Races of people (photo). Modern races of people on the planet and their origin. Human races

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 In the development of race formation, anthropology comes into close contact with genetics, physiology, zoogeography, climatology, and the general theory of 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 the 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 the indigenous population of the Volga-Kama region is divided, 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 of the Khazars is 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, South-West 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 men, 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 Forward 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) is 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

Dr. Don Batten and Dr. Karl Wieland

What are "races"?

How did different skin colors come about?

Is it true that black skin is the result of Noah's curse?

According to the Bible, all people living on Earth descended from Noah, his wife, three sons and three daughters-in-law (and even earlier from Adam and Eve - Genesis 1-11). However, today there are groups of people called “races” living on Earth, whose external characteristics vary significantly. Many view this state of affairs as a reason to doubt the truth of biblical history. It is believed that these groups could only have arisen through separate evolution over tens of thousands of years.

The Bible tells us how the descendants of Noah, who spoke the same language and kept together, disobeyed the Divine command « fill the earth» (Genesis 9:1; 11:4). God confused their languages, after which the people split into groups and were scattered throughout the Earth (Genesis 11:8-9). Modern methods geneticists show how variations could have evolved in just a few generations after humans separated external signs(for example, skin color). There is compelling evidence that the different groups of people we see in modern world, were not isolated from each other over vast periods of time.

In fact, on Earth "there is only one race"- a race of people, or the human race. The Bible teaches that God « from one blood... produced the entire human race" (Acts 17:26). Holy Bible distinguishes people by tribes and nations, and not by skin color or other appearance features. At the same time, it is quite obvious that there are groups of people who have common characteristics (for example, the notorious skin color) that distinguish them from other groups. We prefer to call them "groups of people" rather than "races" to avoid evolutionary associations. Representatives of any nations can interbreed freely and produce fertile offspring. This proves that the biological differences between the “races” are very small.

In fact, the differences in DNA composition are extremely small. If you take any two people from any corner of the Earth, then the differences in their DNA will normally be 0.2%. Moreover, the so-called “racial characteristics” will amount to only 6% of this difference (that is, only 0.012%); everything else is within the range of “intra-racial” variations.

“This genetic unity means, for example, that a white American who is noticeably different from a black American in phenotype may be closer in tissue composition to him than another black American.”

Fig. 1 Caucasian and Mongoloid eyes differ in the amount of fat layer around the eye, as well as the ligament, which disappears in most non-Asian infants by six months of age.

Anthropologists divide humanity into several main racial groups: Caucasoid (or “white”), Mongoloid (including Chinese, Eskimos and American Indians), Negroid (black Africans) and Australoid (Australian Aborigines). Almost all evolutionists these days accept that different groups of people couldn't have different origins - that is, they could not evolve from different types animals. Thus, proponents of evolution agree with creationists that all groups of peoples descended from a single original population of the Earth. Of course, evolutionists believe that groups such as the Australian Aborigines and the Chinese were separated from the rest by tens of thousands of years.

Most people believe that such significant external differences could develop only for a very long time. One of the reasons for this misconception is this: many believe that external differences are inherited from distant ancestors who acquired unique genetic properties that others did not have. This assumption is understandable, but essentially incorrect.

Consider, for example, the issue of skin color. It is easy to assume that if different groups people's skin is yellow, red, black, white or Brown, then there are different skin pigments. But since different chemicals imply a different genetic code in the gene pool of each group, a serious question arises: how could such differences develop in a relatively short period of human history?

In fact, we all have only one skin “dye” - melanin. This is a dark brown pigment produced in each of us in special skin cells. If a person does not have melanin (as in albinos - people with a mutational defect that prevents melanin from being produced), then their skin color is very white or slightly pinkish. The cells of “white” Europeans produce little melanin, while those of black-skinned Africans produce a lot; and in between, as is easy to understand, all shades of yellow and brown.

Thus, the only significant factor determining skin color is the amount of melanin produced. In general, no matter what property of a group of people we consider, it will, in fact, be simply a variant comparable to others inherent in other peoples. For example, the Asian eye shape differs from the European one, in particular, in a small ligament that slightly pulls the eyelid down (see Figure 1). All newborns have this ligament, but after six months of age it remains, as a rule, only in Asians. Occasionally, the ligament is preserved in Europeans, giving their eyes an Asian almond-shaped shape, and vice versa, in some Asians it is lost, making their eyes Caucasian.

What is the role of melanin? It protects the skin from ultraviolet sun rays. A person with a small amount of melanin under the strong influence of solar activity is more prone to sunburn and skin cancer. Conversely, if you have too much melanin in your cells and you live in a country where there is not enough sun, your body will have a harder time producing the required amount of vitamin D (which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight). A lack of this vitamin can cause bone diseases (for example, rickets) and some types of cancer. Scientists have also discovered that ultraviolet rays destroy folates (folic acid salts), vitamins necessary for strengthening the spine. Melanin helps conserve folate, so people with dark color skins are better adapted to life in areas with high content ultraviolet rays (in the tropics or highlands).

A person is born with a genetically determined ability produce melanin in a certain amount, and this ability is activated in response to sunlight– a tan appears on the skin. But how could such different skin colors arise in a short time? If a representative of a black group of people marries a “white” person, the skin of their descendants ( mulattoes) will be "medium brown" in color. It has long been known that mulatto marriages produce children with a wide variety of skin colors - from completely black to completely white.

Awareness of this fact gives us the key to solving our problem as a whole. But first we need to become familiar with the basic laws of heredity.

Heredity

Each of us carries information about our own body - as detailed as a drawing of a building. This “drawing” determines not only that you are a person and not a head of cabbage, but also what color your eyes are, what the shape of your nose is, and so on. At the moment the sperm and egg merge into a zygote, it already contains all information about the future structure of a person (excluding such unpredictable factors as, say, exercise or diet).

Much of this information is encoded in DNA. DNA is the most effective information storage system, many times superior to any sophisticated computer technology. The information recorded here is copied (and recombined) through the process of reproduction from generation to generation. The term "gene" means a piece of this information containing instructions for the production of, for example, just one enzyme.

For example, there is a gene that carries instructions for the production of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. If this gene is damaged by mutation (a copying error during reproduction), the instructions will be incorrect - and we, in best case scenario, we get defective hemoglobin. (Such mistakes can lead to diseases such as sickle cell anemia.) Genes are always paired; Therefore, in the case of hemoglobin, we have two sets of codes (instructions) for its reproduction: one from the mother, the second from the father. The zygote (fertilized egg) receives half of the information from the father's sperm and the other half from the mother's egg.

This device is very useful. If a person inherits a damaged gene from one parent (and this dooms his cells to produce, say, abnormal hemoglobin), then the gene received from the other parent will be normal, and this will give the body the ability to produce normal protein. In the genome of each person there are hundreds of errors inherited from one of the parents, which do not appear, since each of them is “hidden” by the activity of another - a normal gene (see the booklet “Cain’s Wife - Who is She?”).

Color of the skin

We know that skin color is determined by more than one pair of genes. For simplicity, we assume that there are only two such (paired) genes, and they are located on the chromosomes in places A and B. One form of the gene, M, “gives the order” to produce a lot of melanin; another, m, – little melanin. According to location A, there can be paired combinations of MAMA, MAmA and mAmA, which give the skin cells a signal to produce a lot, not very much or little melanin.

Similarly, according to the location of B, there may be combinations of MVMV, MVmB and mBmB, also giving a signal to produce a lot, not very much or little melanin. Thus, people with very dark skin color may have a combination of genes such as MAMAMMV (see Figure 2). Since both sperm and eggs of such people can contain only MAMB genes (after all, only one gene from positions A and B can enter a sperm or egg), their children will be born only with the same set of genes as their parents.

Consequently, all these children will have very dark color skin. In the same way light-skinned people with the mAmAmBmB gene combination, children can only be born with the same combination of genes. What combinations can appear in the offspring of mulattoes with dark skin with a combination of MAMAMBmB genes - who are, for example, children from the marriage of people with the MAMAMBMB and mAmAmBmB genes (see Figure 3)? Let's turn to a special scheme - the “Punnet lattice” (see Figure 4). On the left are the genetic combinations possible for a sperm, on the top - for an egg. We select one of the possible combinations for the sperm and consider, going along the line, what results from its combination with each of the possible combinations in the egg.

Each intersection of a row and a column records the combination of genes of the offspring when a given egg is fertilized by a given sperm. For example, when a sperm with the MAmB genes and an egg mAMB fuse, the child will have the MAmAMBmB genotype, like his parents. Overall, the diagram shows that such a marriage can produce children with five levels of melanin content (shades of skin color). If we take into account not two, but three pairs of genes responsible for melanin, we will see that the offspring can have seven levels of its content.

If people with the MAMAMVMV genotype - “completely” black (that is, without genes that reduce melanin levels and lighten the skin at all) marry among themselves and move to places where their children cannot meet lighter-skinned people, then all of them the descendants will also be black - a pure “black line” will be obtained. Likewise, if "white" people (mAmAmBmB) marry only people of the same skin color and live in isolation without dating darker-skinned people, they will end up with a pure "white line" - they will lose the genes needed to produce large amounts of melanin, which provides dark skin color.

Thus, two dark-skinned people can not only produce children of any skin color, but also give rise to different groups of people with a stable skin tone. But how did groups of people with the same dark shade appear? This again is easy to explain. If people with the MAMAmBmB and mАmAMBMB genotypes do not enter into mixed marriages, they will produce only dark-skinned offspring. (You can check this conclusion yourself by constructing a Punnett lattice.) If a representative of one of these lines enters into a mixed marriage, the process will go backwards. In a short period of time, the offspring of such a marriage will demonstrate a full range of skin tones, often within the same family.

If all the people on Earth now freely intermarry, and then for some reason split into groups living separately, then a whole host of new combinations could arise: almond-shaped eyes with black skin, blue eyes and black curly eyes short hair, and so on. Of course, we must remember that genes behave in much more complex ways than in our simplified explanation. Sometimes certain genes are linked. But this does not change the essence. Even today, within one group of people one can see traits usually associated with another group.

Figure 3. Multicolored twins born to mulatto parents are an example of genetic variations in skin color.

For example, you can meet a European with a wide, flat nose, or a Chinese with very pale skin or a completely European eye shape. Most scientists today agree that for modern humanity the term “race” has practically no biological meaning. And this is a serious argument against the theory of the isolated development of groups of peoples over long periods of time.

What really happened?

We can recreate true story groups of people using:

1. information given to us by the Creator Himself in the Book of Genesis;
2. the scientific information stated above;
3. some considerations about environmental influences.

God created the first man, Adam, who became the progenitor of all people. 1656 years after the Creation, the Great Flood destroyed all of humanity, with the exception of Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives. The flood radically changed their habitat. The Lord confirmed His commandment to the survivors: to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 9:1). Several centuries later, people decided to disobey God and united to build a huge city and Tower of Babel- a symbol of rebellion and paganism. From the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis we know that up to this point people spoke a single language. God disgraced disobedience by confusing the languages ​​of men so that men could not act together against God. The confusion of languages ​​forced them to scatter throughout the Earth, which was the intention of the Creator. Thus, all "groups of people" arose simultaneously, with the confusion of languages ​​during the construction of the Tower of Babel. Noah and his family were probably dark-skinned—they had the genes for both black and white).

This average color is the most universal: it is dark enough to protect against skin cancer, and at the same time light enough to provide the body with vitamin D. Since Adam and Eve had all the factors that determine skin color, they probably also had dark-skinned, brown-eyed, with black or brown hair. In fact, most of the modern world's population has dark skin.

After the Flood and before the construction of Babylon, there was a single language and a single cultural group on Earth. Therefore, there were no obstacles to marriages within this group. This factor stabilized the skin color of the population, cutting off extremes. Of course, from time to time people were born with very light or very dark skin, but they intermarried freely with the rest, and thus the “average color” remained unchanged. The same applies to other characteristics, not just skin color. In circumstances that allow for free interbreeding, obvious external differences do not appear.

For them to manifest themselves, it is necessary to divide the population into isolated groups, eliminating the possibility of crossing between them. This is true for both animal and human populations, as any biologist knows well.

Consequences of Babylon

This is exactly what happened after the Babylonian Pandemonium. When God made people speak different languages, insurmountable barriers arose between them. Now they did not dare to marry those whose language they did not understand. Moreover, groups of people united by a common language had difficulty communicating and, of course, did not trust those who spoke other languages. They were forced to move away from each other and settled in different places. This is how God’s commandment was fulfilled: “Fill the earth.”

It is doubtful that each of the newly formed small groups contained people of the same wide range of skin colors as the original one. Carriers of dark skin genes could predominate in one group, and lighter skin in another. The same applies to other external signs: the shape of the nose, the shape of the eyes, and so on. And since now all marriages took place within one language group, each such trait no longer tended to the average, as it had previously. As people moved away from Babylon, they had to deal with new and unusual climatic conditions.

As an example, consider a group heading to cold regions where the sun shines weaker and less often. Black people there lacked vitamin D, so they got sick more often and had fewer children. Consequently, over time, light-skinned people began to predominate in this group. If several different groups headed north, and members of one of them lacked the genes that provide light skin, that group was doomed to extinction. Natural selection operates on the basis already existing signs, but does not form new ones. Researchers have discovered that, who in our days have already been recognized as full-fledged representatives of the human race, suffered from rickets, which indicates a deficiency of vitamin D in the bones. In fact, it was the signs of rickets, plus evolutionary prejudices, that for a long time forced Neanderthals to be classified as “ape-men.” "

Apparently, this was a group of dark-skinned people who found themselves in a natural environment that was unfavorable for them - due to the set of genes which they initially had. Let us note again that so-called natural selection does not create new skin color, but only selects from already existing combinations. Conversely, a group of fair-skinned people stranded in a hot, sunny region would likely suffer from skin cancer. Thus, in hot climates, dark-skinned people had a better chance of survival. So we see that environmental influences can

(a) influence the genetic balance within one group and

(b) even cause the extinction of entire groups.

This is why we currently see a correspondence between the most common physical characteristics of the population and the environment (for example, northern peoples with pale skin, dark-skinned inhabitants of the equator, and so on).

But this doesn't always happen. The Inuit (Eskimos) have brown skin, although they live where there is little sun. It can be assumed that initially their genotype was something like MAMAmBmB, and therefore their offspring could not be lighter or darker. The Inuit eat mainly fish, which contains a lot of vitamin D. And vice versa, among the indigenous people South America Living near the equator, the skin is not black at all. These examples once again confirm that natural selection does not create new information - if the genetic pool does not allow you to change skin color, natural selection is not able to do this. African pygmies are inhabitants of hot regions, but they are very rarely exposed to the open sun, because they live in shady jungles. And yet their skin is black.

Pygmies can serve a shining example Another factor influencing the racial history of mankind: discrimination. People who deviate from the “norm” (for example, a very light-skinned person among blacks) are traditionally treated with hostility. It is difficult for such a person to find a spouse. This state of affairs leads to the disappearance of light skin genes in black people in hot countries and dark skin genes in light skinned people in cold countries. This was the tendency of groups to "purify".

In some cases, consanguineous marriages in a small group can cause the re-emergence of almost extinct characteristics that were "suppressed" by ordinary marriages. There is a tribe in Africa all of whose members have severely deformed feet; this trait appeared in them as a result of consanguineous marriages. If people with hereditary short stature were discriminated against, they were forced to seek refuge in the wilderness and marry only among themselves. Thus, over time, the “race” of pygmies was formed. The fact that the Pygmy tribes, according to observations, do not have their own language, but speak the dialects of neighboring tribes, is strong evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Certain genetic characteristics could prompt groups of people to consciously (or semi-consciously) choose where to settle.

For example, people genetically predisposed to denser subcutaneous fat layers were likely to leave regions that were too hot.

Common memory

The biblical story of the emergence of man is supported not only by biological and genetic evidence. Since all of humanity descended from the family of Noah relatively recently, it would be strange if the tales and legends of different peoples did not contain references to the Great Flood, even if somewhat distorted during oral transmission from generation to generation.

And indeed: in the folklore of most civilizations there is a description of the Flood that destroyed the world. Often these legends contain remarkable “coincidences” with the true biblical history: eight people saved in a boat, a rainbow, a bird sent in search of dry land, and so on.

So what's the result?

The Babylonian dispersion fragmented a single group of people, within which free interbreeding took place, into smaller, isolated groups. This led to the appearance in the resulting groups of special combinations of genes responsible for different physical characteristics.

The dispersion itself must, in a short time, have brought about the appearance of certain differences between some of these groups, commonly called "races." An additional role was played by the selection influence of the environment, which contributed to the recombination of existing genes to achieve exactly those physical characteristics, which were required in these natural conditions. But there was and could not be any evolution of genes “from simple to complex,” because the entire set of genes existed. The dominant properties of different groups of people arose as a result of recombinations of an already existing set of created genes, taking into account minor degenerative changes as a result of mutations (random changes that can be inherited).

Originally created genetic information was either combined or degraded, but never increased.

What did false teachings about the origin of races lead to?

All tribes and peoples are descendants of Noah!

The Bible makes it clear that any "newly discovered" tribe certainly goes back to Noah. Therefore, at the very beginning of the tribe's culture, there was a) knowledge of God and b) possession of technology advanced enough to build a vessel the size of an ocean liner. From the first chapter of Romans we can conclude that main reason the loss of this knowledge (see Appendix 2) - the conscious renunciation of the ancestors of these people from serving the living God. Therefore, in helping the so-called “backward” peoples, the Gospel must come first, not secular education and technical support. In fact, the folklore and beliefs of most “primitive” tribes preserve memories of their ancestors turning away from the living Creator God. Dan Richardson of Child of Peace has shown in his book that a missionary approach that is not blinded by evolutionary prejudices and seeks to restore the lost connection has, in many cases, brought abundant and blessed fruit. Jesus Christ, who came to reconcile man who rejected his Creator with God, is the only Truth that can bring true freedom to people of any culture, of any color (John 8:32; 14:6).

Annex 1

Is it true that black skin is the result of Ham's curse?

Black (or rather dark brown) skin is just a special combination of hereditary factors. These factors (but not their combination!) were originally present in Adam and Eve. There are no instructions anywhere in the Bible that black skin color is the result of a curse that fell on Ham and his descendants. Moreover, the curse did not apply to Ham himself, but to his son Canaan (Genesis 9:18,25; 10:6). The main thing is that we know that the descendants of Canaan had dark skin (Genesis 10:15-19), not black.

False teachings about Ham and his descendants have been used to justify slavery and other unbiblical racist practices. Traditionally it is believed that African peoples descended from the Hamites, as the Cushites (Cush - son of Ham: Genesis 10:6) are believed to have lived in what is now Ethiopia. The Book of Genesis suggests that the dispersion of people across the Earth occurred with the preservation family connections, and it is possible that the descendants of Ham were on average somewhat darker than, for example, the family of Japheth. However, everything could have been completely different. Rahab (Rahab), mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, belonged to the Canaanites, descendants of Canaan. Being from the clan of Ham, she married an Israeli - and God approved of this union. Therefore, it didn't matter what "race" she belonged to - all that mattered was that she believed in the true God.

The Moabite Ruth is also mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. She confessed her faith in God even before her marriage to Boaz (Ruth 1:16). God warns us against only one type of marriage: God's children with unbelievers.

Appendix 2

Stone Age people?

Archaeological finds indicate that once upon a time there were people on Earth who lived in caves and used simple stone tools. Such people live on Earth to this day. We know that the entire population of the earth came from Noah and his family. Judging by the book of Genesis, even before the Flood, people had developed technology that made it possible to make musical instruments, engage in agriculture, forge metal tools, build cities and even build such huge ships as the Ark. After the Babylonian Pandemonium, groups of people - due to mutual hostility caused by the confusion of languages ​​- quickly scattered across the earth in search of refuge.

In some cases, stone tools could be used temporarily until people equipped their homes and found deposits of the metals necessary to make the usual tools. There were other situations when a group of immigrants initially, even before Babylon, did not deal with metal.

Ask members of any modern family: if they had to start life from scratch, how many of them would be able to find an ore deposit, mine it and smelt the metal? It is clear that the Babylonian dispersion was followed by technological and cultural decline. Harsh environmental conditions may also have played a role. The technology and culture of the Australian Aborigines is quite consistent with their way of life and the needs of survival in arid areas.

Let us at least recall the aerodynamic principles, knowledge of which is necessary to create various types of boomerangs (some of them return, others do not). Sometimes we see clear but difficult to explain evidence of decline. For example, when Europeans arrived in Tasmania, the technology of the Aboriginal people there was the most primitive imaginable. They did not fish, make or wear clothes. However, archaeological excavations have shown that the cultural and technological level of previous generations of aborigines was incomparably higher.

Archaeologist Rhys Jones claims that in the distant past they were able to sew elaborate clothing from skins. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the early 1800s, when Aboriginal people simply threw skins over their shoulders. There is evidence that in the past they caught fish and ate it, but stopped doing this long before the arrival of Europeans. From all this we can conclude that technical progress is not natural: sometimes accumulated knowledge and skills disappear without a trace. Followers of animist cults live in constant fear of evil spirits. Many basic and healthy things - washing or eating well - are taboo among them. This once again confirms the truth that the loss of knowledge of God the Creator leads to degradation (Romans 1:18-32).

Here's the Good News

Creation Ministries International is committed to glorifying and honoring God the Creator and affirming the truth that the Bible tells the true story of the origins of the world and man. Part of this story is the bad news of Adam's violation of God's command. This brought death, suffering and separation from God into the world. These results are known to everyone. All of Adam's descendants are afflicted with sin from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:7) and share in Adam's disobedience (sin). They can no longer be in the presence of the Holy God and are doomed to separation from Him. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and that all “shall suffer the punishment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). But there is also good news: God did not remain indifferent to our misfortune. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16).

Jesus Christ, the Creator, being sinless, took upon Himself the guilt for the sins of all mankind and their consequences - death and separation from God. He died on the cross, but on the third day he rose again, having conquered death. And now everyone who sincerely believes in Him, repents of their sins and relies not on themselves, but on Christ, can return to God and remain in eternal communion with their Creator. “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:18). Marvelous is our Savior and wonderful is salvation in Christ, our Creator!

Links and notes

1. Based on variations in mitochondrial DNA, attempts have been made to prove that all modern people descend from a single foremother (who lived in a small population approximately 70 to 800 thousand years ago). Recent discoveries in the rate of mutation of mitochondrial DNA have sharply shortened this period to the time frame specified by the Bible. See Lowe, L., and Scherer, S., 1997. Mitochondrial Eye: the plot thickens. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 12 (11):422-423; Wieland, C.,1998. A shrinking date for Eve. CEN Technical Journal, 12(1): 1-3. creationontheweb.com/eve

Hi all! For those who are interested in what human races are, I’ll tell you now, and I’ll also tell you how the most basic of them differ.

– large historically established groups of people; division of the species Homo sapiens - homo sapiens, represented by modern humanity.

The concept is based lies the biological, primarily physical, similarity of people and the common territory they inhabit.
Race is characterized by a complex of hereditary physical characteristics; these characteristics include: eye color, hair, skin, height, body proportions, facial features, etc.

Since most of these characteristics can change in humans, and mixing between races has been occurring for a long time, it is rare that a particular individual possesses the entire set of typical racial characteristics.

Big races.

There are many classifications of human races. Most often, three main or large races are distinguished: Mongoloid (Asian-American), equatorial (Negro-Australoid) and Caucasoid (Eurasian, Caucasian).

Among representatives of the Mongoloid race skin color varies from dark to light (mainly among North Asian groups), hair is usually dark, often straight and coarse, the nose is usually small, the eye shape is oblique, the folds of the upper eyelids are significantly developed, and in addition, there is a fold covering the inner corner eyes, not very developed hair.

Among representatives of the equatorial race dark skin pigmentation, eyes and hair that is broadly wavy or curly. The nose is predominantly wide, with the lower part of the face protruding forward.

In representatives of the Caucasian race skin color is light (with variations from very light, mostly in the North, to dark, even brown skin). Hair is curly or straight, eyes are horizontal. Strongly developed or moderate hair on the chest and face in men. The nose is noticeably prominent, with a straight or slightly sloping forehead.

Small races.

Large races are divided into small, or anthropological types. Within the Caucasian race there are White Sea-Baltic, Atlanto-Baltic, Balkan-Caucasian, Central European and Indo-Mediterranean minor races.

Nowadays, virtually all of the land is inhabited by Europeans, but by the beginning of the Great Geographical Discoveries (mid-15th century), their main area included Middle and Western Africa, India, and North Africa.

All minor races are represented in modern Europe. But the Central European version is larger in number (Germans, Austrians, Slovaks, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians). In general, the population of Europe is very mixed, especially in cities, due to relocations, influx of migration from other regions of the Earth and cross-breeding.

Typically, among the Mongoloid race, the South Asian, Far Eastern, Arctic, North Asian and American minor races are distinguished. At the same time, the American is sometimes viewed as a larger race.

All climatic and geographical zones were inhabited by Mongoloids. A wide variety of anthropological types characterizes modern Asia, but various Caucasoid and Mongoloid groups predominate in numbers.

The Far Eastern and South Asian small races are the most common among the Mongoloids. Among Europeans - Indo-Mediterranean. Indigenous people America is a minority in comparison with the various European anthropological types and population groups of representatives of all three great races.

The Negro-Australoid, or equatorial race includes three minor races of African Negroids(Negroid or Negro, Negril and Bushman) and the same number of oceanic australoids(Australian or Australoid race, which in some classifications is distinguished as an independent large race, also Melanesian and Vedoid).

The range of the equatorial race is not continuous: it covers most Africa, Melanesia, Australia, partly Indonesia and New Guinea. The Negro small race numerically predominates in Africa, and in the south and north of the continent the Caucasian population has a significant proportion.

The indigenous population of Australia is a minority relative to emigrants from India and Europe, as well as quite numerous representatives of the Far Eastern race. The South Asian race is predominant in Indonesia.

At the level with the above-mentioned races, there are also races that arose as a result of long-term mixing of the population of individual regions, for example, the Ural and Lapanoid races, which possess both the features of the Mongoloids and Caucasians, or the Ethiopian race - intermediate between the Caucasoid and Equatorial races.

Thus, now you can figure out by facial features which race this person belongs to🙂

Formation of races on Earth, is a question that remains open, even for modern science. Where, how, why did races arise? Is there a division into first and second class races (more details:)? What unites people into one humanity? What traits separate people by nationality?

Skin color in people

Humanity as a biological species emerged quite a long time ago. Color of the skin the first of people It was unlikely that he was very dark or very white; most likely, some had slightly whiter skin, others - darker. The formation of races on Earth based on skin color was influenced by the natural conditions in which certain groups found themselves.

Formation of races on Earth

White and dark skinned people

For example, some people found themselves in the tropical zone of the Earth. Here, the merciless rays of the sun can easily burn a person’s naked skin. From physics we know: black color absorbs the rays of the sun more completely. And that’s why black skin seems to be harmful.

But it turns out that only ultraviolet rays burn and can burn the skin. Pigment coloring becomes like a shield protecting human skin.

Everyone knows that white man gets faster sunburn than a black man. In the equatorial steppes of Africa, people with dark skin turned out to be more adapted to life, and Negroid tribes descended from them.

This is evidenced by the fact that not only in Africa, but also in all tropical regions of the planet, people live dark-skinned people. The first inhabitants of India are very dark-skinned people. In the tropical steppe regions of America, the people living here had darker skin than their neighbors who lived in and hid from the direct rays of the sun in the shade of trees.

And in Africa the indigenous people tropical forests- Pygmies - have lighter skin than their neighbors who are engaged in agriculture and are almost always exposed to the sun.

The Negroid race, in addition to skin color, has many other features formed during the development process, and due to the need to adapt to tropical living conditions. For example, curly black hair protects the head well from overheating by direct rays of the sun. Narrow elongated skulls are also one of the adaptations against overheating.

The Papuans from New Guinea have the same skull shape (more details:) as well as the Malanesians (more details:). Features such as skull shape and skin color helped all these peoples in the struggle for existence.

But why did the white race have whiter skin than primitive people? The reason is the same ultraviolet rays, under the influence of which human body vitamin B is synthesized.

People of temperate and northern latitudes must have white skin that is transparent to sunlight in order to receive as much ultraviolet radiation as possible.

People with dark skin constantly experienced vitamin starvation and were less resilient than white-skinned people.

Mongoloids

Third race - Mongoloids. Under the influence of what conditions were its distinctive features formed? Their skin color, apparently, has been preserved from their most distant ancestors; it is well adapted to the harsh conditions of the North and the hot sun.

And here are the eyes. We need to say something special about them.
It is believed that the Mongoloids first appeared in areas of Asia located far from all oceans; The continental climate here is characterized by a sharp difference in temperatures between winter and summer, day and night, and the steppes in these parts are interspersed with deserts.

Strong winds blow almost continuously and carry huge amounts of dust. In winter there are sparkling tablecloths of endless snow. And today, travelers to the northern regions of our country wear glasses that protect them from this glare. And if they are not there, they are paid with eye disease.

Important distinguishing feature Mongoloids - narrow slits of the eyes. And the second is a small fold of skin covering the inner corner of the eye. It also protects your eyes from dust.

This fold of skin is commonly called the Mongolian fold. From here, from Asia, people with prominent cheekbones and narrow slits of eyes dispersed throughout Asia, Indonesia, Australia, and Africa.

Well, is there another place on Earth with a similar climate? Yes, I have. These are some areas of South Africa. They are inhabited by Bushmen and Hottentots - peoples belonging to the Negroid race. However, the Bushmen here usually have dark yellow skin, narrow eyes and a Mongolian fold. At one time they even thought that Mongoloids lived in these parts of Africa, having moved here from Asia. Only later did we figure out this mistake.

Division into large human races

So influenced purely natural conditions The main races of the Earth were formed - white, black, yellow. When did it happen? A question like this is not easy to answer. Anthropologists believe that division into large human races occurred no earlier than 200 thousand years ago and no later than 20 thousand.

And it was probably a long process that took 180-200 thousand years. How this happened is a new mystery. Some scientists believe that at first humanity was divided into two races - the European, which later divided into white and yellow, and the equatorial, Negroid.

Others, on the contrary, believe that first the Mongoloid race separated from the common tree of humanity, and then the Euro-African race was divided into whites and blacks. Well, anthropologists divide large human races into small ones.

This division is unstable; the total number of small races varies in the classifications given by different scientists. But there are, of course, dozens of small races.

Of course, races differ from each other not only in skin color and eye shape. Modern anthropologists have found a large number of such differences.

Criteria for dividing into races

But for what reasons? criteria compare race? By head shape, brain size, blood type? Scientists have not found any fundamental signs that would characterize any races for better or worse.

Brain weight

It has been proven that brain weight varies among different races. But it is different also different people belonging to the same nationality. So, for example, the brain brilliant writer Anatole France weighed only 1077 grams, and the brain of the no less brilliant Ivan Turgenev reached a huge weight - 2012 grams. We can confidently say: between these two extremes all the races of the Earth are located.

The fact that the weight of the brain does not characterize the mental superiority of the race is also indicated by the figures: the average weight of the brain of an Englishman is 1456 grams, and of Indians - 1514, of Bantu blacks - 1422 grams, of the French - 1473 grams. It is known that Neanderthals had greater brain weight than modern humans.

It is unlikely that they were smarter than you and me, however. And yet there are still racists on the globe. They are in both the USA and South Africa. True, they do not have any scientific data to confirm their theories.

Anthropologists - scientists who study humanity precisely from the perspective of the characteristics of individual people and their groups - unanimously state:

All people on Earth, regardless of their nationality and race, are equal. This does not mean that racial and national characteristics do not exist, they do exist. But they don't define either mental abilities, nor any other qualities that could be considered decisive for the division of humanity into higher and lower races.

We can say that this conclusion is the most important of the conclusions of anthropology. But this is not the only achievement of science, otherwise there would be no point in developing it further. And anthropology is developing. With its help, it was possible to look into the most distant past of humanity and understand many previously mysterious moments.

It is anthropological research that allows us to penetrate into the depths of thousands of years, to the very first days of the appearance of man. And that long period of history when people did not yet have writing at their disposal becomes clearer thanks to anthropological research.

And of course, the methods of anthropological research have expanded incomparably. If only a hundred years ago, having met a new unknown people, the traveler limited himself to his description, then at present this is far from sufficient.

The anthropologist must now make numerous measurements, leaving nothing unattended - not the palms of the hands, not the soles of the feet, not, of course, the shape of the skull. He takes blood and saliva, prints of feet and palms for analysis, and takes X-rays.

Blood type

All received data are summarized, and from them special indices are derived that characterize a particular group of people. It turns out that blood types- exactly those blood groups that are used for transfusion - can also characterize racial identity of people.

It has been established that there are most people with the second blood group in Europe and none at all in South Africa, China and Japan, there are almost no third group in America and Australia, and less than 10 percent of Russians have the fourth blood group. By the way, the study of blood groups made it possible to make many important and interesting discoveries.

Well, for example, the settlement of America. It is known that archaeologists, who searched for many decades for the remains of the most ancient human cultures in America, had to state that people appeared here relatively late - only a few tens of thousands of years ago.

Relatively recently, these conclusions were confirmed by analyzing the ashes of ancient fires, bones, and the remains of wooden structures. It turned out that the figure of 20-30 thousand years quite accurately determines the period that has passed since the days of the first discovery of America by its aborigines - the Indians.

And this happened in the Bering Strait region, from where they moved relatively slowly south all the way to Tierra del Fuego.

The fact that among the indigenous population of America there are no people with the third and fourth blood groups indicates that the first settlers of the giant continent did not accidentally have people with these groups.

The question arises: were there many of these discoverers in this case? Apparently, for this accident to manifest itself, there were few of them. They gave rise to all the Indian tribes with the endless variety of their languages, customs, and beliefs.

And further. After this group set foot on Alaskan soil, no one could follow them there. Otherwise, new groups of people would have brought with them one of the important blood factors, the absence of which determines the absence of the third and fourth groups among the Indians
blood.

But the descendants of the first Columbuses reached the Isthmus of Panama. And although in those days there was no canal separating the continents, this isthmus was difficult to overcome for people: tropical swamps, diseases, wild animals, poisonous reptiles and insects made it possible for another, equally small group of people to overcome it.

Proof? Absence of a second blood group among native South Americans. This means that the accident repeated itself: among the first settlers of South America there were also no people with the second blood group, as among the first settlers of North America there were no people with the third and fourth groups...

Probably everyone has read famous book Thor Heyerdahl's Journey to Kon-Tiki. This journey was intended to prove that the ancestors of the inhabitants of Polynesia could have arrived here not from Asia, but from South America.

This hypothesis was prompted by a certain commonality between the cultures of the Polynesians and South Americans. Heyerdahl understood that with his magnificent journey he did not provide decisive proof, but most readers of the book, intoxicated by the greatness of the scientific feat and the literary talent of the author, steadily believe that the brave Norwegian was right.

And yet, apparently, Polynesians are descendants of Asians, not South Americans. The decisive factor, again, was the composition of the blood. We remember that South Americans do not have a second blood type, but among Polynesians there are many people with this blood type. You are inclined to believe that the Americans did not take part in the settlement of Polynesia...

Human races are historically established biological divisions of the species “Homo sapiens” (Homo sapiens) in human evolution. They differ in complexes of hereditarily transmitted and gradually changing morphological, biochemical and other features. The modern geographic areas of distribution, or areas, occupied by races make it possible to outline the territories in which the races were formed. Due to the social nature of man, races are qualitatively different from subspecies of wild and domestic animals.

If for wild animals the term “geographical races” can be applied, then in relation to humans it has largely lost its meaning, since the connection of human races with their original areas is disrupted by numerous migrations of masses of people, as a result of which a mixture of very different races and peoples and new human associations were formed.

Most anthropologists divide humanity into three large races: Negroid-Australoid (“black”), Caucasoid (“white”) and Mongoloid (“yellow”). Using geographical terms, the first race is called the equatorial, or African-Australian, the second, the European-Asian, and the third, the Asian-American race. The following branches of large races are distinguished: African and Oceanian; northern and southern; Asian and American (G. F. Debets). The Earth's population now amounts to over 3 billion 300 million people (data for 1965). Of these, the first race accounts for approximately 10%, the second - 50%, and the third - 40%. This is, of course, a rough total count, since there are hundreds of millions of racially mixed individuals, numerous minor races and mixed (intermediate) racial groups, including ancient origin(eg Ethiopians). Large, or primary, races occupying vast territories are not completely homogeneous. They are divided according to physical (corporal) characteristics into branches, into 10-20 small races, and those into anthropological types.

Modern races, their origin and taxonomy are studied by ethnic anthropology (racial studies). Groups of the population are subjected to research for examination and quantitative determination of so-called racial characteristics, followed by processing of mass data using the methods of variation statistics (see). For this, anthropologists use scales of skin color and iris, hair color and shape, eyelid shape, nose and lips, as well as anthropometric instruments: compasses, goniometer, etc. (see Anthropometry). Hematological, biochemical and other examinations are also carried out.

Belonging to one or another racial division is determined in men 20-60 years old based on a set of genetically stable and fairly characteristic signs of physical structure.

Further descriptive features of the racial complex: the presence of a beard and mustache, the coarseness of the head hair, the degree of development of the upper eyelid and its fold - the epicanthus, the tilt of the forehead, the shape of the head, the development of the brow ridges, the shape of the face, the growth of body hair, the type of build (see Habitus) and body proportions (see Constitution).

Skull shape options: 1 - dolichocranial ellipsoid; 2 and 3 - brachycranial (2 - round, or spheroid, 3 - wedge-shaped, or sphenoid); 4 - mesocranial pentagonal, or pentagonoid.

A unified anthropometric examination on a living person, as well as on the skeleton, mostly on the skull (Fig.), makes it possible to clarify somatoscopic observations and make a more correct comparison of the racial composition of tribes, peoples, individual populations (see) and isolates. Racial characteristics vary and are subject to sexual, age, geographic and evolutionary variability.

The racial composition of humanity is very complex, which largely depends on the mixed nature of the population of many countries in connection with ancient migrations and modern mass migrations. Therefore, in the land area inhabited by humanity, contact and intermediate racial groups are found, formed from the interpenetration of two or three or more complexes of racial characteristics during the crossbreeding of anthropological types.

The process of racial miscegenation increased greatly during the era of capitalist expansion after the discovery of America. As a result, for example, Mexicans are half mixed race between Indians and Europeans.

A noticeable increase in interracial mixing is observed in the USSR and other socialist countries. This is the result of the elimination of all kinds of racial barriers on the basis of correct scientifically based national and international policies.

Races are biologically equivalent and blood related. The basis for this conclusion is the doctrine of monogenism developed by Charles Darwin, i.e., the origin of man from one species of ancient bipedal apes, and not from several (the concept of polygenism). Monogenism is confirmed by the anatomical similarity of all races, which could not, as Charles Darwin emphasized, arise through convergence, or convergence of characteristics, of different ancestral species. The species of monkey that served as the ancestor for humans probably lived in South Asia, from where ancient people spread across the Earth. Ancient people, the so-called Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), gave rise to “homo sapiens”. But modern races did not arise from Neanderthals, but were formed anew under the influence of a combination of natural (including biological) and social factors.

The formation of races (raceogenesis) is closely related to anthropogenesis; both processes are the result of historical development. Modern man arose over a vast territory, approximately from the Mediterranean to Hindustan or somewhat larger. From here, Mongoloids could have formed in the northeast direction, Caucasoids in the northwest, and Negroids and Australoids in the south. However, the problem of the ancestral home of modern man is still far from being completely resolved.

In more ancient eras, when people settled on Earth, their groups inevitably found themselves in conditions of geographic and, consequently, social isolation, which contributed to their racial differentiation in the process of interaction of factors of variability (q.v.), heredity (q.v.) and selection. With an increase in the number of isolates, new settlement occurred and contacts with neighboring groups arose, causing crossbreeding. When forming races famous role Natural selection also played a role, the influence of which noticeably weakened as the social environment developed. In this regard, the characteristics of modern races have secondary importance. Aesthetic, or sexual, selection also played some role in the formation of races; sometimes racial characteristics could acquire the meaning of identifying characteristics for representatives of one or another local racial group.

As the human population grew, both the specific importance and the direction of action of individual factors of raceogenesis changed, but the role of social influences increased. If for primary races miscegenation was a differentiating factor (when miscegenated groups again found themselves in conditions of isolation), now miscegenation levels out racial differences. Currently, about half of humanity is the result of crossbreeding. Racial differences, which naturally arose over many millennia, must and will, as K. Marx pointed out, be eliminated by historical development. But racial characteristics will continue to manifest themselves for a long time in certain combinations, mainly in individuals. Crossbreeding often leads to the emergence of new positive features of physical makeup and intellectual development.

The race of the patient must be taken into account when evaluating some medical examination data. This applies mainly to the peculiarities of the color of the integument. The skin color characteristic of a representative of the “black” or “yellow” race will turn out to be a symptom of Addison’s disease or icterus in a “white” race; A doctor will evaluate a purple tint of lip color and bluish nails in a Caucasian as cyanosis, and in a Negro as a racial feature. On the other hand, color changes due to “bronze disease,” jaundice, and cardiorespiratory failure, which are distinct in Caucasians, can be difficult to detect in representatives of the Mongoloid or Negroid-Australoid race. Corrections for racial characteristics are of much less practical importance and may be less frequently required when assessing physique, height, skull shape, etc. As for the alleged predisposition of a given race to a particular disease, increased susceptibility to infection, etc., these features, as a rule, do not have a “racial” character, but are associated with social, cultural, everyday and other living conditions, the proximity of natural foci of infection, the degree of acclimatization during relocation, etc.