. Clark believes that when representatives of the "black race" in the process of migration reached Southern Europe and Western Asia, they encountered a more developed "white race" there.

Researcher Boris Kutsenko hypothesizes that at the origins of modern humanity there were two racial trunks: Euro-American and Negroid-Mongoloid. According to him, the Negroid race comes from the forms of Homo erectus, and the Mongoloid race from Sinanthropus.

Kutsenko considers the regions of the Arctic Ocean to be the birthplace of the Euro-American trunk. Based on the data of oceanology and paleoanthropology, he suggests that the global climate changes that occurred at the border of the Pleistocene and Holocene destroyed the ancient continent - Hyperborea. Part of the population from the territories that had gone under water migrated to Europe, and then to Asia and North America, the researcher concludes.

As evidence of the relationship of Caucasians and North American Indians Kutsenko refers to the craniological parameters and characteristics of the blood groups of these races, which "almost completely coincide."

fixture

Phenotypes modern people living in different parts planets, is the result of a long evolution. Many racial traits have obvious adaptive value. For example, dark skin pigmentation protects people living in the equatorial belt from excessive exposure. ultraviolet rays, and the elongated proportions of their bodies increase the ratio of body surface to its volume, thereby facilitating thermoregulation in hot conditions.

In contrast to the inhabitants of low latitudes, the population northern regions Planets have evolved to have predominantly light skin and hair colors, allowing them to receive more sunlight and meet the body's need for vitamin D.

In the same way, the protruding "Caucasian nose" evolved to warm the cold air, and the epicanthus of the Mongoloids was formed as a protection of the eyes from dust storms and steppe winds.

sexual selection

For ancient man it was important not to allow representatives of other ethnic groups into their range. This was a significant factor in the formation of racial characteristics, thanks to which our ancestors adapted to specific environmental conditions. Sexual selection played a large role in this.

In each ethnic group, focused on certain racial characteristics, their own ideas about beauty were fixed. Whoever these signs were more pronounced - he had more chances to pass them on by inheritance.

While the tribesmen, who did not fit the standards of beauty, were practically deprived of the opportunity to influence the offspring.

For example, the Scandinavian peoples from the point of view of biology have recessive traits - skin, hair and eyes. light color, - which, due to sexual selection, which lasted for millennia, formed into a stable form adaptive to the conditions of the north.

All modern humanity belongs to a single polymorphic species - Homo sapiens- a reasonable person. The divisions of this species are races - biological groups that differ in small morphological features (type and color of hair; color of skin, eyes; shape of the nose, lips and face; proportions of the body and limbs). These signs are hereditary, they arose in the distant past under the direct influence of the environment. Each race has a single origin, area of origin and formation.

At present, three “large” races are distinguished in the composition of mankind: Australo-Negroid (Negroid), Caucasoid and Mongoloid, within which there are more than thirty “small” races (Fig. 6.31).

Representatives Australo-Negroid races (Figure 6.32) dark color skin, curly or wavy hair, a wide and slightly protruding nose, thick lips and dark eyes. Before the era of European colonization, this race was distributed only in Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

For caucasian race (Fig. 6.33) are characterized by light or dark skin, straight or wavy soft hair, good development of facial hair in men (beard and mustache), a narrow protruding nose, thin lips. The range of this race is Europe, North Africa, Western Asia and North India.

Representatives Mongoloid race (Fig. 6.34) are characterized by yellowish skin, straight, often coarse hair, a flattened broad face with strongly protruding cheekbones, an average width of the nose and lips, and a noticeable development of the epicanthus (skin fold over the upper eyelid in the inner corner of the eye). Initially, the Mongoloid race inhabited Southeast, East, North and Central Asia, North and South America.

Although some human races differ markedly from each other in a complex of external features, they are interconnected by a number of intermediate types, imperceptibly passing one into another.

Formation of human races. A study of the remains found showed that the Cro-Magnons had a number of features characteristic of different modern races. For tens of thousands of years, their descendants occupied a wide variety of habitats (Fig. 6.35). Prolonged exposure to external factors characteristic of a particular locality, under conditions of isolation, gradually led to the consolidation of a certain set of morphological features characteristic of the local race.

Differences between human races are the result of geographical variability, which had an adaptive value in the distant past. For example, skin pigmentation is more intense in the inhabitants of the humid tropics. Dark skin is less damaged by the sun's rays, since a large number of melanin prevents the penetration of ultraviolet rays deep into the skin and protects it from burns. Curly hair on the Negro's head creates a kind of hat that protects the head from the scorching rays of the sun. The wide nose and thick swollen lips with a large surface of the mucous membranes contribute to evaporation with high heat dissipation. The narrow palpebral fissure and epicanthus in Mongoloids are an adaptation to frequent dust storms. The narrow protruding nose of Caucasians contributes to the warming of the inhaled air, etc.

Unity of human races. The biological unity of human races is evidenced by the absence of genetic isolation between them, i.e. the possibility of fruitful marriages between representatives of different races. An additional proof of the unity of mankind is the localization of skin patterns such as arcs on the second and third fingers of the hands (in anthropoid apes - on the fifth) in all representatives of the races, the same character of the arrangement of hair on the head, etc.

Differences between races concern only minor features, usually associated with particular adaptations to the conditions of existence. However, many traits arose in different human populations in parallel and cannot be evidence of a close relationship between populations. The Melanesians and Negroids, Bushmen and Mongoloids independently acquired some external similar features, independently a sign of short stature (dwarfism) arose in different places, characteristic of many tribes that fell under the canopy of the tropical forest (Pygmies of Africa and New Guinea).

Racism and Social Darwinism. Almost immediately after the spread of the ideas of Darwinism, attempts began to be made to transfer the patterns discovered by Charles Darwin in wildlife to human society. Some scientists began to admit that in human society the struggle for existence is the driving force of development, and social conflicts are explained by the operation of natural laws of nature. These views are called Social Darwinism.

Social Darwinists believe that there is a selection of biologically more valuable people, and social inequality in society is a consequence of the biological inequality of people, which is controlled by natural selection. Thus, social Darwinism uses the terms of evolutionary theory to interpret social phenomena and, in its essence, is an anti-scientific doctrine, since it is impossible to transfer the patterns that operate at one level of the organization of matter to other levels characterized by other laws.

The direct offspring of the most reactionary variety of social Darwinism is racism. Racists regard racial differences as specific, do not recognize the unity of the origin of races. Proponents of racial theories argue that there is a difference between races in the ability to master the language and culture. By dividing races into “higher” and “lower” founders of the doctrine justified social injustice, for example, the cruel colonization of the peoples of Africa and Asia, the destruction of representatives of other races by the “higher” Nordic race of Nazi Germany.

The failure of racism is proved by the science of races - racial science, which studies racial characteristics and the history of the formation of human races.

Features of human evolution at the present stage. As already noted, with the emergence of man, the biological factors of evolution gradually weaken their effect, and social factors acquire a leading role in the development of mankind.

Having mastered the culture of making and using tools, food production, housing arrangements, a person protected himself so much from adverse climatic factors that there was no need for his further evolution along the path of transformation into another, biologically more perfect form. However, within the established species, evolution continues. Consequently, the biological factors of evolution (mutation process, population waves, isolation, natural selection) still have a certain value.

Mutations in the cells of the human body occur mainly with the same frequency that was characteristic of him in the past. So, about one person out of 40,000 carries a newly emerged mutation of albinism. Mutations of hemophilia, etc., have a similar frequency. Newly emerging mutations constantly change the genotypic composition of individual human populations, enriching them with new features.

In recent decades, the rate of the mutation process in some regions of the planet may slightly increase due to local environmental pollution. chemicals and radioactive elements.

Number waves still relatively recently played a significant role in the development of mankind. For example, imported in the 16th century. In Europe, the plague claimed the lives of about a quarter of its population. Outbreaks of other infectious diseases have had similar consequences. Currently, the population is not subject to such sharp fluctuations. Therefore, the influence of population waves as an evolutionary factor can be felt in very limited local conditions (for example, natural disasters leading to the death of hundreds and thousands of people in certain regions of the planet).

Role isolation as a factor in evolution in the past was enormous, as evidenced by the emergence of races. The development of vehicles has led to the constant migration of people, their miscegenation, as a result of which there are almost no genetically isolated population groups left on the planet.

Natural selection. The physical appearance of a person, formed about 40 thousand years ago, has hardly changed to the present due to the action stabilizing selection.

Selection occurs at all stages of the ontogeny of modern man. It is especially clear in the early stages. An example of the action of stabilizing selection in human populations is the significantly greater

survival rate of children whose weight is close to the average value. However, thanks to the advances in medicine in recent decades, there has been a decrease in the mortality of newborns with low body weight - the stabilizing effect of selection becomes less effective. To a greater extent, the influence of selection is manifested in gross deviations from the norm. Already during the formation of germ cells, some of the gametes that form with a violation of the meiotic process die. The result of the action of selection is the early death of the zygotes (about 25% of all conceptions), the fetus, and stillbirth.

Along with the stabilizing effect and driving selection, which is inevitably associated with a change in signs and properties. According to J. B. Haldane (1935), over the past 5 thousand years, the main direction of natural selection in human populations can be considered the preservation of genotypes resistant to various infectious diseases, which turned out to be a factor that significantly reduces the population size. We are talking about innate immunities.

In ancient times and the Middle Ages, human populations were repeatedly subjected to epidemics of various infectious diseases, which significantly reduced their numbers. However, under the influence natural selection on a genotypic basis, the frequency of immune forms resistant to certain pathogens increased. Thus, in some countries, mortality from tuberculosis decreased even before medicine learned how to deal with this disease.

The development of medicine and the improvement of hygiene significantly reduces the risk of infectious diseases. At the same time, the direction of natural selection changes and the frequency of genes that determine immunity to these diseases inevitably decreases.

So, of the elementary biological evolutionary factors in modern society, only the action of the mutation process has remained unchanged. Isolation has practically lost its significance in human evolution at the present stage. The pressure of natural selection and especially the waves of abundance has decreased significantly. However, selection goes on, therefore, evolution continues.

All modern mankind belongs to a single polymorphic species, the divisions of which are races - biological groups that differ in small and insignificant morphological features for labor activity. These signs are hereditary, they arose in the distant past under the direct influence of the environment. At present, three “large” races are distinguished in the composition of mankind: Autral-Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid, within which there are more than thirty “small” races.

At the present stage of human evolution, of the elementary biological factors, only the action of the mutation process has remained unchanged. Isolation has practically lost its significance, the pressure of natural selection and especially population waves has significantly decreased

There is a high probability that in the past there were only four large islands inhabited by tribes of primitive man in the Arctida archipelago. Each of the islands became unsuitable for existence at different times, so in the prehistoric era there were four massive migration processes with an interval of 0.5 million years. Each migration process led to the formation of a new race. In total, there are four races of people on the globe: blacks (African race, Africans, Africonoids), redskins (American race, American Indians, Americanoids), yellowskins (Mongoloid race, Mongoloids or Asians) and whiteskins (European race, Europeans or Caucasians). From everyday practice it is known that the more time a naked person spends under the rays of the sun, the darker his skin becomes. Several million years ago it was very warm on all the continents of the northern hemisphere, except for the lands of northern Atlantis. Therefore, all primitive people, getting from the cold mainland to the warm regions of Europe, Asia or Africa, took off their clothes made of animal skins and walked naked.

The color of the skin of all peoples, tribes and races on the territory of the snowy North Atlantis was white. The earlier a person left the "northern homeland", the longer he "sunbathed" under the sun on other continents, and the darker his skin became. The difference in skin color between races depends on the amount of organic matter melanin in it, which is produced in skin cells due to exposure to sunlight (mainly ultraviolet). Based on these considerations, the conclusion suggests itself that the black race was the very first to leave North Atlantis. According to rough estimates, this happened 4 million years ago. The red-skinned American Indians migrated to America the second - 3.5 million years ago, the yellow-skinned Asians the third - 3 million years, and the white-skinned Europeans the latest - 2 million years ago. Europe. The reason for this "fair distribution" of the continents is that each of the four islands of the North Atlantis archipelago, inhabited by primitive people, was located at a considerable distance from the others. Therefore, one island was exactly opposite the territory of the continent of North America (Alaska), the other closely adjoined Europe, the third - to Asia (Siberia).

At the same time, Africa occupies a special position. It is located at a distance of 5000 kilometers from the former continent of Arctida (North Atlantis) when measuring the distance in a straight line (through Europe). How could the tribes of ancient man from North Atlantis get to African continent earlier than to North America, Europe and Asia? There is a very simple explanation for this. The fact is that until about 10,000 years ago there was another continent in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which is called Atlantis (or South Atlantis). It started from Arctida, where it connected with the continent Arctida. It continued in a thin strip 500-1000 kilometers wide in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, passed through the island of Iceland, had a huge plateau 5000 × 2000 kilometers in size at the level of the Iberian Peninsula, and then connected with Africa. South Atlantis has now sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and turned into the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Therefore, there is a strong possibility that African blacks come from the northern island of Svalbard. Based on the geographical conditions of the Arctida archipelago, which developed on Earth in the period of 3-5 million years ago, it can be argued that from the North Atlantis archipelago, primitive man could populate the continents using the southern direction of migration. Let us briefly describe the ways of distribution of each of the races.

Direction of migration of the black race (Africans)

The first island of the archipelago North Atlantis (Hyperborea), inhabited by primitive man, began to sink to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean 5 million years ago. Apparently, this island was about. Svalbard. Presumably, first the tribes settled on the continent of South Atlantis, the length of which is about 10,000 kilometers. For about 4 million years, the very first civilization on the planet developed in this place - the Negroid civilization of the Atlanteans. According to rough estimates total strength The population of South Atlantis 4 million years ago reached 0.2 million people. Atlantis was directly connected to Africa in two places: off the Atlantic coast of North and Central Africa. Starting about 1 million years ago, this continent began to slowly, in parts, sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and finally Atlantis as a continent ceased to exist 5-10 thousand years ago. This caused the death of up to 80% of the Atlantean population.

The ancient continent of Atlantis has become the underwater Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Due to the flooding of the islands of Arctida, the tribes of the Atlanteans - Negroids were forced to hastily migrate to the African mainland. For 4 million years ago, Central (Equatorial) Africa was inhabited by primitive people. Consequently, the African continent was settled by an ancient man from the west, "Negroid Atlanteans." That is why archaeologists find a large number of stone tools with an age of 0.5 - 3 million years in Central Africa, and they are not in South and North Africa. Ancient people for 3 million years inhabited 20% of Africa and only Central Africa.

By the way, even 50 thousand years ago the Sahara desert did not exist, and in this place there was a savannah with a large number of lakes, swamps, with tall grass and a diverse flora and fauna. The skin color of Africans changed in the following order: White color skin was 4 million years ago on the lands of snow-covered Arctida, yellow - 3 million years ago on the lands of hot Atlantis, red - 2 million years ago among the first settlers on the land of Africa, black - starting from 0.1 million years ago in areas of Central Africa. The population of Africans 0.5 million years ago reached millions of people. From a long stay on the sunny African continent (over 4 million years), the white skin of white-skinned Africans turned black. All other races (red-skinned Americans, yellow-skinned Asians, and white-skinned Europeans) lived on warm continents for less than 1-2 million years than Africans, and therefore their skin did not become black. However, Arabs and Indians are representatives of the European race with white skin, but after several millennia of existence in hot countries (for example, in Africa), they acquired dark skin color (Algerians, Egyptians, Sudanese, Somalis).

Direction of migration of the red-skinned race (American Indians)

Many scientists erroneously claim that people came to America from Siberia (Asia). Scientists put forward a hypothesis that primitive people 30,000 years ago sailed in boats from Chukotka to Alaska through the Bering Strait. But it is well known that Siberia in the period from 3 million years ago to 1000 AD was inhabited by tribes of an exclusively Asian race. The classic representative of the Asian race has a small stature (150 centimeters), a narrow slit of the eyes, a wide, not protruding forward and short nose, a smoothed facial part of the skull with cheeks convex on both sides, men have almost no beard and mustache. American Indians have completely different face and body shapes. These are tall and strong people, their height reaches almost 2 meters, the eyes are of European type, the aquiline nose protrudes far ahead, and so on. American Indians are completely different from narrow-eyed Asians and Africans with thick noses and lips. They are more similar to Europeans, and if it were not for the color of their skin, it would be difficult to distinguish them from Europeans. Therefore, the hypothesis of the Asian origin of the American Indians is erroneous.

A more plausible hypothesis. The American Indians are representatives of the European race, who were the first to "bud off" from the Europoids of the sunken continent of Arctida, and moved to the territory of North America in the Alaska (or Greenland) region. Events unfolded in the following sequence. The second island of the North Atlantis archipelago (Hyperborea - site), inhabited by primitive people, began to sink to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean 3.5 million years ago and was located at a distance of about 100 kilometers from the territory of Alaska or the northern lands of Canada. North America was settled by the tribes of the future red-skinned American Indians from Alaska and in the direction from west to east (from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic coast). It must be emphasized that the first Man of sense originated on the territory of North Atlantis 5 million years ago, for 1.5 million years the ancestors of the red-skinned race developed in “their” northern territory, and migrated to the lands of North America only 3.5 million years ago.

Archaeological excavations show that American civilization developed exclusively in North America (modern Canada and the USA) for 3 million years. This conclusion is based on the fact that the highest concentration of stone tools in North America is located in the Rocky Mountains (western United States). The population of America reached 1 million people 0.5 million years ago. Primitive people did not get to South America. The Amazon River, the mountains and the dense tropical forest surrounding it served as a natural barrier for primitive people to spread massively across the southern continent. For this reason, the territory of modern South American states (Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile) have absolutely no signs of the presence of primitive man. AT South America people appeared only 3 thousand years ago, and in North America - 3 million years ago. The skin color of the American Indians changed in the following order: the white color of the skin was 3.5 million years ago on the lands of the snow-covered Arctida, yellow - 3 million among the first settlers on American soil, red - 0.1 million years ago. The population of the American Indians 0.5 million years ago reached millions of people.

Direction of migration of the yellow-skinned race (Asians)

The third island of the North Atlantis (Hyperborea) archipelago, from which the tribes of the Mongoloid (Asian) race migrated 3 million years ago, is the current group of islands called the New Siberian Islands. The islands are 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole and are separated from the Asian continent by the Sannikov Strait, 80 kilometers wide. At that time, the New Siberian Islands represented a very large part of the land, exceeding the modern area by about 8 times. On this solid and huge island of Arctida, Homo sapiens also arose 5 million years ago, but over the course of 2 million years it developed in the conditions of the polar tundra. The main reason for its migration is not the flooding of the land by the waters of the ocean, but the cooling of the climate with all the ensuing consequences. The continuous evolutionary process of the development of tribes on the territory of the New Siberian Islands for 2 - 5 million years contributed to an increase in the population to 30 thousand people. The same number of people crossed the Sannikov Strait 3 million years ago and populated the lands of modern Yakutia.

Gradually, the tribes migrated west to the Ural Mountains, east to the lands of Chukotka and south to the territory of modern Mongolia. For 3 million years, the civilization of the Mongoloid race has developed over a vast area, which is located between the Ob and Kolyma rivers. In 1982, during archaeological excavations in the Deering-Yuryakh region (140 kilometers from Yakutsk), stone tools were discovered, the age of which was determined by experts at 1.8 - 3.2 million years. The population of Asians 0.5 million years ago reached millions of people. In the period 0.5-3 million years ago, mixed forests with an unprecedentedly large variety of flora and fauna grew in this area. The primitive people who lived there had an abundance of meat food, berries, mushrooms, nuts, and fish. The beginning of a significant cooling of the climate in this territory caused a mass migration of Asians to the south, southeast and east. Five obstacles prevented the ancient Asian tribes from migrating westward to Europe: the Yenisei and Ob rivers, in the north the wide sea bay of the Gulf of Ob 100 kilometers wide and 900 kilometers long, the Ural Mountains and the endless swamps of swamps between the Yenisei and the Ob with a tributary of the Irtysh.

The swamps of the West Siberian lowland, 1,500 kilometers wide and 3,000 kilometers long, are the main and natural barrier that did not "let" the race of Asians into European territory. Below the swamp zone, exactly in the direction from north to south, there is a “solid wall” of high mountains: the Sayans, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Himalayas. Thus, geographical barriers exist throughout the Asian continent, "marsh and mountain barriers" extend from north to south. The distance from the Yamal Peninsula (Arctic Ocean) to Bangladesh (Indian Ocean) is almost 7,000 kilometers. About 2.5 thousand kilometers of this distance are swamps, and about 4 thousand kilometers are mountains. There remains a narrow gap of 500 kilometers in the south of Siberia, which has no natural barriers to the migration of Asians from east to west. Due to natural barriers, the primitive people of the Mongoloid race long time absent in Central Asia and Europe. The skin color of the Mongoloids changed in the following order: white was 3 million years ago on the lands of snow-covered Arctida, yellow - 0.1 million years ago among the tribes that inhabited the warm (at that time) territories of Mongolia and China. The population of Asians 0.5 million years ago reached millions of people. The main directions of their migration were as follows.

Migration Destination No. 1. A small number of tribes (5% Mongoloids) migrated to the east: Yakutia → Chukotka → Kamchatka Peninsula → Aleutian Islands. Part of the Asian tribes penetrated even into Alaska through the narrow Bering Strait. However, at that time, North America had already been inhabited by American Indians for 0.5 million years, so after numerous military clashes, the migration of Asians to Alaska was stopped.

Direction of Migration No. 2. The second small direction of migration (15% of the Mongoloids) took place in the southeast direction: Yakutia → Far East→ Sakhalin Island → Japan → Korea.

Direction of Migration No. 3. The main direction of migration of the Mongoloid race (80%) was to the south: Yakutia → Lake Baikal → Mongolia → China → Indochinese Peninsula → Indonesia → Philippines → New Guinea → Australia. The migration process of Asians from the regions of Central Siberia over the past 0.5 million years has occurred mainly in a southerly direction. From recent history, an example can be given: numerous tribes of Manchus and Kitai, who used to inhabit the regions of Central Siberia near the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River, migrated to China only a few millennia ago.

The direction of migration of the white race (Europeans)

The fourth island of the archipelago of North Atlantis (Hyperborea), from which the tribes of the European race migrated 2 million years ago, is the current island called New Earth. This is the most south island Archipelago Arctida. It is located 2 thousand kilometers south of the north pole of the Earth, so a cool climate later settled on it, which became the main reason for the migration of primitive people. In the past, the island of Novaya Zemlya was about 5 times larger in size. On this island, man also arose 5 million years ago, but for 3 million years he developed in the conditions of the Arctic. Due to the more southerly location of the island, the need to leave it for primitive man appeared only 2 million years ago, as severe colds began and the mass extinction of the plant and animal world began. Until that moment, on the island of Novaya Zemlya there were good conditions for human life.

Novaya Zemlya Island is separated from of Eastern Europe the Kara Gate Strait, 70 kilometers wide. About 2 million years ago, the strait was crossed by boats and rafts, presumably 100 thousand primitive people. In the north of the European continent, a man found favorable conditions for life. The climate on the coast of the Arctic Ocean 2 million years ago was quite warm, similar to the climate of modern Italy. The tundra did not exist at that time. In northern Europe, the tundra arose only 0.3 million years ago. The Arctic coast of Europe was covered dense forests. This geographical area is located 1.5 thousand kilometers south of the Arctic coast, and therefore, 2 million years ago it was many times warmer than the climate on the island of Novaya Zemlya. Two million years ago, the area between the Ob and Northern Dvina rivers was much warmer than today, covered at first with tropical, and after 1 million years ago with mixed forests with an abundance of animals, berries, mushrooms, nuts, there were a lot of fish in the rivers. In summer, the forests were full of wild apples, plums, pears, grapes, cherries, and cherries. Vegetables grew in the meadows: beets, carrots, pumpkins, watermelons, onions, garlic.

The region of the Pechora River became for millions of years the main center of primitive European civilization. For quite a long time (over 1 million years), the center of development of the ancient peoples of the European race was located in the area between the Pechora and Northern Dvina rivers. There, archaeologists find a huge number of stone tools, rock paintings, and places of numerous sites of primitive people. Millions of years ago, the climate in the north of America, Europe and Asia was the same as it is now in Italy - warm and humid. the past was a thousand times greater than it is now. Paleontological studies prove that once there were huge saber-toothed tigers and cave bears weighing up to several tons (Siberia), predators up to two meters high, similar to a very large wild boar (Central Asia), predators in the form of huge ostriches up to 5 meters high (Southern America) and so on.

Every day, an ancient person witnessed how one of the relatives (a child or a woman) was eaten by predatory animals. But most often men suffered from predators, who, alone, went far from the location of the tribe for hunting and fishing. A lone hunter armed with a stone ax or a spear almost always died, since millions of years ago he was instantly surrounded by dozens of hungry and large predators. The resistance was short and useless. The danger forced people to unite in clans and tribes, forced them to live and hunt collectively, 10-30 people each.

Further cooling of the climate in the north of Eastern Europe forced people to migrate from the area of the Pechora River. People of the white race began to intensively settle on the European continent. The ancient Europeans were prevented from spreading to the east, to the Siberian lands, by the same natural barriers as the Mongoloid race to the west: the swamps of the West Siberian lowland, the Yenisei and Ob rivers, the wide sea bay of the Gulf of Ob, the Sayan Mountains, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Himalayas.

For 1 million years, the population of Europeans in the Pechora region increased to about 0.7 million people. The hypothesis of the existence of the Pechora center of ancient European civilization has many confirmations.

For example, the Hungarian tribes moved to Central Europe from the cold regions of the Ural Mountains 3,000 years ago, and the Sumerians migrated from Eastern Europe to Mesopotamia (Iran) 11,000 years ago. AT Central Europe, and then the Etruscans migrated to the north of Italy.

Archaeological confirmation of the settlement of an ancient man from the Pechersk center of the primary settlement of the European race across the territory Western Europe and Asia Minor (Middle East) is the distribution of completely identical microliths in shape. Microliths are very sharp stone fragments made of obsidian or silicon, which were firmly attached to one side of a short wooden stick (no more than half a meter long). It was a stone prototype of the modern sickle, reaping knife. The stone sickle was the most common stone tool of the ancient agricultural peoples in Europe and Asia Minor. Before the advent of the era of distribution Agriculture(0.2 million years ago) stone sickles were widely used to cut the stems of various cereals from huge fields of wild wheat, barley, oats, rye and so on. When archaeologists from different countries compared stone microliths from the Urals and microliths found in the most ancient cultural layers of the earth in France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and India, they did not find the slightest difference between them. These were stone products made according to the technology of the once united people of the European race, the primary center of which was in Northern Europe.

Three directions of the earliest migration of the European race can be distinguished.

Southern direction of European migration (to Egypt and India). The main routes of settlement of Europeans were directed to the south, where probably 60% of the population of the Pechersk region migrated. In this direction, the Indian migration route stands out (north of Eastern Europe → Kazakhstan → Turkmenistan → Iran → Afghanistan → Pakistan → India) and the Arabian migration route (north of Eastern Europe → the Volga region → Transcaucasia → Turkey → Iraq → Saudi Arabia → Egypt → Sudan → Somalia) . Near the village of Trypillya (Ukraine, near the city of Kiev), archaeologists have unearthed an ancient settlement of farmers of the Neolithic era. They called this culture Tripoli. Later it was found that the Trypillians occupied the vast territory of Moldova and Ukraine, and related tribes (Boyans, Keresh, Cucuteni, linear-ribbon) lived in the Balkans and in the south of Western Europe. The remains of grain and bones of domestic animals were found at Trypillia settlements. The most interesting thing is that Trypillians and their relatives decorated dishes in the same way as people of Mesopotamian cultures (Hassun and Khalaf), i.e.
not by squeezing drawings on wet clay, but by painting with colored paints. They also made from clay figurines of goddesses, mostly seated, as in Chatal Guyuk (Iraq), and figurines of a bull, as in Crete and Greece. These archaeological finds once again prove that the settlement of Europeans from the Pechersk center mainly occurred to the south: Ukraine → Greece, Ukraine → Iraq.

It is interesting to note that the territory of Egypt was first inhabited by Negroids, and then by Europeans. In support of what has been said, there is such information from the history of the Ancient East. The territory of Africa, including Egypt, was inhabited by the peoples of the black race in the period from 1 to 3 million years ago. Archaeologists in North Africa have found a large number of graves of an ancient man himself early period. The deceased person was buried with his head to the south and on his left side, that is, facing west. By this position of the body, ancient people indicated the place of their origin - the face was directed towards the Atlantic Ocean, towards the location of the ancient continent of Atlantis. The head was directed to the south, which indicated that people of the African race came to the territory of Egypt from Central Africa, from the south. After 1 million years ago, the territory of Egypt was already inhabited by the peoples of the "white race", which arose in the north of Europe and settled Africa from the side of the Arabian Peninsula, that is, from the east.

Therefore, the custom of burial has changed a lot. They began to bury the dead, placing their bodies with their heads to the north and also on their left side, that is, facing east, facing the Arabian Peninsula. From this we can conclude that after 1 million years ago, the territory of modern Egypt began to be settled by Europeans, who came to Arabia from the northern lands of Eastern Europe, and came to Africa from Arabia, that is, from the eastern territories in relation to Africa. That is why the face of the deceased person was directed to the east, towards the location of the Arabian Peninsula. Thus, the posture of the deceased person indicated the place from which the migration of the ancestors of the European race to the African continent began. In addition, the deceased person was buried in a pose with the head directed not to the south (not towards the location of Central Africa), but to the north, that is, towards the location of Eastern Europe, the Arctic Ocean, towards the location of the first homeland of the European race - Arctida. Based on these archaeological documents, it can be argued that after 1 million years ago, the territory of Egypt began to be inhabited by tribes of the European race. This opinion is also confirmed by the fact that the ancient Egyptian language has some affinity with the ancient Semitic languages (Phoenician, Akkadian, Assyrian and Hebrew).

Western direction of European migration to Scandinavia. AT westbound(to the Scandinavian Peninsula) probably 10% of ancient Europeans migrated from the region of the Pechera River. The Scandinavian migration route starts from the north of Eastern Europe → Finland → Sweden → Norway. From 4 million to 0.2 million years ago, the climate on the Scandinavian Peninsula was relatively warm, especially on the coast of the Baltic Sea. peninsula washed by warm waters Atlantic Ocean, so the winters were very short (1 - 2 months) and mild (no more than 5 degrees below zero Celsius). In summer it was very hot - about forty degrees Celsius. The territory was covered with dense forests, where wild animals abounded, and there were many fish in rivers and lakes. The ancient Varangians dressed in animal skins in winter, and in summer they wore coarse self-woven clothes. Sailing boats of the Vikings in very ancient times crossed the Baltic Sea, reached England, Iceland and Greenland. Probably, immediately after the occupation of Scandinavia, the Vikings began to smelt iron tools. The Scandinavian migration route has a certain historical continuation of its development.

Southwest direction of European migration. Probably, more than 30% of the population of the European race left Eastern Europe in the period of 1 - 2 million years ago and settled throughout Western Europe. Europeans settled from the Pechora River in 2 million years to the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic migration route began from the north of Eastern Europe → Ukraine → Romania → Yugoslavia → Germany → Italy → France → Spain → Portugal.

CONCLUSION. So, in the period from 3 to 5 million years ago, humanity (except for the Negroid race) concentrated on the northern lands of three continents: American Indians - on the territory of modern Canada and the United States (north America), the Mongoloid race - on the territory of Yakutia (northern Siberia), European race - in the region of the Pechora River (northern Europe). Over the next 2.7 million years, the continents were slowly settled. This was primary, free and peaceful process of human migration through the uninhabited expanses of the continents - site. The primary and free migration of mankind across the continents occurred very slowly in the period of 3-5 million years ago. American Indians settled North America and only much later (30 thousand years ago) part of South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). The Amazon River became a serious obstacle for the ancient people of America, since ancient people settled south of the river only 2 thousand years ago. The tribes of the Mongoloid race spread to the south of China. The tribes of the European race from the Pechora River "spread" to Spain in the west and to India in the east.

The population of our planet today exceeds 7 billion people. This figure is increasing every day.

Population of the Earth

Scientists have determined that in just a decade, the number of people on Earth will increase by 1 billion people. However, such dynamics of the demographic picture was not always so high.

A few centuries ago, the number of people increased slowly. People died from adverse weather conditions and diseases at an early age, since the development of science and technology was at a low level.

To date, the largest countries in terms of population are Japan, China and India. The population of these three countries becomes half of the world's population.

The smallest number of people live in countries whose territory covers equatorial forests, tundra and taiga zones, as well as mountain ranges. The bulk of the world's population lives in the Northern Hemisphere (about 90%).

Races

All mankind is divided into races. Races are organized groups of people who are united by common external features - body structure, face shape, skin color, hair structure.

Such external signs formed as a result of the adaptation of human physiology to the conditions external environment. There are three major races: Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid.

The most numerous is the Caucasoid race, it includes about 45% of the world's population. Caucasoids inhabit the territory of Europe, part of Asia, South and North America and Australia.

The second largest is the Mongoloid race. The Mongoloid race includes people living in Asia, as well as the natives of North America - the Indians.

The Negroid race ranks third in terms of numbers. Representatives of this race live in Africa. After the slaveholding period, representatives of the Negroid race remained to live in South and North America.

peoples

Large races are formed by representatives of many peoples. Most of the world's population belongs to the 20 major nations, their number exceeds 50 million people.

Peoples are communities of people who lived in the same territory for long historical periods and are united by cultural heritage.

AT modern world there are about 1500 peoples. The geography of their settlement is the most diverse. Some of them are settled all over the planet, some are around within the limits of the settlement.