An Alphabet of Races
An Alphabet of Races
A
AN attempt is made in these pages to compile a dictionary of the main existing races of the world, arranged in alphabetical order. The accompanying Ethnological Chart onpage 352, will enable the reader to see at a glance the relationship of the various main divisions, families, and stocks under which these races are distributed. The Dictionary and the Chart, if used in conjunction, will thus supply information about any race named in the list, and will tell the inquirer to what branch of the human race it belongs. It is obviously impossible to make the Dictionary inclusive of every tiny and out-of-the-way tribe of Africa or South America, but all important races are included. If the reader wants to know something about the Abyssinians, he will look them up in the Dictionary, and find that they are partly Semitic Himyarites, partly Hamitic Gallas, etc. The Chart will then show him that the Hamitic and Semitic families belong to the great Caucasic Division of mankind, that the Himyarites are one of the main stocks of the Semitic family, and that the Gallas belong to the Eastern branch of the Hamitic family. The student should familiarise himself with the names and places of the families and chief stocks of mankind, as given in the Chart, and so greatly facilitate the task of reference. The intention of both Chart and Dictionary is, of course, to serve as a kind of index to the History proper, which must be consulted for further information. As far as can be discovered, no previous attempt has been made to summarise the conclusions of modern ethnology in this convenient form. The illustrations depict some of the most interesting races.
Ababua.A tribe of Sudanese negroes in Central Africa. SeeWELLEGROUP.Abaka.SeeNILITICGROUP.Abkhasians.A Western Caucasian tribe occupying the Black Sea coast from Pitzunta to Mingrelia, akin toCIRCASSIANS(q.v.).Abo, orIbo. SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Abors.An Assamese tribe in the Brahmaputra Valley, belonging to the Tibetan branch of the Southern Mongolic family. Wild jungle-dwellers.Absarakas.SeeSIOUAN.Abukaya.A negro tribe in the Sudan. SeeNILITICGROUP.Abunda.A settled and fairly civilised race of Bantu Negroes, occupying the seaboard and inland districts of Portuguese West Africa, south of Ambriz.Abyssinians.A mixed race of Hamitic, Semitic, and Negro stock, inhabiting Abyssinia (from Arabichabashi—mixed). The main racial element—Abyssinians proper—consists of brown-skinned Semitic Himyarites, who probably emigrated from Arabia in prehistoric times, and profess themselves descended from the Queen of Sheba. Since the sixteenth century Abyssinia has been over-run by the HamiticGallas(q.v.), who have largely mingled their blood with this older element. There is also a considerable admixture of Sudanese Negro blood. Since the fourth century the religion of Abyssinia has been a corrupt form of Christianity; the mediæval myth of Prester John perhaps relates to this fact.Acadians.French settlers of seventeenth century in Nova Scotia.Achcæans.SeeARGIVES.Achinese.A warlike Malay race of Sumatra, long at war with the Dutch colonists.Accras.SeeGA.Achuas, orWochua. A pygmy Negrito race, well-proportioned, though dwarfish, inhabiting the forests of the Welle and Aruwimi districts in Central Africa, and living by hunting.Adamawa Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes inhabiting the district of the Upper Benue in Northern Nigeria.Adansis.Negro tribe on Guinea coast. SeeTSHI.Æolians.SeeHELLENES.Aetas.A Negrito race of the Philippine Islands, belonging to the Oceanic family of Ethiopic Man. Short of stature, black-skinned, with woolly hair, they present many points of resemblance to the Negritoes of Central Africa. There are many crosses between Aetas and Malays.Afars.A nomadic Turki tribe of Persia. See alsoDANAKILS.Afghans.A race of Iranian stock, belonging to the great Aryan family, who form about half the population of Afghanistan. They are divided into various tribes, of which the Duranis are the dominant one, the Ghilzais the most warlike, and the Yusufzais the most turbulent. There are also large tribes known as Pathans, who are of the same stock as the Afghans, but are classed separately. The Afghans are a handsome and athletic race, inured to war from their childhood, lawless and treacherous, but sober and hardy.Throughout the nineteenth century they were a constant source of trouble to British India, but a new era seems to have opened under the present Amir. For non-Afghan inhabitants of Afghanistan, seeHAZARAS,KIZIL-BASHIS, andTAJIKS.Afridis.A warlike and turbulent Pathan race, occupying the neighbourhood of the Khyber Pass, and often at war with the English.Afrikanders.Persons of European descent born and living in South Africa.Agaos.An indigenous Hamitic race of Northern Abyssinia.Ahoms.Primitive inhabitants of Assam, belonging to the Indo-Chinese stock of the Southern Mongolic family.Ainus.An aberrant family of Caucasic Man in the Far East. They were probably the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan, but are now few in number, and confined to Yezo, the Kurile Islands, and part of Sakhalin. They have regular and often handsome features of Caucasic type, but are of low stature, and characteristically marked by an abundance of coarse, black, wavy or crisp hair on head, face, and body, whence they are commonly called the “Hairy Ainus.”Akawais.SeeCARIBS.Akkas.A pygmy Negrito race of the Welle district in Central Africa, akin to theAchuas(q.v.), who are specially interesting because they are represented on Egyptian monuments of 3400B.C., with their existing racial characters.Akkads, orAkkadians. An extinct Mesopotamian race, founders of the oldest known civilisation in Babylonia, who belonged to the Northern Mongolic family, and probably to the Turki or Finno-Ugrian stock. They invented the cuneiform alphabet, which was adopted by their Semitic successors—seeBABYLONIANS—and it is thought that they may have been the ancestors of the Chinese.Akpas.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Alani.A warlike nomadic race, probably belonging to the Turki stock of the Northern Mongolic family, and allied to theTartars(q.v.). In the fifth century they made settlements in Gaul and Spain, where they were absorbed by the Vandals and the Visigoths respectively. The remnant left in the East of Europe were conquered in the thirteenth century by the Golden Horde, and their name disappeared from history.Albanians, orArnauts. The warlike race of mountaineers who inhabit Albania, on the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula. They are semi-civilised, live in a perpetual state of tribal warfare, and make admirable soldiers, forming the best part of the Turkish Army. They are probably the oldest of the Balkan races, and represent the earliest Aryan immigrants into Europe [seeILLYRIANS]. They are partly Christian, partly Mohammedan.Albigenses.A heretical sect, mostly of Provençal descent, who appeared in the South of France about the eleventh century, and were rigidly persecuted until they became extinct in the middle of the thirteenth century.Alemanni.An ancient German tribe on Upper Rhine, of Teutonic stock, from whom the modern Swabians and Swiss are in great part descended.Aleutians.Natives of Aleutian Islands, belonging to Eskimo stock of Northern American family.Alfuros.A half-breed race between Malays and Papuans: in Malaysia, a term given by Malays to their rude non-Mohammedan neighbours.Algonquian.A group of North American Indian tribes, formerly inhabiting the Central and Southern States of America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and as far south as South Carolina, now gathered into Indian Reservations. They include the Algonquin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Delaware, Fox, Illinois, Massachusett, Mohican, Ojibway, Sac, Shawnee, and many smaller tribes.Alibamus.SeeMUSKHOGEAN.Ali-Elis.SeeTURKOMANS.Alsatians.Natives of Alsace, of High German stock, allied to theSwabians(q.v.).Amadis.SeeWELLEGROUP.Ama.Prefix of many Bantu racial names, as Ama-Zulu, Ama-Xosa. SeeZULU, etc.American.One of the four main divisions of the human race, comprising three families, occupying North, Central, and Southern America respectively. Typically red-skinned, with lank, black hair, retreating foreheads, high-bridged noses, and either long or broad skulls—dolichocephalic or brachycephalic.Americans.The English-speaking white inhabitants of the United States, mainly of Anglo-Saxon descent. See alsoLATINAMERICANS.Amharas.Natives of Central Abyssinia, of Hamitic descent.Amorites.A branch of the ancient Libyan race, of Semitic origin, inhabiting Canaan before the arrival of the Israelites from Egypt.Anatolian Turks.SeeTURKS.Andamanese.Natives of Andaman Islands, a race belonging to the Oceanic Negrito family, possibly representing the primitive type from which both Negroes and Papuans have sprung. They exhibit the lowest stage of civilisation.Andis.SeeLESGHIANS.Angles.A Teutonic race of Low German stock, who formerly inhabited the country round Schleswig, in North Germany. In the fifth century they migrated in large numbers to Britain, and with the Jutes and Saxons formed the stock of the Anglo-Saxon or English people.Anglo-Saxons.A general name now given to the English-speaking races of English, Scotch, and even Irish and Welsh descent, who inhabit the British Empire; in a wider sense, to all people of British descent.Annamese.Natives of Annam, or Cochin-China, belonging to the Indo-Chinese stock of the Southern Mongolic family; now under French rule.Apaches.SeeATHABASCAN.Appalachis.SeeMUSKHOGEAN.Arabs.One of the main branches of the Semitic family, inhabiting the Arabian peninsula. They are usually divided into two branches, the Ishmaelites of the north and the Joktanides of the south. The latter probably represent the oldest Arab stock, and may be of African origin. The primitive Arabs were nomadic horse-breeders and shepherds, very warlike, and of fine physical development. Under Islam they reared an enduring religious civilisation, which has had the greatest influence on the world after Christianity.Arakanese.Natives of Arakan, in Lower Burma, of Indo-Chinese stock.Aramæans.One of the main groups of the Semitic family, Syro-Chaldeans, who anciently inhabited Syria, Palestine, and the Euphrates Valley. The modernSyrians(q.v.) belong to it.
Ababua.A tribe of Sudanese negroes in Central Africa. SeeWELLEGROUP.
Abaka.SeeNILITICGROUP.
Abkhasians.A Western Caucasian tribe occupying the Black Sea coast from Pitzunta to Mingrelia, akin toCIRCASSIANS(q.v.).
Abo, orIbo. SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Abors.An Assamese tribe in the Brahmaputra Valley, belonging to the Tibetan branch of the Southern Mongolic family. Wild jungle-dwellers.
Absarakas.SeeSIOUAN.
Abukaya.A negro tribe in the Sudan. SeeNILITICGROUP.
Abunda.A settled and fairly civilised race of Bantu Negroes, occupying the seaboard and inland districts of Portuguese West Africa, south of Ambriz.
Abyssinians.A mixed race of Hamitic, Semitic, and Negro stock, inhabiting Abyssinia (from Arabichabashi—mixed). The main racial element—Abyssinians proper—consists of brown-skinned Semitic Himyarites, who probably emigrated from Arabia in prehistoric times, and profess themselves descended from the Queen of Sheba. Since the sixteenth century Abyssinia has been over-run by the HamiticGallas(q.v.), who have largely mingled their blood with this older element. There is also a considerable admixture of Sudanese Negro blood. Since the fourth century the religion of Abyssinia has been a corrupt form of Christianity; the mediæval myth of Prester John perhaps relates to this fact.
Acadians.French settlers of seventeenth century in Nova Scotia.
Achcæans.SeeARGIVES.
Achinese.A warlike Malay race of Sumatra, long at war with the Dutch colonists.
Accras.SeeGA.
Achuas, orWochua. A pygmy Negrito race, well-proportioned, though dwarfish, inhabiting the forests of the Welle and Aruwimi districts in Central Africa, and living by hunting.
Adamawa Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes inhabiting the district of the Upper Benue in Northern Nigeria.
Adansis.Negro tribe on Guinea coast. SeeTSHI.
Æolians.SeeHELLENES.
Aetas.A Negrito race of the Philippine Islands, belonging to the Oceanic family of Ethiopic Man. Short of stature, black-skinned, with woolly hair, they present many points of resemblance to the Negritoes of Central Africa. There are many crosses between Aetas and Malays.
Afars.A nomadic Turki tribe of Persia. See alsoDANAKILS.
Afghans.A race of Iranian stock, belonging to the great Aryan family, who form about half the population of Afghanistan. They are divided into various tribes, of which the Duranis are the dominant one, the Ghilzais the most warlike, and the Yusufzais the most turbulent. There are also large tribes known as Pathans, who are of the same stock as the Afghans, but are classed separately. The Afghans are a handsome and athletic race, inured to war from their childhood, lawless and treacherous, but sober and hardy.Throughout the nineteenth century they were a constant source of trouble to British India, but a new era seems to have opened under the present Amir. For non-Afghan inhabitants of Afghanistan, seeHAZARAS,KIZIL-BASHIS, andTAJIKS.
Afridis.A warlike and turbulent Pathan race, occupying the neighbourhood of the Khyber Pass, and often at war with the English.
Afrikanders.Persons of European descent born and living in South Africa.
Agaos.An indigenous Hamitic race of Northern Abyssinia.
Ahoms.Primitive inhabitants of Assam, belonging to the Indo-Chinese stock of the Southern Mongolic family.
Ainus.An aberrant family of Caucasic Man in the Far East. They were probably the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan, but are now few in number, and confined to Yezo, the Kurile Islands, and part of Sakhalin. They have regular and often handsome features of Caucasic type, but are of low stature, and characteristically marked by an abundance of coarse, black, wavy or crisp hair on head, face, and body, whence they are commonly called the “Hairy Ainus.”
Akawais.SeeCARIBS.
Akkas.A pygmy Negrito race of the Welle district in Central Africa, akin to theAchuas(q.v.), who are specially interesting because they are represented on Egyptian monuments of 3400B.C., with their existing racial characters.
Akkads, orAkkadians. An extinct Mesopotamian race, founders of the oldest known civilisation in Babylonia, who belonged to the Northern Mongolic family, and probably to the Turki or Finno-Ugrian stock. They invented the cuneiform alphabet, which was adopted by their Semitic successors—seeBABYLONIANS—and it is thought that they may have been the ancestors of the Chinese.
Akpas.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Alani.A warlike nomadic race, probably belonging to the Turki stock of the Northern Mongolic family, and allied to theTartars(q.v.). In the fifth century they made settlements in Gaul and Spain, where they were absorbed by the Vandals and the Visigoths respectively. The remnant left in the East of Europe were conquered in the thirteenth century by the Golden Horde, and their name disappeared from history.
Albanians, orArnauts. The warlike race of mountaineers who inhabit Albania, on the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula. They are semi-civilised, live in a perpetual state of tribal warfare, and make admirable soldiers, forming the best part of the Turkish Army. They are probably the oldest of the Balkan races, and represent the earliest Aryan immigrants into Europe [seeILLYRIANS]. They are partly Christian, partly Mohammedan.
Albigenses.A heretical sect, mostly of Provençal descent, who appeared in the South of France about the eleventh century, and were rigidly persecuted until they became extinct in the middle of the thirteenth century.
Alemanni.An ancient German tribe on Upper Rhine, of Teutonic stock, from whom the modern Swabians and Swiss are in great part descended.
Aleutians.Natives of Aleutian Islands, belonging to Eskimo stock of Northern American family.
Alfuros.A half-breed race between Malays and Papuans: in Malaysia, a term given by Malays to their rude non-Mohammedan neighbours.
Algonquian.A group of North American Indian tribes, formerly inhabiting the Central and Southern States of America, east of the Rocky Mountains, and as far south as South Carolina, now gathered into Indian Reservations. They include the Algonquin, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Delaware, Fox, Illinois, Massachusett, Mohican, Ojibway, Sac, Shawnee, and many smaller tribes.
Alibamus.SeeMUSKHOGEAN.
Ali-Elis.SeeTURKOMANS.
Alsatians.Natives of Alsace, of High German stock, allied to theSwabians(q.v.).
Amadis.SeeWELLEGROUP.
Ama.Prefix of many Bantu racial names, as Ama-Zulu, Ama-Xosa. SeeZULU, etc.
American.One of the four main divisions of the human race, comprising three families, occupying North, Central, and Southern America respectively. Typically red-skinned, with lank, black hair, retreating foreheads, high-bridged noses, and either long or broad skulls—dolichocephalic or brachycephalic.
Americans.The English-speaking white inhabitants of the United States, mainly of Anglo-Saxon descent. See alsoLATINAMERICANS.
Amharas.Natives of Central Abyssinia, of Hamitic descent.
Amorites.A branch of the ancient Libyan race, of Semitic origin, inhabiting Canaan before the arrival of the Israelites from Egypt.
Anatolian Turks.SeeTURKS.
Andamanese.Natives of Andaman Islands, a race belonging to the Oceanic Negrito family, possibly representing the primitive type from which both Negroes and Papuans have sprung. They exhibit the lowest stage of civilisation.
Andis.SeeLESGHIANS.
Angles.A Teutonic race of Low German stock, who formerly inhabited the country round Schleswig, in North Germany. In the fifth century they migrated in large numbers to Britain, and with the Jutes and Saxons formed the stock of the Anglo-Saxon or English people.
Anglo-Saxons.A general name now given to the English-speaking races of English, Scotch, and even Irish and Welsh descent, who inhabit the British Empire; in a wider sense, to all people of British descent.
Annamese.Natives of Annam, or Cochin-China, belonging to the Indo-Chinese stock of the Southern Mongolic family; now under French rule.
Apaches.SeeATHABASCAN.
Appalachis.SeeMUSKHOGEAN.
Arabs.One of the main branches of the Semitic family, inhabiting the Arabian peninsula. They are usually divided into two branches, the Ishmaelites of the north and the Joktanides of the south. The latter probably represent the oldest Arab stock, and may be of African origin. The primitive Arabs were nomadic horse-breeders and shepherds, very warlike, and of fine physical development. Under Islam they reared an enduring religious civilisation, which has had the greatest influence on the world after Christianity.
Arakanese.Natives of Arakan, in Lower Burma, of Indo-Chinese stock.
Aramæans.One of the main groups of the Semitic family, Syro-Chaldeans, who anciently inhabited Syria, Palestine, and the Euphrates Valley. The modernSyrians(q.v.) belong to it.