We have already mentioned that some racial characteristics, especially those by which the main races are delineated, have or at least had an adaptive (adaptive) character in the past. It is very likely that at the early stages of their historical development, people of the modern species were still adapting, like all other living organisms, to the natural-geographical conditions of their existence bodily, i.e. gradually developed morphological and physiological features, to one degree or another useful in the specific natural conditions of life of various populations.

How did this adaptation take place, what was the mechanism for the development of adaptive traits useful in a particular natural environment? Indeed, in the light of the data of modern genetics, we know well that the characters acquired by living things during their individual life, as a rule, are not inherited by their offspring, and, therefore, the morpho-physiological adaptation of any population to the natural geographic environment surrounding it is not in itself can gain a foothold in a number of future generations. This does not mean, however, that the hereditary properties of living things are independent of the environment. On the contrary, external factors - physical, chemical and biological, especially those causing abrupt and sudden changes in living conditions, have a strong effect on all cells of the body (including the germ cells), causing mutations in them.

In essence, such mutations occur in the cells of any living being, not excluding a person, throughout his entire individual life. If we mean not ontogeny (the development of each individual individual), but phylogeny (the history of the species), then it will appear to us as a continuous chain of mutations. Many mutations are harmful, and, therefore, their carriers in natural conditions have little chance of survival, even more so for reproduction. But from time to time, mutations arise that are indifferent or even beneficial to the body under these conditions. If the living conditions of any population change dramatically, for example, due to relocation to another climatic zone, then the number of mutants that have an increased chance of survival naturally increases.

The survival of various mutants in plants and animals is regulated by natural selection. As Charles Darwin showed, organisms that are most adapted to life in their natural environment have the greatest chances not only to survive, but also to leave healthy and fertile offspring, through which their useful adaptive traits will gain a foothold in subsequent generations and, over time, will become more and more more frequent, and then dominant in the population. It is very likely that among our ancestors, who already belonged to modern humans, natural selection still retained a certain significance until the late period of the Ancient Stone Age, or the Paleolithic (approximately 40-16 thousand years BC). It was in the late Paleolithic era, when our ancestors intensively settled across the continents, mastering new vast territories in the north of Eurasia, America and Australia, that many racial features characteristic of the equatorial, Caucasoid and Mongoloid races were formed in the process of selecting useful mutants.

It can be assumed that the characteristic racial features of the ancient Negroid and Australoid populations developed in Africa and South Asia under conditions of a hot and humid climate and increased insolation (sunlight). Many features of the equatorial races could have an adaptive meaning under these conditions. Intensively pigmented skin with a large amount of melanin protected well from too strong chemical action of the sun, especially ultraviolet rays. Black hair and brown eyes, genetically and physiologically related to dark skin, probably had a similar meaning. According to some anthropologists, very curly hair, forming a natural impenetrable hat on the head, could also serve as protection from the sun's rays. Negroids and Australoids, even today, can work without harm to their health almost without clothes and hats in the direct scorching rays of the tropical sun.

It is quite possible that some features of the structure of the nose, characteristic of the equatorial races, could also have an adaptive significance. These features include transversely located, wide

nasal openings open for free air circulation and the associated absolutely large width of the nose, often equal to its height. These features provided access to the heated air of the tropics to the mucous membrane of the nasal region and contributed to the increased evaporation of moisture, which is so necessary in hot climates. A similar role was probably played by the strong development of the mucous part of the lips in most Negroids and Australoids. All of the above characteristics appeared, probably, as random mutations in ancient times II, later became widespread only in those climatic conditions where they turned out to be most useful.

Of the racial characteristics characteristic of Caucasians, depigmentation of the skin, hair and iris of the eyes could be exposed to the action of natural selection in the early stages of human history. The predominantly recessive mutations of the genes that determine these traits had the greatest chances of survival and normal reproduction in northern Europe, where a cool or even cold, humid climate with significant cloudiness and, therefore, with reduced insolation prevailed during the ice age and postglacial time. Fair-skinned, fair-haired and light-eyed northern Caucasians, and at the present time much worse than representatives of other races, tolerate direct exposure to sunlight. Extremely depigmented red-haired people, in most cases light-skinned and light-eyed, suffer especially strongly from increased insolation. These people hardly tan, that is, the additional pigment melanin is not formed in their skin, which protects from the harmful effects of the sun. Among the northern continental Mongoloids of Siberia, there is also a certain tendency to depigmentation of hair, eyes, and especially skin. So, for example, the Tungus peoples of Siberia (Evenks, Evens, etc.) are much lighter-skinned than the Mongols, or even more so the Chinese. Some groups of Evenks and Evens have mixed and even light eyes, as well as light brown and reddish hair.

NP Neverova et al. Noted that gynoxic syndrome in the indigenous population of the Arctic leads to a cylindrical chest structure and a low concentration of ascorbic acid as a result of increased consumption with increased redox processes in cold climates. In people who first come to the Arctic, there is an increase in the tone of the respiratory muscles, an increase in the blood flow rate, an increase in the hemoglobin content and the oxygen capacity of the blood. H. Erickson, studying the Eskimos of Cape Barrey and the Americans living in the same conditions, found higher oxygen absorption rates in the Eskimos (324 ml / min.) Than in the Americans of Caucasian descent (299 ml / min.). T.I. Alekseeva, analyzing the geographical distribution of cholesterol in blood serum, found a general tendency of its increase in the northern regions of the ecumene:

among the Canadian Eskimos - from 139.2 to 176.4 mg%, among the Eskimos of Alaska - from 202.8 to 214.4 mg%, among the Eskimos of the Chukotka Peninsula and the Chukchi - from 184.4 to 202.1 mg%, among the Sami of the Kola Peninsula - 202.2 mg%, among the forest Nenets - 131.4 mg%. Very high cholesterol levels are a reflection of the high fat diet. The Eskimos noted the absence of atherosclerosis. In Caucasoid populations, with a high content of fat in the diet and high cholesterol in the blood, the percentage of atherosclerosis is also high. In Arctic populations, high blood cholesterol levels serve to support higher energy processes in the body. A group of physiologists led by A.P. Milovanov (Institute of Human Morphology, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences) discovered and described stable pulmonary hypertension in residents of the extreme northeast of the USSR (Magadan Region) and the European North (Nenets Autonomous Okrug). An increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary circle from 18.3 to 60.4 mm Hg. Art. noted already in the first 3-12 months. after moving to the North, accompanied by a violation of adaptation. So, healthy men begin to complain of shortness of breath during exercise. In the next 10 years, the pressure decreases to 47.6 mm Hg. Art. (European North). The decrease is accompanied by an improvement in respiratory function. The indigenous inhabitants of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, both Russians and Nenets, also have pulmonary hypertension, reaching 43.9 mm Hg. Art. in the absence of any complaints. Especially high blood pressure (42.2 mm Hg) was found among the Nenets reindeer herders who perform a large amount of physical work. This indicates the adaptive significance of pulmonary hypertension. The cause of hypertension is the difficulty in exhaling due to the combination of cold and wind. The primary reaction is a spasm of the small bronchi, which contributes to warming and moisturizing the inhaled air, but at the same time leads to a decrease in the volume of pulmonary ventilation. This causes spasm of the arterioles, which causes an increase in pulmonary arterial pressure. With long-term residence in the North, hypertension is maintained due to the proliferation of the middle membrane of the arterioles. Mekhan Z., studying thermoregulation in the Eskimos and Indians of Alaska in comparison with blacks and whites, found a higher temperature of the fingers during the entire cooling period. K. Andersen determined that Lapps had a higher temperature of the legs and a greater stability of metabolism in conditions of cooling than the Europeans of Norway. Thus, the natives of the North have adaptive-genetic mechanisms that determine gas exchange and thermoregulation.

If the Australoid races were probably formed in the tropics of Southeast Asia, the Negroid ones - in the same climatic zone of Africa, and the Caucasoid - in the temperate climatic zone of the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Western Asia, then the area of ​​the formation of the Mongoloid races should most likely be sought in semi-deserts and steppes of Central Asia, where, at least since the end of the Ice Age, a sharply continental dry climate prevailed with large daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations, strong winds, often turning into real dust storms, during which huge masses of dry sand, loess, clay and even small stones, irritating and dazzling eyes. The works of the Soviet archaeologist S.A. Semenov and some other scientists showed that the narrow section of the palpebral fissure of the Mongoloids, caused by the strong development of the fold of the upper eyelid and epicanthus, served as protection against the harmful effects of the listed natural agents. In Central Asia and Eastern Siberia, the Mongoloids still better tolerate the sharply continental climate and are less likely to fall ill with conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eyes) compared to Caucasoid settlers.

While attaching a certain importance to natural selection in the early stages of race formation in people of the modern species, we must at the same time remember that as the productive forces of society developed, technological progress and the creation of an artificial cultural environment in the process of collective labor, our ancestors were less and less in need of bodily adaptation to the surrounding natural and geographical living conditions. In place of the morpho-physiological adaptation of the people themselves, an active purposeful adaptation of the natural environment to the continuously increasing economic, cultural and everyday needs of human society gradually became. The decline in the role of natural selection began in the era of the primitive communal system, probably during the transition from the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) 16-12 thousand lots before our time.

A good illustration of these general provisions is the history of the formation of the indigenous peoples of Australia and America, the settlement of which by modern humans began, as we already know, at the end of the Paleolithic and probably continued during the Mesolithic and partly the Neolithic (New Stone Age). The main racial characteristics of the Australians developed, presumably, even during the life of their ancestors in Southeast Asia, from where they penetrated through Indonesia to the Australian continent, retaining or only slightly changing their characteristic features that arose in the tropical zone. However, when the equatorial populations of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa developed a kind of South African, or Bushman, race, combining the main features of Negroids with some Mongoloid features (yellowish skin tone, highly developed fold of the upper eyelid, Epp canthus, low nose bridge, etc.). It is possible that here, in climatic conditions close to those of Central Asia, independent "useful" mutations have arisen, picked up by natural selection.

America, as we have seen, was settled at about the same time as Australia, mainly by ancient Mongoloids from Northeast Asia, who had not yet developed many of the characteristic features of the face “(narrow eye shape, epicanthus, low nose bridge, etc.) ). In the development of the various climatic zones of America by people, adaptation, apparently, did not play a significant role, since such sharp racial differences did not form here, as in Eurasia and Africa. All the same, it is noteworthy that in some groups of Indians of California and the tropical zone of South America (especially in the Sirionos of Brazil and Bolivia), as well as in Fuegians, a combination of such "equatorial" signs as dark skin, narrow wavy or even curly hair, wide nose, thickened lips, etc. It is quite possible that an increased concentration of mutants similar to the equatorial adaptive mutants of Africa and South Asia took place here too.

The effect of natural selection on the formation of the ancient equatorial, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid races in the Late Paleolithic is by no means exhausted by the complex processes of race genesis. Above, when reviewing various serological, odontological, dermatoglyphic and other areal characters, we saw that according to some of them, humanity can be divided into two large groups of populations - western and eastern. The first includes African Negroids and Caucasians, the second - Mongoloids (including American Indians). Australoids of Southeast Asia and Oceania occupy a transitional position between these groups; for most of the adaptive racial characteristics of pigmentation, hair shape, structure of the nose, lips, etc., they show similarities with African Negroids, which gives some anthropologists the right to unite both into one equatorial, or Negro-Australoid, large race. However, in many features of teeth, blood, finger patterns and other neutral (non-adaptive) characteristics, Australoids differ from Negroids and are close to Mongoloids. With the accumulation of new data on the geographical distribution of such signs, the hypothesis about the initial division of humanity into two halves - western and eastern - becomes more and more substantiated. The first group of populations can also be called Euro-African, or Mediterranean-Atlantic, and the second, Asian-Oceanic, or Pacific.

Thus, the affinity of the Australoids with the Negroids turns out to be no greater than with the main groups of races, and the designation "equatorial races" receives not a genetic, but only a descriptive-geographical character. At the same time, the belonging of all paradise of modern and fossil people, starting from the late Paleolithic period, to one species of Homo sapiens, as we have seen, is undoubtedly. The process of sapientation, that is, the formation of modern humans, should have preceded race formation, which does not exclude the involvement of the descendants of ancient pre-apt human populations in this process. The hypothesis of the existence of several foci of sapientation (polycentrism), defended by some foreign and Soviet anthropologists (for example, F. Weidenreich, KS Kuhn, V.P. Alekseev, and others), in the light of the latest paleoanthropological materials, raises doubts. N.N. Cheboksarov writes in the book "Ethnic Anthropology of China" that "not only China, but also East Asia as a whole could not be the" ancestral home "of a family of people (hominids), since in this region there are no bone remains of great apes (anthropoids ), who could have been their ancestors. The latest archaeological and paleoanthropological materials suggest that the ancestors of the most ancient people (arhanthropics), represented by the Sinanthropes from Lantian, Zhoukoudian and Yuanmou, as well as the Pithecanthropines of Indonesia, came to these countries at the beginning of the Pleistocene from the west, most likely from East Africa, where many Soviet and foreign scientists are looking after Charles Darwin for the ancestral home of the hominids. The species Homo sapiens, formed under the influence of natural selection as an adaptive system, like all other species of plants and animals, is unique; it arose in one focus and in one epoch, on the basis of a single, albeit widely dispersed, macropopulation with a common gene pool and a complex internal structure. The initial areal differences between the western and eastern populations of Homo sapiens began to take shape, probably only at the dawn of the Late Paleolithic, and concerned mainly neutral odontological, dermatoglyphic, serological, and other characters of a discrete nature. In the formation of these differences, genetic-automatic processes played an important role, which were stimulated by the temporary, rather long-term isolation of individual initially small groups of neoanthropes that advanced in the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic from the western regions of the ecumene to the eastern ones. The Australoid and Mongoloid races that developed later (not earlier than the end of the Late Paleolithic) inherited many of the indicated areal differences from their ancestors and, in turn, passed them on to their descendants, in which they have survived, at least in part, to the present day. VP Alekseev believes that “the emergence of modern man took place in two places. The first of them is Western Asia, possibly with adjoining regions; the second is the interfluve of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River with adjoining regions. In Asia Minor the ancestors of Caucasians and Negroids were formed, in China the ancestors of Mongoloids. " However, the hypothesis of the formation of Homo sapiens in two independent foci on the basis of different subspecies of archanthropus and paleoanthropus contradicts the general laws of the evolution of the organic world under the influence of natural selection established by Charles Darwin and does not agree with irrefutable data on the species unity of all ancient modern human populations. Many foreign and most Soviet scientists (Ya.No-Meshkeri, T. Liptak, P. Boev, P. Vlakhovich, Ya.Ya. Roginsky, V.I. P. Yakimov, M. I. Uryson, A. A. Zubov, Yu. G. Rychkov, V. M. Kharitonov and others) take the positions of monocentrism - a single focus of the formation of modern humans. Sapientation, which probably began at the turn of the Middle and Late Paleolithic in the Eastern Mediterranean, captured the regions of Southwest and South Asia and then more and more new territories as the rapidly multiplying mobile sapientizing populations settled and mixed with different groups of ancient people (Neanderthals), which, as a result of this process, were saturated with sapient genes and were involved in the general course of the formation of modern humans and their spread from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest to Europe, south to Africa and east to the depths of the Asian continent up to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It can be assumed that most of the populations of Neanderthals, including their specialized forms, were to some extent involved in the sapientation process. Only a few marginal (marginal) groups of Neanderthals (for example, the Rhodesians in Africa or the Ngandong in Java) could die out and not take part in this process. In the process of this settlement, already in the Late Paleolithic, under the influence of temporary, rather long-term isolation, a division of mankind of a single origin into the western and eastern halves arose, and somewhat later the formation of four main groups of human races began: Australoid, Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid.

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

Skin color in humans

Humanity as a biological species has stood out for a long time. Color of the skin at the first of people it was unlikely to be very dark or very white, most likely in some the skin turned out to be somewhat whiter, in others it was darker. The formation of races on Earth by skin color was influenced by the natural conditions in which certain groups found themselves. Formation of races on Earth.

White and black people

For example, some people ended up in the tropical belt of the Earth. Here, the merciless rays of the sun can easily burn the naked skin of a person. We know from physics that black absorbs the rays of the sun more fully. And therefore, black skin seems to be harmful. But it turns out that only ultraviolet rays burn, and can burn the skin. The pigment coloration becomes like a shield that protects the human skin. Everyone knows that white man gets sunburn faster than blacks. In the equatorial steppes of Africa, people with dark skin turned out to be more adapted to life, from which the Negroid tribes originated. This is evidenced by the fact that not only in Africa, but also in all tropical regions of the planet, live black people... The original inhabitants of India are very dark-skinned people. In the tropical steppe regions of America, people living here have darker skin than their neighbors who lived in and sheltered from the direct rays of the sun in the shade of trees. And in Africa, the indigenous people of the rainforest - the pygmies - have lighter skin than their agricultural neighbors and are almost always under the sun.
Indigenous people of Africa. In addition to skin color, the Negroid race has many other features that were formed in the process of development, and due to the need to adapt to tropical living conditions. For example, curly black hair protects the head well from overheating in direct sunlight. Narrow elongated skulls are also one of the adaptations from overheating. The same shape of the skull among the Papuans from New Guinea, (more:) as well as the Malanesians, (more:). Features such as the shape of the skull, and the color of the skin helped all these peoples in the struggle for existence. But why did the white race turn out to be whiter than that of primitive people? The reason is the same ultraviolet rays, under the influence of which vitamin B is synthesized in the human body. People of temperate and northern latitudes must have white skin, transparent to sunlight, in order to get as much ultraviolet radiation as possible.
Inhabitants of northern latitudes. People with dark skin constantly experienced vitamin starvation and turned out to be less hardy than white-skinned people.

Mongoloids

Third race - Mongoloids... Under the influence of what conditions were its distinctive features formed? Their skin color, apparently, was preserved from their most distant ancestors, it is well adapted to both the harsh conditions of the North and the hot sun. And here are the eyes. Special mention should be made of 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 temperature difference between winter and summer, day and night, and the steppes in these parts are covered 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 against this shine. And if they are not there, they are paid with eye disease. An important distinguishing feature of the Mongoloids is the narrow slits of the eyes. And the second is a small skin fold that covers the inner corner of the eye. It also protects the eyes from dust.
Mongoloid race. This fold of skin is commonly referred to as the Mongolian fold. From here, from Asia, people with prominent cheekbones and narrow slits of eyes went to Asia, Indonesia, Australia, Africa. But is there still a place on Earth with a similar climate? Yes there is. 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 in place. At one time it was even thought that Mongoloids who moved here from Asia lived in these places in Africa. Only later we figured out this error.

Division into large human races

So, under the influence of purely natural conditions, the main races of the Earth were formed - white, black, yellow. When did it happen? This is not an easy question to answer. Anthropologists believe that division into large human races happened not earlier than 200 thousand years ago and not later than 20 thousand. Probably, it was 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 - European, which then split into white and yellow, and equatorial, Negroid. Others, on the contrary, believe that first the Mongoloid race separated from the common tree of mankind, 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 fluctuates in the classifications given by different scientists. But there are certainly dozens of small races. Of course, races differ from each other not only in skin color and eye shape. Modern anthropologists have found many such differences.

Race division criteria

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

Brain weight

It is proved that brain weight different races are different. But it is different for different people belonging to the same nationality. So, for example, the brain of the brilliant writer Anatole France weighed only 1077 grams, and the brain of the equally brilliant Ivan Turgenev reached a huge weight - 2012 grams. It can be said with conviction that all the races of the Earth are located between these two extremes.
Human brain. The fact that the weight of the brain does not characterize the mental superiority of the race is also indicated by the numbers: the average brain weight of an Englishman is 1456 grams, and of Indians - 1514, Bantu blacks - 1422 grams, French - 1473 grams. It is known that Neanderthals had more brain weight than modern humans. It is unlikely that they, however, were smarter than you and me. And yet the racists remained on the globe. They are found in the United States and in the Republic of South Africa. True, they have no scientific data to confirm their theories. Anthropologists - scientists who study humanity precisely from the standpoint of the characteristics of individuals and their groups - unanimously state:

All people on Earth, regardless of their nationality and race, are equal. This does not mean that racial and national characteristics do not exist, they do exist. But they do not determine either mental abilities, or any other qualities that could be considered decisive for the division of humanity into higher and lower races.

We can say that this conclusion is the most important of the conclusions of anthropology. But this is not the only one of the achievements of science, otherwise it would not make sense to develop it further. And anthropology is developing. With its help, it was possible to look into the remote past of mankind, to understand many previously mysterious moments. It is anthropological research that allows you to penetrate into the depths of millennia, to the very first days of man's appearance. And that long period of history, when people did not yet have writing at their disposal, becomes clearer thanks to anthropological research. And of course, the methods of anthropological research have expanded incomparably. If just a hundred years ago, having met a new unknown people, the traveler limited himself to describing it, now this is far from enough. The anthropologist now has to make numerous measurements, leaving nothing without attention - neither the palms of the hands, nor the feet, nor, of course, the shape of the skull. He takes blood and saliva for analysis, prints of feet and palms, takes X-rays.

Blood type

All the data obtained are summed up, and from them special indices are derived that characterize a particular group of people. It turns out that blood groups- precisely those blood groups that are used for transfusion - can also characterize the race of people.
Blood type determines race. It has been established that there are most people with the second blood group in Europe and not at all in South Africa, China and Japan, the third group is almost absent in America and Australia, 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, settling America. It is known that archaeologists, who have searched for the remains of the most ancient human cultures in America for many decades, had to state that people appeared here relatively late - only a few tens of thousands of years ago. Relatively recently, these conclusions were successfully confirmed by analyzing the ash 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 southward 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, there were not many of them for this accident to manifest. It was they who gave rise to all Indian tribes with an endless variety of their languages, customs, beliefs. And further. After this group set foot on the soil of Alaska, no one could follow them there. Otherwise, new groups of people would bring with them one of the important blood factors, the absence of which determines the absence of the third and fourth blood groups in the Indians. But the descendants of the first Columbians reached the Isthmus of Panama. And although in those days there was no channel separating the continents, this isthmus was difficult for people to overcome: tropical swamps, diseases, wild animals, poisonous reptiles and insects made it possible to overcome it for another, equally small group of people. Proof? Absence of second blood group in 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 the North - with the third and fourth groups ... Probably everyone read the famous book by Thor Heyerdahl "Travel to Kon-Tiki". This trip was conceived 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 of the cultures of the Polynesians and South Americans. Heyerdahl understood that even his magnificent journey did not provide decisive proof, but the majority of the book's readers, intoxicated by the greatness of the scientific feat and the author's literary talent, steadfastly believe in the correctness of the brave Norwegian. And yet, apparently, the Polynesians are descendants of Asians, not South Americans. The decisive argument, again, was the composition of the blood. We remember that South Americans do not have a second blood group, and among Polynesians there are many people with this blood group. You are inclined to believe that the Americans did not take part in the settlement of Polynesia ... And yet, almost everything that is described here is still hypotheses. There are scientists who do not believe that racial characteristics have an adaptive meaning to environmental conditions: there are scientists who believe that the settlement of America could be carried out sequentially, in numerous waves, and in the process of generational change, certain blood factors were supplanted. There is still insufficient evidence to support this or that hypothesis. But hypotheses are either replaced by others, or receive new and new confirmations and become coherent theories explaining the formation of races on Earth.

The problem of the origin of human races, their history has long been of interest to people. Ordinary people were curious about how such a difference in individuals living in different parts of the world could be explained. Scientists naturally tried to find a scientific explanation for this fact. The most popular hypotheses for the origin of human races will be discussed in this article.

What are races

First, let's define these units. By races of the species Homo Sapiens, it is customary to understand relatively isolated groups - its systematic subdivisions. Their representatives differ in a certain set of external signs, as well as in habitat. Races are relatively stable over time, although in the context of globalization and the accompanying population migration, their characteristics may undergo certain changes. The origin and biology of human races is such that genetically, each of them has certain autosomal components. This is confirmed by scientific research.

Human races: their relationship and origin. Main races

They are well known to everyone: they are Caucasoid, Negroid (Negro-Australoid, Equatorial) and Mongoloid. These are the so-called big ones, or, however, the list is not limited to them. In addition to them, there are so-called mixed races, in which there are signs of several main ones. They usually have several autosomal components characteristic of the major races.

The Caucasoid race is characterized by relatively fair skin compared to the other two. However, in people living in the Middle East and Southern Europe, it is quite dark. Its representatives have straight or wavy hair, light or dark eyes. The eye section is horizontal, the hairline is often moderate. The nose protrudes noticeably, the forehead is straight or slightly sloping.

In Mongoloids, an oblique section of the eyes, the upper eyelid is noticeably developed. The inner corner of the eyes is covered with a characteristic fold - epicanthus. Presumably, she helped protect the eyes of the steppe people from dust. Skin color - from swarthy to light. Hair is black, coarse, straight. The nose protrudes slightly and the face looks flatter than that of Caucasians. Hair cover in Mongoloids is poorly developed.

The Negroid race has bushy, curly hair, the darkest skin color of all the major races, and is rich in the eumelanin pigment. It is assumed that these signs were formed to protect the equatorial region from the scorching sun. Negroid noses are most often wide and somewhat flattened. The lower part of the face is protruding.

All races, like all humanity, originate, according to research, from the first man - the great-Adam, who lived on the territory of the African continent 180-200 thousand years ago. The kinship and unity of the origin of the human races, therefore, is obvious to scientists.

Intermediate races

Within the framework of the main, the so-called minor races are distinguished. They are presented in the diagram below. Small races (they are also intermediate), or, as they are also called, anthropological types, have a number of similar features. On the diagram, you can also see intermediate races, combining the signs of several main ones: the Ural, South Siberian, Ethiopian, South Indian, Polynesian and Ainu.

The time of the origin of the races

Scientists believe that races are relatively recent. According to one of the theories, at first, about 80 thousand years ago, the Negroid and Caucasian-Mongoloid branches were divided. Later, after about 40 thousand years, the latter split into Caucasoid and Mongoloid. Their final differentiation into (small races) and the spread of the latter occurred later, already in the Neolithic era. Scientists who have studied the origin of humans and human races at different times believe that their formation continued after the settlement. So, the characteristic features of the inhabitants of the Australian mainland, belonging to the large equatorial race, were formed much later. Researchers believe that at the time of settlement, they had racially neutral characteristics.

There is no consensus about the origin of man and human races, how they were settled. Therefore, below we will consider two theories concerning this problem: monocentric and polycentric.

Monocentric theory

According to her, races appeared in the process of settling people from the area of ​​their origin. At the same time, probably, there was a crossing of neoanthropes with paleanthropes (Neanderthals) in the process of displacing the latter. This process is rather late, it took place about 35-30 thousand years ago.

Polycentric theory

According to this theory of the origin of the human races, human evolution took place in parallel, in several so-called phyletic lineages. They, according to the definition, represent a continuous sequence of successive populations (species), each of which is a descendant of the previous unit and at the same time the ancestor of the next unit. The polycentric theory holds that the intermediate races had distinctive features already in antiquity. These groups were formed on the border of the settlement of the main ones and continued to exist in parallel to them.

Intermediate theories

They admit the divergence of phyletic groups at different stages of the evolution of mankind - paleoanthropes, neoanthropes. One of these theories, according to which the equatorial and Mongoloid-Caucasian branches first formed, was briefly described above.

Modern settlement

As for the settlement of representatives of large and small races, it changes significantly over time. So, the Indians - representatives of the American branch of the Mongoloid race, which some scientists even singled out as a separate, fourth ("red"), are now in the minority in their ancestral territories. The same can be said about the small Australian race. Its representatives in Australia are significantly inferior in numbers not only to Caucasians, but also to numerous migrants and their descendants belonging to the Mongoloid races (mainly of the Far East).

Since the beginning of the Age of Great Discoveries (mid-15th century), Caucasians began to actively explore and populate new territories, and are now found in all parts of the world, on all continents. Representatives of all anthropological groups of the Caucasian race are found on the territory of modern Europe, but the Central European type is still in the lead. In general, the racial composition of modern Europe due to migration and interracial marriages, as well as in the United States, is extremely variegated and diverse.

Mongoloids are still leading in Asia, the equatorial race - in Africa, New Guinea, Melanesia.

Race changes over time

Naturally, small races could undergo certain changes over time. At the same time, the question of how much isolation influenced their stability remains open. So, for example, the appearance of the Australians who lived apart has practically not changed over several tens of millennia.

At the same time, the absence of significant changes is also characteristic of the Ethiopian and Far Eastern races. For at least five thousand years, the appearance of the inhabitants of Egypt has remained constant. Discussions about the racial origin of its inhabitants have been going on for many years. Supporters of the "black theory" are based on the study of Egyptian mummies, as well as surviving works of art, which showed that the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt had pronounced external signs of the equatorial race.

Supporters of the "white theory" are based on the appearance of modern Egyptians and believe that the representatives of the nation are the descendants of the ancient Semist peoples who lived in this territory before the spread of the equatorial race.

However, some were formed much later. So, for example, the final formation of the South Siberian race took place in the XIV-XVI centuries, despite the Tatar-Mongol invasion and the archaeologically confirmed penetration of Mongoloids into the areas inhabited by Caucasians, as early as the VII-VI centuries. BC.

In our time, thanks to globalization and intensive migration, there is an active cross breeding, mixing both within the main races and between them. For example, in Singapore, the number of such marriages today is more than 20%. As a result of mixing, people are born with various combinations of signs, including those that were previously extremely rare. For example, a combination of light eye color and dark skin is no longer uncommon on the Cape Verde Islands.

In general, this process is positive, since thanks to it, various racial groups acquire useful dominant traits that were not previously characteristic of them, and avoid the accumulation of recessive ones, which entails various genetic disorders and diseases.

Instead of a conclusion

The article briefly described the human races, their origins. The unity, commonality of all representatives of Homo Sapiens has been confirmed by many years of research.

It is obvious that the differences in the level of development of certain groups of people are caused primarily by the peculiarities of the conditions of their existence. Therefore, the racial theory so popular in the past in Western countries is morally outdated. Intellectual and other abilities of representatives of different races are not affected by their origin, appearance and skin color. And thanks to globalization, when people of different races as a result of resettlement were put on an equal footing, this point of view was confirmed.

Since the 17th century, science has put forward a number of classifications of the 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 humanity into races took place about 80 thousand years ago.

At first, two trunks were distinguished: the Negroid and the Caucasian-Mongoloid, and 40-45 thousand years ago there was a differentiation of the proto-Caucasians and the proto-Mongoloids.

Scientists believe that the origins of the races originate in the Paleolithic era, although the process of modification massively swept humanity only from the Neolithic: it was in this era that the Caucasian type crystallized.

The process of the formation of races continued during the migration of primitive people from continent to continent. So, 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” neoanthropines.

What genetics says

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

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

Haplotype studies have 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 receive them except in the process of racial mixing.

In particular, a professor at Stanford University, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, based on an analysis of the "genetic maps" of the settlement of Europeans, pointed out significant similarities in the DNA of the Basques and Cro-Magnons. The Basques managed to preserve their genetic uniqueness largely due to the fact that they lived on the periphery of migration waves and were practically not cross-breeding.

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 lineages.

So, the Caucasian race was formed in Western Eurasia, the Negroid - in Africa, and the Mongoloid - in Central and Eastern Asia.

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

From the standpoint of monocentrism, modern races emerged from one area of ​​the globe in the process of settling neoanthropines, which 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 has completely questioned the theory of a common African human ancestor.

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

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

Unexpected ancestor

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

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.

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

For example, in high latitudes in children of the Negroid race, there is 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 successfully migrate around the globe.

Northern ancestral home

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

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

The researcher Boris Kutsenko hypothesizes that at the origins of modern humanity were two racial stems: Euro-American and Negroid-Mongoloid. According to him, the Negroid race comes from the forms of Homo erectus, and the Mongoloid - from the 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 global climatic changes that occurred at the border of the Pleistocene and Holocene destroyed the ancient continent - Hyperborea. Part of the population from the submerged territories migrated to Europe, and then to Asia and North America, the researcher concludes.

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

Adaptation

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

In contrast to the inhabitants of low latitudes, the population of the northern regions of the planet, as a result of evolution, acquired a predominantly light color of skin and hair, which allowed them to receive more sunlight and satisfy the body's needs for vitamin D.

In the same way, the protruding "Caucasoid nose" evolved with the aim of heating cold air, and the epicanthus of the Mongoloids was formed as a protection of the eyes from dust storms and steppe winds.

Sexual selection

It was important for the ancient man not to admit representatives of other ethnic groups into his area. It was a significant factor that contributed to the formation of racial characteristics, thanks to which our ancestors adapted to specific environmental conditions. Sexual selection played an important role in this.

Each ethnic group, focused on certain racial characteristics, consolidated its own ideas of beauty. Those who had these signs were more pronounced - he had more chances to pass them on by inheritance.

At the same time, fellow tribesmen who did not fit the standards of beauty were practically deprived of the opportunity to influence the offspring.

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