Mbengas.Indigenous Bantu Negroes of French Equatorial Africa, about Corisco Bay.Melanesians.The indigenous natives of the Western Pacific Islands, forming a distinct stock of the Oceanic Negro family of Ethiopic Man. They are long-skulled, or dolichocephalic, with the lowest cephalic index of all known races, prognathous, broad-nosed, of a sooty-black colour, with black frizzy hair, and of low stature. They are at a low stage of culture, being very savage, bloodthirsty, and treacherous, mostly cannibals and head-hunters, with little social organisation. They include the Fijians and the natives of the New Hebrides, the Solomon, Admiralty, Bismarck, and Loyalty Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, and other islands of the Eastern Pacific. They are closelyallied to thePapuans(q.v.), under which name some ethnologists prefer to class the whole body of Melanesians.Melanochroi.A suggested division of Caucasic Man, in which a pale skin is typically accompanied by dark hair and eyes; it would thus include the Hamitic and Semitic families, with the Hellenic, Italic, and Celtic stocks of the Aryan family.Mendis.SeeTEMNÉGROUP.Mentawey Islanders.A remnant of the aboriginal Polynesian race dispossessed by the Malays, off the coast of Sumatra.Mestizos.Cross-breeds between Europeans and Indians, in Spanish and Portuguese America.Mexicans.SeeAZTECSandNAHUANS. Also the modern inhabitants of Mexico, who are of Spanish descent, with a strong infusion of Indian blood.Micmacs.An Indian race of Nova Scotia, in whom some ethnologists think that a trace of Norse blood, dating from the pre-Columbian discovery of America, is perceptible.Minæans.SeeHIMYARITES.Mingrelians.SeeGEORGIANS.Minh-huongs.Franco-Annamese half-breeds in Cochin China, an increasing race who make very valuable colonists.Minnetarees.SeeSIOUAN.Mishmis.A wild Tibetan hill tribe occupying the jungle-covered hills through which the Brahmaputra flows, on the northern border of Assam. Warlike and turbulent.Missouri Indians.SeeSIOUAN.Mixtecs.An ancient Mexican race, contemporary with theToltecs(q.v.), probably represented by the modern Miztecs of Oajaca.Moabites.An ancient pastoral race of Semitic origin, ethnologically cognate with the Israelites, who dwelt on the east of the Dead Sea, and are now extinct.Mœsogoths.SeeGOTHS.Mohawks.SeeIROQUOIAN.Mohicans.One of the most famous and warlike of redskin races, immortalised by Fenimore Cooper. SeeALGONQUIAN.Mojos, orMoxos. A yellowish Indian race of Bolivia, akin to the Chiquitos.Mokis.SeeSHOSHONEAN.Mongolic.One of the four great divisions of mankind. Typically characterised by yellowish skin, broad, flat features with prominent cheek-bones, broad skulls, mesognathous jaws, and oblique, almond-shaped eyes, with black, lank and coarse hair. The Manchus are a typical Mongolic race. The Mongolic races are mostly found in Asia, which is chiefly peopled by their stocks. The name “Mongolic” has replaced the older “Turanian.”Mongols.A stock of the Northern Mongolic, otherwise known as Mongolo-Tartar or Ural-Altaic, family, from whom the general term of Mongolic is derived. The name seems originally to have meant “brave,” and the Mongols have provided some of the most fierce and warlike races of history. They originated as scattered tribes in modern Mongolia. Under Genghiz Khan they were formed into a confederacy which conquered the whole of Central Asia in the thirteenth century, thanks to an unlimited supply of hardy and very mobile horsemen. The existing Mongol tribes, nomad pastors of Mongolia in Central Asia, are divided intoSharrasor EasternKalmuks, or WesternBuriats, orSiberian Mongols, andTunguses, includingManchus(q.v.).Montenegrins.A Servian race of civilised mountaineers, inhabiting the rugged district of Montenegro; the only Balkan race which preserved independence and Christianity against the Turkish conquerors. Their history is one of constant warfare with the Turks, and they have thus preserved the primitive virtues of the warrior in great perfection.Moors.The ancient Moors, or Mauri, were the inhabitants of the Roman province of Mauretania, roughly including the modern Algeria and Morocco. They were probably of mixed descent, partly Semitic from Arabia, partly Western Hamitic from indigenous sources. In modern times the name is applied (1) to the invaders and conquerors of Spain in the Middle Ages, who were mostly of Arab and Berber stock; (2) to the present inhabitants of Morocco and the Barbary States, of the same stocks, with a large infusion of Sudanese Negro blood. The Moors have always been a turbulent and warlike people, who furnished the most notorious pirates of modern history, thanks to their commanding position on the great highway of sea-borne commerce.Moquis.SeePUEBLOINDIANS.Mordvins.A branch of theFinns(q.v.), forming small communities on the banks of the Volga.Mosgus.SeeLAKECHADGROUP.Mossis.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Mpongwes.A Bantu Negro race on the Gaboon Estuary in French Equatorial Africa, given to drink and boasting, of little economic value, though once powerful.Mulattos.Half-breeds between whites and negroes.Mundas.A Kolarian race of Lower Bengal, with possible traces of Negroid blood.Mundrucus.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.Mundus.SeeNILITICGROUP.Mushi-Kongo.Bantu Negroes of Portuguese West Africa, still in an absolutely savage state.Muskhogean, orAppalachian. A group of North American Indian tribes, formerly occupying the south-eastern corner of the present United States, south of Tennessee, and east of Arkansas. Formerly a powerful confederacy of warlike hunters, they are now extinct or confined to Indian reservations. The chief tribes are Alibamus, Apalachis, Chickasaws, Choktaws, Creeks or Muskhogees, and Seminoles.Mycenæans.The inhabitants of ancient Mycenæ, one of the chief centres of prehistoric culture in Greece before the Homeric age. Recent excavations, at Mycenæ itself, at Cnossos in Crete, and other contemporary sites of government, have thrown light on the remarkable civilisation which then existed. The Mycenæans, Cretans, and their kindred peoples were probably a mixed Caucasic race, with affinities to the later Aryan Achæans and to the aboriginal Hamitic Pelasgians; but nothing is yet certainly known of their ethnological place.Nagars.SeeDARDS.Nagas.Aborigines of the Naga Hills, in South Assam, semi-savage and formerly accustomed to raid the British provinces; now under British rule. They are of Tibetan stock.Nahuans, orMexican Indians. The aboriginal inhabitants of modern Mexico, whose history dates back to the sixth century. The oldest of the Nahuan races was that of the Toltecs, whoestablished a civilisation marked by architectural and artistic monuments still existing, north of the valley of Anahuac. They were followed by the ruder Chichimecs and theAztecs(q.v.). Other branches of the same race are the Pipils and the Niquirans of Nicaragua.Naimans.(1) SeeSHARRAS. (2) A tribe of the Middle Horde of the Kazaks. SeeKIRGHIZ.Nairs.A Hindu tribe of Malabar, distinguished by their peculiar marriage customs. They practise polyandry, and a Nair’s property descends not to his own but to his sister’s children.NamasorNamaquas. A Hottentot tribe of Namaqualand, the true aborigines and the principal representatives of theHottentots(q.v.). Scattered in small pastoral groups.Natchez Indians.An extinct North American Indian race, formerly inhabiting the region of the Lower Mississippi.Navajos.SeeATHABASCAN.Neanderthal Man.A race of primitive man, represented only by a skull and a few bones found in a limestone cave of the Neanderthal in Rhenish Prussia in 1856. The most ape-like race yet known, and probably the oldest.Negritoes.A branch of Ethiopic Man, found in Central Africa, and in the Andamans, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines, akin to negroes but of smaller stature and more ape-like. Possibly the primitive stock from which theNegroes(q.v.) were developed.Negroes.The most numerous branch of Ethiopic Man, divided into African (Sudanese, Bantu, and Hottentot-Bushman) and Oceanic (Papuan, Melanesian, and Australian) sections. American Negroes are descended from African slaves, mostly of Sudanese origin. SeeHAYTIANS.Nempés.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Nestorians.A Syrian race, belonging to the Aramæan stock of the Semitic family, distinguished by a special form of Christian belief, who were driven out of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and whose descendants now form a special community in the mountain ranges of Kurdistan. They are poor and illiterate. A branch of Nestorians is found in Travancore, where they go by the name of Syrian Christians.New Guinea Natives.SeePAPUANS.New Zealanders.(1) Aborigines [seeMAORIS]. (2) White inhabitants of New Zealand, of Anglo-Saxon descent.Nez Percés.A tribe of North American Indians, in British Columbia and Idaho, part of whom are well advanced in civilisation.Niam-Niam.SeeAZANDEH.Nicaraguans.White natives of Nicaragua, in Central America, of Spanish descent, with Indian and negro elements.Nicobarese.Natives of the Nicobar Islands, of Malay blood mixed with that of the Mongolic aborigines. Formerly given to piracy.Nigerian Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, all of allied stocks, inhabiting the Niger Delta, the Oil River, Lower Benue, and Niger region, including the Niger Bend. Amongst them are the people of Benin—noted for their vast human sacrifices—the Abo, Nempé, Nupé, Akasa, Qua, Efik, Okrika, Akpa, Mossi, Sienereh, and many other tribes.Nilitic Group.Another group of Sudanese Negro tribes, inhabiting the districts of the White Nile, Sobat, and the northern slopes of the Nile-Congo divide. They include the Abaka, Abukaya, Bongo, Shuli, Falanj, Madi, Bari, Nuer, Shilluk, Dinka, Mundu, Rol, Mittu, Krej, and Fertit tribes. They are mainly hard-working agriculturists, from whom the British draw material for excellent soldiery.Niquirans.SeeNAHUANS.Nogais.A race of CaucasianTartars(q.v.) inhabiting the steppes of the Kuma River; nomadic cattle-breeders.Normans.Natives of Normandy, descended from theNorsemen(q.v.) who settled on the French coast under Rolf the Ganger in the beginning of the tenth century. The history of the Normans, who conquered England and Sicily, is well known. The modern Normans still preserve many signs of their Scandinavian ancestry, which distinguish them from their French or Breton neighbours.NorsemenorNorthmen. A name given in the Middle Ages to the piratical emigrants from Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, who descended on the coasts of England, France, Germany, and Southern Europe. They called themselves Vikings. These sea-rovers came, in the first instance, for portable plunder, but in many cases they were tempted by the look of the more fertile lands of the south to make settlements, among which those of the Danes in England and Ireland and of the Norwegians in Normandy, England, and Sicily were the most lasting and important.Norwegians.A branch of the Scandinavian stock of the Aryan family. They are probably descended from Teutonic immigrants—perhaps of Gothic race—who entered the Scandinavian peninsula in prehistoric times, and drove out the aboriginal Lapps or Finns. Another theory makes Scandinavia the original home of the Aryans, of whom, on this view, the Norwegians would represent the primitive stock. Their history begins in the ninth century, when a Norwegian kingdom was established by Harold Fairhair. The old Norwegians were extremely warlike and piratical [seeNORSEMEN]. Their modern descendants are a peaceful and industrious race, the most simple and democratic people of Europe, who recently threw off the Swedish rule and re-established the ancient Norwegian kingdom.Nsakkaras.SeeWELLEGROUP.Nuba Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, occupying Nubia, Dar-Fur, and Kordofan, in the Egyptian Sudan. They include the Furs, Nubas, Nile Nubians, Tumalis, Kargos, Kulfans, Kolajis, and Kunjaras. They are an active and warlike race, in which the primitive Negro blood has frequently been modified by Semitic (Arab) and Hamitic influences. They supply many of our Sudanese regiments.Nubians.Ancient inhabitants of Nubia, probably identical withEthiopians(q.v.), but modified by the infusion of Negro blood. They established a Nubian kingdom in the Upper Nile basin about the sixth century.Nuers.SeeNILITICGROUP.Numidians.An ancient Hamitic race, inhabiting the district now known as Algeria. They were fine horsemen, warlike, but treacherous, and were conquered by RomeB.C.46. SeeBERBERS.Nupés.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Nutkas.A collective name given to the Indian tribes of Vancouver Island and the adjoining districts of British Columbia.Obongos.A Bushman-like race of pygmy Negritoes discovered by Du Chaillu on the western coast of equatorial Africa, physically and mentally degenerate.Ojibbeways.SeeALGONQUIAN.Okrikas.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.Olkhonese.A tribe ofBuriats(q.v.) inhabiting the district of Lake Baikal.Omaguas.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.Omahas.SeeSIOUAN.Onondagas.SeeIROQUOIAN.Opata-Pima.A group of Central American Indian races, allied to theNahuan group(q.v.), but of lower mental and physical type. It includes the Cora, Yuma, Papago, Tarahumara and Tepeguana tribes.Orang-Benua, Orang-Lauts.SeeMALAYS.Ordos.SeeSHARRAS.Orochs.A nomadic tribe of the SiberianTunguses(q.v.).Osages.SeeSIOUAN.Oscans.A primitive Italic race inhabiting Campania, who were conquered by and amalgamated with theSamnites(q.v.) in the fifth century,B.C.Their language was a ruder form of Latin.Osmanlis.SeeTURKS.Ossets.An isolated Aryan race inhabiting the Central Caucasus, and differing in language and customs from their Caucasian neighbours. They are probably allied to the Iranian stock, though some suppose them to be descended from Gothic settlers.Ostrogoths.SeeGOTHS.Ostyaks.A Ugrian race of Mongolic physical type, allied to theSamoyedes(q.v.), inhabiting the Obi basin in Western Siberia. They are mainly nomads, hunters and reindeer breeders. They are kind, gentle and honest, and show considerable artistic power.Otoes.SeeSIOUAN.Otomis.An Indian race of Mexico, assumed on linguistic grounds to represent the oldest of American Indian stocks.Ottomans.SeeTURKS.Ovaherero.SeeHEREROS.Ovampos.The chief Bantu Negro race of German South-west Africa, tall and well-proportioned, with regular features—a fine Negro type. They are industrious agriculturists, given to raiding and inter-tribal warfare.Oworos, Oyos.SeeYORUBAS.Pampas Indians.SeePUELCHES.Pangasinans.A semi-civilised Malayan race in the Philippine Islands.Papagos.SeeOPATA-PIMA.Papuans.The savage aborigines of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands of the Torres Strait and East Malaysia. They belong to the Oceanic division of Ethiopic Man, and are allied to the African Negro, though they stand at a somewhat higher intellectual level. They are of Negroid physical type, characterised specially by their mops of frizzy hair; colour, a sooty brown to black, with projecting jaws, thick lips and retreating foreheads; nose sometimes flat, but oftener hooked and of Jewish appearance. The race has probably been modified by Malayan and Polynesian intermixture. Probably the Melanesians and the Australian aborigines are closely related to the Papuans. They are a fierce and treacherous race, hostile to strangers, and given to cannibalism and head-hunting. They show much agricultural skill, and in some cases are susceptible of European civilisation.Paraguay Indians.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.Parsees.Followers of Zoroaster, of Persian descent, who have settled in India, chiefly near Bombay, where they have become one of the most thriving sections of the community, owing to their marked ability for commerce. A small remnant of Parsees, known as Guebres, is still to be found in Persia itself.Parthians.A warlike people of the ancient world, inhabiting a district of Northern Persia. They seem to have been ofScythian(q.v.) descent, and were noted for their habit of fighting on horseback and discharging their most fatal arrows whilst in pretended flight. Under Mithridates (171–138B.C.), the Parthians became supreme in Persia, and afterwards warred for long successfully with the Romans.PatagoniansorTehuelches. Natives of the most southerly region of the American continent, noted for their great stature, in many cases approaching the gigantic. They are one of the physically strongest races of the earth, of a yellowish brown colour, with well-formed and regular features. They are nomadic tribes ofAraucanian(q.v.) descent, who live by fishing and hunting; and peacefully disposed to strangers.Pathans.SeeAFGHANS.Payaguas.A South American Indian race, in the Argentine, whose wealth of silver ornaments gave a name to the Rio de la Plata.Pawnees.A brave warlike tribe of North American Indians, akin to theShoshonean group(q.v.) and formerly settled in Nebraska.Pechenegs.An ancient Mongolic race of Turki stock, a branch of theKipchaks(q.v.).Pelasgians.The pre-Aryan inhabitants of Greece, apparently the aborigines of that country, who were dispossessed by the Aryan Hellenes. Little or nothing is known of their racial characteristics and affinities; but the excavations recently made at Mycenæ, Knossos, etc., show that they had reached a high stage of civilisation in prehistoric times on the Ægean coast. Probably a branch of the Western Hamitic family, resemblingBerbers(q.v.) in physical type. SeeMYCENÆANSandETRUSCANS.Permians.A branch of the Finnish race, inhabiting the district of Perm in Russia, and closely resembling theKarelians(q.v.).Persians.The ancient Persians were the main branch of the Iranian stock of the Aryan family, a civilised and warlike nation, who taught their sons “to ride, to shoot with the bow, and to speak the truth.” They reared a great empire under Cyrus (B.C.537) and his successors, which was destroyed by Alexander the Great and divided in 324B.C.The modern Persians, known as Tajiks, and as Tats on the west of the Caspian, are the descendants of the ancient Persians with a considerable admixture of alien blood, due to a long period of Arab and Turkish domination. They present a fine Aryan type, however, and are cultivated and commercial, though not warlike.Peruvian Indians.SeeINCAS.Peruvians.White natives of Peru, partly of pure Spanish descent, partly crossed with Indian blood.Philippine Islanders.The natives of the Philippines belong to three distinct races—Negritoes, Indonesians and Malays. The Negritoes are known asAetas(q.v.). The Indonesians are confined to the island of Mindanao; they are light-skinned, tall and well-developed physically. Their chief tribe is that of the Igorrotes. The Malays are brown-skinned, with black hair and flat noses, being crossed with Negrito blood. Their chief tribes are the Visayans, Tagalogs, Bicols, Ilocanos, Cayagans, Pangasinans and Pampangas. These are all Christianised and fairly civilised. The interior is occupied by wild and savage tribes of similar race, and by the dwarfish and nomadic Negritoes. Many of these tribes practise head-hunting, cannibalism, and human sacrifices. The more civilised tribes, with the Spanish-Indian half-breeds, known as Filipinos, are turbulent and lawless, the source of much trouble to the new American as to the old Spanish rulers.Philistines.An ancient race inhabiting the Mediterranean seaboard to the south-west of Judæa, who warred much with the Israelites, and were finally subdued by them. They were probably a Canaanitish people, belonging to the Semitic family; but some regard them as an immigrant Hamitic race, perhaps related to the Cretans or Pelasgians. The assumed inferiority of their culture to that of the Israelites has given rise to the modern use of “Philistine” as a term of reproach.Phœnicians.The greatest seafaring and trading nation of ancient times, and the earliest of Mediterranean sea-powers. A branch of the Canaanite stock of the Semitic family, they inhabited the Mediterranean coast between Latakia and Acre, their chief cities being Tyre and Sidon. They possessed a remarkable polytheistic religion, disfigured by human sacrifices. They were an inventive race, to whom we owe glass and Tyrian purple. They seem to have entered Phœnicia from the direction of the Red Sea in prehistoric times, and were at first subject to Egypt, but about 1300B.C.reared a great maritime empire, which endured for nearly a thousand years and was destroyed by Alexander the Great. They were the great traders of the ancient world, and carried on a commerce which ranged from Cornwall to Ceylon and Senegal. TheCarthaginians(q.v.) were a colony of Phœnicians.Phrygians.An ancient pastoral people of Asia Minor, closely related to theArmenians(q.v.), who were absorbed by the Persians in the sixth centuryB.C.Picts.The aborigines of ancient Scotland, a short, round-headed, dark race, probably a branch of the Iberian stock of the Western Hamitic family, and thus closely related to theBasques(q.v.). The Picts were a wild and warlike race, who harassed the Roman province of Britain, and were exterminated by the invading Scots from Ireland in the early part of the Christian era. The whole Pictish problem is still unsolved by ethnologists, some of whom hold that the Picts were a Celtic race, allied to the modern Welsh or to the Scottish Highlanders of to-day.Picuris.SeePUEBLOINDIANS.Pipils.SeeNAHUANS.Pitcairn Islanders.Half-breed descendants of Englishmen (the mutineers of the “Bounty”) and Tahitian women. A peaceful and idyllic race.Pocomans, Poconches.SeeMAYA-QUICHÉ.Poles.A stock of the Western Slavonic family, originally dwelling between the Vistula and the Oder. In the tenth century Poland became an independent European Power, and remained an elective kingdom down to its partition in the eighteenth century between Russia, Austria and Prussia. The Polish peasantry have always been industrious and successful agriculturists, whilst the nobility were turbulent and warlike. The Poles who live under Austrian and German rule are fairly contented, but those of Russian Poland have carried on a long and often bloody series of struggles for liberty. Of late years, Russian Poland has become a manufacturing country, under German influence. The Poles have a considerable literature, and are eminently musical.Polynesians.The chief stock of theIndonesian(q.v.) family, the tall, brown-skinned race of Caucasic type who inhabit the chief islands of the Eastern Pacific, and are generally known as South Sea Islanders. Their chief races are theMaoris(q.v.) of New Zealand, the Marquesans, Tahitians, Tongans and Samoans, besides the natives of Easter, Gambier, Hervey, and other smaller islands. They are of tall stature—only surpassed by the Patagonians—muscular frame, regular and often handsome features, with brown skins, square jaws, and broad skulls. They probably originated in Malaysia, where they are still represented by the Battaks of North Sumatra, some Dyak races, and certain tribes of the Philippines and Gilolo. They are a gay, pleasure-loving people, formerly addicted to cannibalism, but otherwise of pleasing manners, and are now rapidly acquiring civilisation, though their numbers are everywhere decreasing under the influence of European manners and diseases.Poncas.SeeSIOUAN.Portuguese.Natives of Portugal, a mixed race, probably of Iberian or Basque origin, with later Celtic elements. After falling successively under Roman, Visigothic, and Saracen dominion, they formed an independent kingdom in the twelfth century. The early Portuguese were enterprising seamen, who contributed largely to the exploration of the world, and founded many colonies in Africa, which they still possess. Brazil is their chief American settlement, now independent.Provençals.Natives of Provence, in the South of France. Their primitiveLigurian(q.v.) stock was modified by many successive influences, such as the Greek colonists, who founded Marseilles, the Roman settlers in the Provincia (Provence), and, later, Gothic and Saracen invaders. The Provençals are a gay, impulsive and pleasure-loving people, markedly distinct from the more staid and industrious inhabitants of Northern France.Pruczi, orOld Prussians. SeeLETTIC.Prussians.The earliest inhabitants of Prussia were Slavonic tribes [seeLETTIC]. The modern Prussians, the dominant race of the German Empire, belong to the High German branch of the Teutonic stock.
Mbengas.Indigenous Bantu Negroes of French Equatorial Africa, about Corisco Bay.
Melanesians.The indigenous natives of the Western Pacific Islands, forming a distinct stock of the Oceanic Negro family of Ethiopic Man. They are long-skulled, or dolichocephalic, with the lowest cephalic index of all known races, prognathous, broad-nosed, of a sooty-black colour, with black frizzy hair, and of low stature. They are at a low stage of culture, being very savage, bloodthirsty, and treacherous, mostly cannibals and head-hunters, with little social organisation. They include the Fijians and the natives of the New Hebrides, the Solomon, Admiralty, Bismarck, and Loyalty Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, and other islands of the Eastern Pacific. They are closelyallied to thePapuans(q.v.), under which name some ethnologists prefer to class the whole body of Melanesians.
Melanochroi.A suggested division of Caucasic Man, in which a pale skin is typically accompanied by dark hair and eyes; it would thus include the Hamitic and Semitic families, with the Hellenic, Italic, and Celtic stocks of the Aryan family.
Mendis.SeeTEMNÉGROUP.
Mentawey Islanders.A remnant of the aboriginal Polynesian race dispossessed by the Malays, off the coast of Sumatra.
Mestizos.Cross-breeds between Europeans and Indians, in Spanish and Portuguese America.
Mexicans.SeeAZTECSandNAHUANS. Also the modern inhabitants of Mexico, who are of Spanish descent, with a strong infusion of Indian blood.
Micmacs.An Indian race of Nova Scotia, in whom some ethnologists think that a trace of Norse blood, dating from the pre-Columbian discovery of America, is perceptible.
Minæans.SeeHIMYARITES.
Mingrelians.SeeGEORGIANS.
Minh-huongs.Franco-Annamese half-breeds in Cochin China, an increasing race who make very valuable colonists.
Minnetarees.SeeSIOUAN.
Mishmis.A wild Tibetan hill tribe occupying the jungle-covered hills through which the Brahmaputra flows, on the northern border of Assam. Warlike and turbulent.
Missouri Indians.SeeSIOUAN.
Mixtecs.An ancient Mexican race, contemporary with theToltecs(q.v.), probably represented by the modern Miztecs of Oajaca.
Moabites.An ancient pastoral race of Semitic origin, ethnologically cognate with the Israelites, who dwelt on the east of the Dead Sea, and are now extinct.
Mœsogoths.SeeGOTHS.
Mohawks.SeeIROQUOIAN.
Mohicans.One of the most famous and warlike of redskin races, immortalised by Fenimore Cooper. SeeALGONQUIAN.
Mojos, orMoxos. A yellowish Indian race of Bolivia, akin to the Chiquitos.
Mokis.SeeSHOSHONEAN.
Mongolic.One of the four great divisions of mankind. Typically characterised by yellowish skin, broad, flat features with prominent cheek-bones, broad skulls, mesognathous jaws, and oblique, almond-shaped eyes, with black, lank and coarse hair. The Manchus are a typical Mongolic race. The Mongolic races are mostly found in Asia, which is chiefly peopled by their stocks. The name “Mongolic” has replaced the older “Turanian.”
Mongols.A stock of the Northern Mongolic, otherwise known as Mongolo-Tartar or Ural-Altaic, family, from whom the general term of Mongolic is derived. The name seems originally to have meant “brave,” and the Mongols have provided some of the most fierce and warlike races of history. They originated as scattered tribes in modern Mongolia. Under Genghiz Khan they were formed into a confederacy which conquered the whole of Central Asia in the thirteenth century, thanks to an unlimited supply of hardy and very mobile horsemen. The existing Mongol tribes, nomad pastors of Mongolia in Central Asia, are divided intoSharrasor EasternKalmuks, or WesternBuriats, orSiberian Mongols, andTunguses, includingManchus(q.v.).
Montenegrins.A Servian race of civilised mountaineers, inhabiting the rugged district of Montenegro; the only Balkan race which preserved independence and Christianity against the Turkish conquerors. Their history is one of constant warfare with the Turks, and they have thus preserved the primitive virtues of the warrior in great perfection.
Moors.The ancient Moors, or Mauri, were the inhabitants of the Roman province of Mauretania, roughly including the modern Algeria and Morocco. They were probably of mixed descent, partly Semitic from Arabia, partly Western Hamitic from indigenous sources. In modern times the name is applied (1) to the invaders and conquerors of Spain in the Middle Ages, who were mostly of Arab and Berber stock; (2) to the present inhabitants of Morocco and the Barbary States, of the same stocks, with a large infusion of Sudanese Negro blood. The Moors have always been a turbulent and warlike people, who furnished the most notorious pirates of modern history, thanks to their commanding position on the great highway of sea-borne commerce.
Moquis.SeePUEBLOINDIANS.
Mordvins.A branch of theFinns(q.v.), forming small communities on the banks of the Volga.
Mosgus.SeeLAKECHADGROUP.
Mossis.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Mpongwes.A Bantu Negro race on the Gaboon Estuary in French Equatorial Africa, given to drink and boasting, of little economic value, though once powerful.
Mulattos.Half-breeds between whites and negroes.
Mundas.A Kolarian race of Lower Bengal, with possible traces of Negroid blood.
Mundrucus.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.
Mundus.SeeNILITICGROUP.
Mushi-Kongo.Bantu Negroes of Portuguese West Africa, still in an absolutely savage state.
Muskhogean, orAppalachian. A group of North American Indian tribes, formerly occupying the south-eastern corner of the present United States, south of Tennessee, and east of Arkansas. Formerly a powerful confederacy of warlike hunters, they are now extinct or confined to Indian reservations. The chief tribes are Alibamus, Apalachis, Chickasaws, Choktaws, Creeks or Muskhogees, and Seminoles.
Mycenæans.The inhabitants of ancient Mycenæ, one of the chief centres of prehistoric culture in Greece before the Homeric age. Recent excavations, at Mycenæ itself, at Cnossos in Crete, and other contemporary sites of government, have thrown light on the remarkable civilisation which then existed. The Mycenæans, Cretans, and their kindred peoples were probably a mixed Caucasic race, with affinities to the later Aryan Achæans and to the aboriginal Hamitic Pelasgians; but nothing is yet certainly known of their ethnological place.
Nagars.SeeDARDS.
Nagas.Aborigines of the Naga Hills, in South Assam, semi-savage and formerly accustomed to raid the British provinces; now under British rule. They are of Tibetan stock.
Nahuans, orMexican Indians. The aboriginal inhabitants of modern Mexico, whose history dates back to the sixth century. The oldest of the Nahuan races was that of the Toltecs, whoestablished a civilisation marked by architectural and artistic monuments still existing, north of the valley of Anahuac. They were followed by the ruder Chichimecs and theAztecs(q.v.). Other branches of the same race are the Pipils and the Niquirans of Nicaragua.
Naimans.(1) SeeSHARRAS. (2) A tribe of the Middle Horde of the Kazaks. SeeKIRGHIZ.
Nairs.A Hindu tribe of Malabar, distinguished by their peculiar marriage customs. They practise polyandry, and a Nair’s property descends not to his own but to his sister’s children.
NamasorNamaquas. A Hottentot tribe of Namaqualand, the true aborigines and the principal representatives of theHottentots(q.v.). Scattered in small pastoral groups.
Natchez Indians.An extinct North American Indian race, formerly inhabiting the region of the Lower Mississippi.
Navajos.SeeATHABASCAN.
Neanderthal Man.A race of primitive man, represented only by a skull and a few bones found in a limestone cave of the Neanderthal in Rhenish Prussia in 1856. The most ape-like race yet known, and probably the oldest.
Negritoes.A branch of Ethiopic Man, found in Central Africa, and in the Andamans, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines, akin to negroes but of smaller stature and more ape-like. Possibly the primitive stock from which theNegroes(q.v.) were developed.
Negroes.The most numerous branch of Ethiopic Man, divided into African (Sudanese, Bantu, and Hottentot-Bushman) and Oceanic (Papuan, Melanesian, and Australian) sections. American Negroes are descended from African slaves, mostly of Sudanese origin. SeeHAYTIANS.
Nempés.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Nestorians.A Syrian race, belonging to the Aramæan stock of the Semitic family, distinguished by a special form of Christian belief, who were driven out of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and whose descendants now form a special community in the mountain ranges of Kurdistan. They are poor and illiterate. A branch of Nestorians is found in Travancore, where they go by the name of Syrian Christians.
New Guinea Natives.SeePAPUANS.
New Zealanders.(1) Aborigines [seeMAORIS]. (2) White inhabitants of New Zealand, of Anglo-Saxon descent.
Nez Percés.A tribe of North American Indians, in British Columbia and Idaho, part of whom are well advanced in civilisation.
Niam-Niam.SeeAZANDEH.
Nicaraguans.White natives of Nicaragua, in Central America, of Spanish descent, with Indian and negro elements.
Nicobarese.Natives of the Nicobar Islands, of Malay blood mixed with that of the Mongolic aborigines. Formerly given to piracy.
Nigerian Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, all of allied stocks, inhabiting the Niger Delta, the Oil River, Lower Benue, and Niger region, including the Niger Bend. Amongst them are the people of Benin—noted for their vast human sacrifices—the Abo, Nempé, Nupé, Akasa, Qua, Efik, Okrika, Akpa, Mossi, Sienereh, and many other tribes.
Nilitic Group.Another group of Sudanese Negro tribes, inhabiting the districts of the White Nile, Sobat, and the northern slopes of the Nile-Congo divide. They include the Abaka, Abukaya, Bongo, Shuli, Falanj, Madi, Bari, Nuer, Shilluk, Dinka, Mundu, Rol, Mittu, Krej, and Fertit tribes. They are mainly hard-working agriculturists, from whom the British draw material for excellent soldiery.
Niquirans.SeeNAHUANS.
Nogais.A race of CaucasianTartars(q.v.) inhabiting the steppes of the Kuma River; nomadic cattle-breeders.
Normans.Natives of Normandy, descended from theNorsemen(q.v.) who settled on the French coast under Rolf the Ganger in the beginning of the tenth century. The history of the Normans, who conquered England and Sicily, is well known. The modern Normans still preserve many signs of their Scandinavian ancestry, which distinguish them from their French or Breton neighbours.
NorsemenorNorthmen. A name given in the Middle Ages to the piratical emigrants from Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway, who descended on the coasts of England, France, Germany, and Southern Europe. They called themselves Vikings. These sea-rovers came, in the first instance, for portable plunder, but in many cases they were tempted by the look of the more fertile lands of the south to make settlements, among which those of the Danes in England and Ireland and of the Norwegians in Normandy, England, and Sicily were the most lasting and important.
Norwegians.A branch of the Scandinavian stock of the Aryan family. They are probably descended from Teutonic immigrants—perhaps of Gothic race—who entered the Scandinavian peninsula in prehistoric times, and drove out the aboriginal Lapps or Finns. Another theory makes Scandinavia the original home of the Aryans, of whom, on this view, the Norwegians would represent the primitive stock. Their history begins in the ninth century, when a Norwegian kingdom was established by Harold Fairhair. The old Norwegians were extremely warlike and piratical [seeNORSEMEN]. Their modern descendants are a peaceful and industrious race, the most simple and democratic people of Europe, who recently threw off the Swedish rule and re-established the ancient Norwegian kingdom.
Nsakkaras.SeeWELLEGROUP.
Nuba Group.A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, occupying Nubia, Dar-Fur, and Kordofan, in the Egyptian Sudan. They include the Furs, Nubas, Nile Nubians, Tumalis, Kargos, Kulfans, Kolajis, and Kunjaras. They are an active and warlike race, in which the primitive Negro blood has frequently been modified by Semitic (Arab) and Hamitic influences. They supply many of our Sudanese regiments.
Nubians.Ancient inhabitants of Nubia, probably identical withEthiopians(q.v.), but modified by the infusion of Negro blood. They established a Nubian kingdom in the Upper Nile basin about the sixth century.
Nuers.SeeNILITICGROUP.
Numidians.An ancient Hamitic race, inhabiting the district now known as Algeria. They were fine horsemen, warlike, but treacherous, and were conquered by RomeB.C.46. SeeBERBERS.
Nupés.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Nutkas.A collective name given to the Indian tribes of Vancouver Island and the adjoining districts of British Columbia.
Obongos.A Bushman-like race of pygmy Negritoes discovered by Du Chaillu on the western coast of equatorial Africa, physically and mentally degenerate.
Ojibbeways.SeeALGONQUIAN.
Okrikas.SeeNIGERIANGROUP.
Olkhonese.A tribe ofBuriats(q.v.) inhabiting the district of Lake Baikal.
Omaguas.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.
Omahas.SeeSIOUAN.
Onondagas.SeeIROQUOIAN.
Opata-Pima.A group of Central American Indian races, allied to theNahuan group(q.v.), but of lower mental and physical type. It includes the Cora, Yuma, Papago, Tarahumara and Tepeguana tribes.
Orang-Benua, Orang-Lauts.SeeMALAYS.
Ordos.SeeSHARRAS.
Orochs.A nomadic tribe of the SiberianTunguses(q.v.).
Osages.SeeSIOUAN.
Oscans.A primitive Italic race inhabiting Campania, who were conquered by and amalgamated with theSamnites(q.v.) in the fifth century,B.C.Their language was a ruder form of Latin.
Osmanlis.SeeTURKS.
Ossets.An isolated Aryan race inhabiting the Central Caucasus, and differing in language and customs from their Caucasian neighbours. They are probably allied to the Iranian stock, though some suppose them to be descended from Gothic settlers.
Ostrogoths.SeeGOTHS.
Ostyaks.A Ugrian race of Mongolic physical type, allied to theSamoyedes(q.v.), inhabiting the Obi basin in Western Siberia. They are mainly nomads, hunters and reindeer breeders. They are kind, gentle and honest, and show considerable artistic power.
Otoes.SeeSIOUAN.
Otomis.An Indian race of Mexico, assumed on linguistic grounds to represent the oldest of American Indian stocks.
Ottomans.SeeTURKS.
Ovaherero.SeeHEREROS.
Ovampos.The chief Bantu Negro race of German South-west Africa, tall and well-proportioned, with regular features—a fine Negro type. They are industrious agriculturists, given to raiding and inter-tribal warfare.
Oworos, Oyos.SeeYORUBAS.
Pampas Indians.SeePUELCHES.
Pangasinans.A semi-civilised Malayan race in the Philippine Islands.
Papagos.SeeOPATA-PIMA.
Papuans.The savage aborigines of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands of the Torres Strait and East Malaysia. They belong to the Oceanic division of Ethiopic Man, and are allied to the African Negro, though they stand at a somewhat higher intellectual level. They are of Negroid physical type, characterised specially by their mops of frizzy hair; colour, a sooty brown to black, with projecting jaws, thick lips and retreating foreheads; nose sometimes flat, but oftener hooked and of Jewish appearance. The race has probably been modified by Malayan and Polynesian intermixture. Probably the Melanesians and the Australian aborigines are closely related to the Papuans. They are a fierce and treacherous race, hostile to strangers, and given to cannibalism and head-hunting. They show much agricultural skill, and in some cases are susceptible of European civilisation.
Paraguay Indians.SeeTUPI-GUARANI.
Parsees.Followers of Zoroaster, of Persian descent, who have settled in India, chiefly near Bombay, where they have become one of the most thriving sections of the community, owing to their marked ability for commerce. A small remnant of Parsees, known as Guebres, is still to be found in Persia itself.
Parthians.A warlike people of the ancient world, inhabiting a district of Northern Persia. They seem to have been ofScythian(q.v.) descent, and were noted for their habit of fighting on horseback and discharging their most fatal arrows whilst in pretended flight. Under Mithridates (171–138B.C.), the Parthians became supreme in Persia, and afterwards warred for long successfully with the Romans.
PatagoniansorTehuelches. Natives of the most southerly region of the American continent, noted for their great stature, in many cases approaching the gigantic. They are one of the physically strongest races of the earth, of a yellowish brown colour, with well-formed and regular features. They are nomadic tribes ofAraucanian(q.v.) descent, who live by fishing and hunting; and peacefully disposed to strangers.
Pathans.SeeAFGHANS.
Payaguas.A South American Indian race, in the Argentine, whose wealth of silver ornaments gave a name to the Rio de la Plata.
Pawnees.A brave warlike tribe of North American Indians, akin to theShoshonean group(q.v.) and formerly settled in Nebraska.
Pechenegs.An ancient Mongolic race of Turki stock, a branch of theKipchaks(q.v.).
Pelasgians.The pre-Aryan inhabitants of Greece, apparently the aborigines of that country, who were dispossessed by the Aryan Hellenes. Little or nothing is known of their racial characteristics and affinities; but the excavations recently made at Mycenæ, Knossos, etc., show that they had reached a high stage of civilisation in prehistoric times on the Ægean coast. Probably a branch of the Western Hamitic family, resemblingBerbers(q.v.) in physical type. SeeMYCENÆANSandETRUSCANS.
Permians.A branch of the Finnish race, inhabiting the district of Perm in Russia, and closely resembling theKarelians(q.v.).
Persians.The ancient Persians were the main branch of the Iranian stock of the Aryan family, a civilised and warlike nation, who taught their sons “to ride, to shoot with the bow, and to speak the truth.” They reared a great empire under Cyrus (B.C.537) and his successors, which was destroyed by Alexander the Great and divided in 324B.C.The modern Persians, known as Tajiks, and as Tats on the west of the Caspian, are the descendants of the ancient Persians with a considerable admixture of alien blood, due to a long period of Arab and Turkish domination. They present a fine Aryan type, however, and are cultivated and commercial, though not warlike.
Peruvian Indians.SeeINCAS.
Peruvians.White natives of Peru, partly of pure Spanish descent, partly crossed with Indian blood.
Philippine Islanders.The natives of the Philippines belong to three distinct races—Negritoes, Indonesians and Malays. The Negritoes are known asAetas(q.v.). The Indonesians are confined to the island of Mindanao; they are light-skinned, tall and well-developed physically. Their chief tribe is that of the Igorrotes. The Malays are brown-skinned, with black hair and flat noses, being crossed with Negrito blood. Their chief tribes are the Visayans, Tagalogs, Bicols, Ilocanos, Cayagans, Pangasinans and Pampangas. These are all Christianised and fairly civilised. The interior is occupied by wild and savage tribes of similar race, and by the dwarfish and nomadic Negritoes. Many of these tribes practise head-hunting, cannibalism, and human sacrifices. The more civilised tribes, with the Spanish-Indian half-breeds, known as Filipinos, are turbulent and lawless, the source of much trouble to the new American as to the old Spanish rulers.
Philistines.An ancient race inhabiting the Mediterranean seaboard to the south-west of Judæa, who warred much with the Israelites, and were finally subdued by them. They were probably a Canaanitish people, belonging to the Semitic family; but some regard them as an immigrant Hamitic race, perhaps related to the Cretans or Pelasgians. The assumed inferiority of their culture to that of the Israelites has given rise to the modern use of “Philistine” as a term of reproach.
Phœnicians.The greatest seafaring and trading nation of ancient times, and the earliest of Mediterranean sea-powers. A branch of the Canaanite stock of the Semitic family, they inhabited the Mediterranean coast between Latakia and Acre, their chief cities being Tyre and Sidon. They possessed a remarkable polytheistic religion, disfigured by human sacrifices. They were an inventive race, to whom we owe glass and Tyrian purple. They seem to have entered Phœnicia from the direction of the Red Sea in prehistoric times, and were at first subject to Egypt, but about 1300B.C.reared a great maritime empire, which endured for nearly a thousand years and was destroyed by Alexander the Great. They were the great traders of the ancient world, and carried on a commerce which ranged from Cornwall to Ceylon and Senegal. TheCarthaginians(q.v.) were a colony of Phœnicians.
Phrygians.An ancient pastoral people of Asia Minor, closely related to theArmenians(q.v.), who were absorbed by the Persians in the sixth centuryB.C.
Picts.The aborigines of ancient Scotland, a short, round-headed, dark race, probably a branch of the Iberian stock of the Western Hamitic family, and thus closely related to theBasques(q.v.). The Picts were a wild and warlike race, who harassed the Roman province of Britain, and were exterminated by the invading Scots from Ireland in the early part of the Christian era. The whole Pictish problem is still unsolved by ethnologists, some of whom hold that the Picts were a Celtic race, allied to the modern Welsh or to the Scottish Highlanders of to-day.
Picuris.SeePUEBLOINDIANS.
Pipils.SeeNAHUANS.
Pitcairn Islanders.Half-breed descendants of Englishmen (the mutineers of the “Bounty”) and Tahitian women. A peaceful and idyllic race.
Pocomans, Poconches.SeeMAYA-QUICHÉ.
Poles.A stock of the Western Slavonic family, originally dwelling between the Vistula and the Oder. In the tenth century Poland became an independent European Power, and remained an elective kingdom down to its partition in the eighteenth century between Russia, Austria and Prussia. The Polish peasantry have always been industrious and successful agriculturists, whilst the nobility were turbulent and warlike. The Poles who live under Austrian and German rule are fairly contented, but those of Russian Poland have carried on a long and often bloody series of struggles for liberty. Of late years, Russian Poland has become a manufacturing country, under German influence. The Poles have a considerable literature, and are eminently musical.
Polynesians.The chief stock of theIndonesian(q.v.) family, the tall, brown-skinned race of Caucasic type who inhabit the chief islands of the Eastern Pacific, and are generally known as South Sea Islanders. Their chief races are theMaoris(q.v.) of New Zealand, the Marquesans, Tahitians, Tongans and Samoans, besides the natives of Easter, Gambier, Hervey, and other smaller islands. They are of tall stature—only surpassed by the Patagonians—muscular frame, regular and often handsome features, with brown skins, square jaws, and broad skulls. They probably originated in Malaysia, where they are still represented by the Battaks of North Sumatra, some Dyak races, and certain tribes of the Philippines and Gilolo. They are a gay, pleasure-loving people, formerly addicted to cannibalism, but otherwise of pleasing manners, and are now rapidly acquiring civilisation, though their numbers are everywhere decreasing under the influence of European manners and diseases.
Poncas.SeeSIOUAN.
Portuguese.Natives of Portugal, a mixed race, probably of Iberian or Basque origin, with later Celtic elements. After falling successively under Roman, Visigothic, and Saracen dominion, they formed an independent kingdom in the twelfth century. The early Portuguese were enterprising seamen, who contributed largely to the exploration of the world, and founded many colonies in Africa, which they still possess. Brazil is their chief American settlement, now independent.
Provençals.Natives of Provence, in the South of France. Their primitiveLigurian(q.v.) stock was modified by many successive influences, such as the Greek colonists, who founded Marseilles, the Roman settlers in the Provincia (Provence), and, later, Gothic and Saracen invaders. The Provençals are a gay, impulsive and pleasure-loving people, markedly distinct from the more staid and industrious inhabitants of Northern France.
Pruczi, orOld Prussians. SeeLETTIC.
Prussians.The earliest inhabitants of Prussia were Slavonic tribes [seeLETTIC]. The modern Prussians, the dominant race of the German Empire, belong to the High German branch of the Teutonic stock.