What are the main races within a species of Homo sapiens. Major human races. Races and nations

Today's appearance of humanity is the result of a complex historical development of human groups and can be described by highlighting special biological types - human races. It is assumed that their formation began to occur 30-40 thousand years ago, as a result of the settling of people in new geographic zones. According to the researchers, their first groups moved from the region of modern Madagascar to South Asia, then Australia, a little later to the Far East, to Europe and America. This process gave rise to the primordial races, from which all subsequent diversity of peoples arose. Within the framework of the article, it will be considered which main races are distinguished within the species Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens), their characteristics and features.

The meaning of race

To summarize the definitions of anthropologists, then a race is a historically formed set of people with a common physical type (skin color, hair structure and color, skull shape, etc.), the origin of which is associated with a specific geographical area. At the present time, the relationship of the race with the area is not always revealed quite clearly, but it certainly took place in the distant past.

The origin of the term "race" has not been reliably defined, but there has been much debate in academia over its use. In this regard, the term was originally ambiguous and conditional. It is believed that the word represents a modification of the Arabic lexeme ras - head or beginning. There is also every reason to believe that the term may refer to the Italian razza, which means "tribe." Interestingly, in the modern sense, this word first occurs in the works of the French traveler and philosopher Francois Bernier. In 1684, he gives one of the first classifications of the main human races.

races

Attempts to put together a picture classifying the human races were undertaken by the ancient Egyptians. They identified four types of people according to their skin color: black, yellow, white and red. And for a long time such a division of humanity was preserved. The Frenchman François Bernier tried to give a scientific classification of the main species of races in the 17th century. But more complete and well-designed systems appeared only in the twentieth century.

It is known that there is no generally accepted classification, and all of them are rather arbitrary. But in anthropological literature, the most often cited are Ya. Roginsky and M. Levin. They identified three large races, which in turn are divided into small ones: Caucasoid (Eurasian), Mongoloid and Negro-Australoid (equatorial). When constructing this classification, scientists took into account the morphological similarity, geographical distribution of races and the time of their formation.

Race characteristics

Classical racial characteristics are determined by a complex of physical characteristics related to the appearance of a person and his anatomy. The color and shape of the eyes, the shape of the nose and lips, the pigmentation of the skin and hair, the shape of the skull are the primary racial characteristics. There are also minor traits such as physique, height, and proportions of the human body. But due to the fact that they are very changeable and depend on environmental conditions, they are not used in race studies. Racial traits are not linked to each other by this or that biological dependence, therefore, they form numerous combinations. But it is precisely the stable traits that make it possible to distinguish races of a large order (main), while small races are distinguished on the basis of more variable indicators.

Thus, the main characteristic of the race includes morphological, anatomical and other characters that have a stable hereditary nature and are minimally subject to the influence of the environment.

Caucasian race

Almost 45% of the world's population is Caucasian. The geographical discoveries of America and Australia allowed her to settle all over the world. Nevertheless, its main pivot is concentrated within Europe, the African Mediterranean and southwestern Asia.

In the Caucasian group, the following combination of features is distinguished:

  • clearly profiled person;
  • pigmentation of hair, skin and eyes from lightest to darkest shades;
  • straight or wavy soft hair;
  • medium or thin lips;
  • narrow nose, strongly or moderately protruding from the plane of the face;
  • poorly formed fold of the upper eyelid;
  • developed hair on the body;
  • large hands and feet.

The composition of the Caucasian race is distinguished by two large branches - northern and southern. The northern branch is represented by Scandinavians, Icelanders, Irish, British, Finns and others. South - by Spaniards, Italians, southern French, Portuguese, Iranians, Azerbaijanis and others. All the differences between them lie in the pigmentation of the eyes, skin and hair.

Mongoloid race

The formation of the Mongoloid group has not been fully investigated. According to some assumptions, the nationality was formed in the central part of Asia, in the Gobi Desert, which was distinguished by its harsh, sharply continental climate. As a result, representatives of this race of people generally have strong immunity and good adaptation to drastic changes in climatic conditions.

Signs of the Mongoloid race:

  • brown or black eyes with a slanting and narrow slit;
  • drooping upper eyelids;
  • moderately enlarged nose and lips of medium size;
  • skin color from yellow to brown;
  • straight coarse dark hair;
  • strongly protruding cheekbones;
  • poorly developed body hair.

The Mongoloid race is divided into two branches: northern Mongoloids (Kalmykia, Buryatia, Yakutia, Tuva) and southern peoples (Japan, inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula, South China). Ethnic Mongols can act as prominent representatives of the Mongoloid group.

The Equatorial (or Negro-Australoid) race is a large group of people that make up 10% of humanity. It includes Negroid and Australoid groups, which mostly live in Oceania, Australia, the tropical belt of Africa and in the regions of South and Southeast Asia.

Most researchers consider the specific features of race as a result of population development in hot and humid climates:

  • dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes;
  • Coarse, curly or wavy hair
  • the nose is wide, slightly protruding;
  • thick lips with a significant mucous membrane;
  • prominent lower part of the face.

The race is clearly divided into two trunks - eastern (Pacific, Australian and Asian groups) and western (African groups).

Small races

The main races in which humanity has successfully imprinted itself on all continents of the earth, branching into a complex mosaic of people - small races (or races of the second order). Anthropologists distinguish between 30 and 50 such groups. The Caucasoid race consists of the following types: White Sea-Baltic, Atlanto-Baltic, Middle European, Balkan-Caucasian (Ponto-Zagros) and Indo-Mediterranean.

The Mongoloid group distinguishes: the Far Eastern, South Asian, North Asian, Arctic and American types. It is worth noting that the latter of them in some classifications, the slopes are considered as an independent large race. In today's Asia, the most prevalent are the Far Eastern (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese) and South Asian (Javanese, Supers, Malays) types.

The equatorial population is subdivided into six small groups: African Negroids are represented by the Negro, Central African and Bushman races, Oceanian Australoids - Veddoid, Melanesian and Australian (in some classifications it is put forward as the main race).

Mixed races

In addition to the second-order races, there are also mixed and transitional races. Presumably, they formed from ancient populations within the boundaries of climatic zones, through contact between representatives of different races, or appeared during long-distance migrations, when it was necessary to adapt to new conditions.

Thus, there are Euro-Mongoloid, Euro-Negroid and Euro-Mongol-Negroid subraces. For example, the laponoid group has signs of three main races: prognathism, prominent cheekbones, soft hair, and others. The carriers of such characteristics are the Finno-Perm peoples. Or the Ural, which is represented by Caucasoid and Mongoloid populations. She is characterized by the following dark straight hair, moderate skin pigmentation, brown eyes, moderate hair. Distributed mostly in Western Siberia.

  • Until the 20th century, there were no representatives of the Negroid race in Russia. In the USSR, during the time of cooperation with developing countries, about 70 thousand blacks remained to live.
  • Only one Caucasian race is capable of producing lactase throughout its life, which is involved in the assimilation of milk. In other major races, this ability is observed only in infancy.
  • Genetic studies have determined that fair-skinned inhabitants of the northern territories of Europe and Russia have about 47.5% of Mongolian genes and only 52.5% of European ones.
  • A large number of people who identify as pure African Americans have European ancestors. In turn, Europeans can find in their ancestors Native Americans or Africans.
  • The DNA of all the inhabitants of the planet, regardless of external differences (skin color, hair texture), is the same by 99.9%, therefore, from the standpoint of genetic research, the existing concept of "race" loses its meaning.

The population of our planet is so diverse that one can only wonder. What nationalities, nationalities you will not meet! Everyone has their own faith, customs, traditions, orders. Its own beautiful and extraordinary culture. However, all these differences are formed only by the people themselves in the process of social historical development. And what is the basis of the differences that appear externally? After all, we are all very different:

  • dark-skinned;
  • yellow-skinned;
  • white;
  • with different eye colors;
  • different heights and so on.

Obviously, the reasons are purely biological, independent of the people themselves and formed over thousands of years of evolution. This is how the modern races of man were formed, which theoretically explain the visual diversity of human morphology. Let's take a closer look at what this term is, what is its essence and meaning.

The concept of "race of people"

What is race? This is not a nation, not a people, not a culture. All these concepts should not be confused. After all, representatives of different nationalities and cultures can freely belong to the same race. Therefore, the definition can be given as given by the science of biology.

Human races are a set of external morphological features, that is, those that are the phenotype of a representative. They were formed under the influence of external conditions, the influence of a complex of biotic and abiotic factors, and were fixed in the genotype in the course of evolutionary processes. Thus, the characteristics that underlie the division of people into races should include:

  • height;
  • skin and eye color;
  • hair structure and shape;
  • hairiness of the skin;
  • features of the structure of the face and its parts.

All those signs of Homo sapiens as a biological species that lead to the formation of a person's external appearance, but do not in any way affect his personal, spiritual and social qualities and manifestations, as well as the level of self-development and self-education.

People of different races have a completely identical biological foothold for the development of certain abilities. Their common karyotype is the same:

  • women - 46 chromosomes, that is, 23 pairs of XX;
  • males - 46 chromosomes, 22 pairs XX, 23 pairs - XY.

This means that all representatives of Homo sapiens are one and the same, among them there are no more or less developed, superior over others, higher. From the point of view of science, everyone is equal.

The species of human races, formed over about 80 thousand years, have an adaptive meaning. It is proved that each of them was formed in order to provide a person with the possibility of normal existence in a given habitat, to facilitate adaptation to climatic, relief and other conditions. There is a classification showing which races of Homo sapiens existed before, and which are at the present time.

Classification of races

She's not alone. The thing is that until the XX century it was customary to distinguish 4 races of people. These were the following varieties:

  • Caucasian;
  • australoid;
  • negroid;
  • Mongoloid.

For each, detailed characteristic features were described by which it was possible to identify any individual of the human species. However, later the classification became widespread, which includes only 3 races of a person. This became possible due to the unification of the Australoid and Negroid groups into one.

Therefore, the modern types of human races are as follows.

  1. Large: Caucasian (European), Mongoloid (Asian-American), equatorial (Australo-Negroid).
  2. Small: Many different branches that originated from one of the larger races.

Each of them has its own characteristics, signs, external manifestations in the appearance of people. All of them are considered by specialists-anthropologists, and the science itself that studies this issue is biology. Human races have been of interest to people since ancient times. After all, completely contrasting external features often became the cause of racial strife and conflicts.

Genetic studies of recent years allow us to speak again about the division of the equatorial group into two. Consider all 4 races of people that stood out earlier and became relevant again recently. Let's note the signs and features.

Australoid race

Typical representatives of this group include the indigenous people of Australia, Melanesia, Southeast Asia, and India. Also the name of this race is Australo-Veddoid or Australo-Melanesian. All synonyms make it clear which small races are included in this group. They are as follows:

  • Australoids;
  • Veddoids;
  • Melanesians.

In general, the characteristics of each presented group do not vary too much among themselves. There are several main features that characterize all small races of people of the Australoid group.

  1. Dolichocephaly is an elongated shape of the skull in relation to the proportions of the rest of the body.
  2. Deep-set eyes, wide cut. The color of the iris is predominantly dark, sometimes almost black.
  3. The nose is wide, the flat bridge of the nose is pronounced.
  4. The body hair is very well developed.
  5. The hair on the head is dark in color (sometimes there are natural blondes among Australians, which was the result of a once entrenched natural genetic mutation of the species). Their structure is rigid, they can be curly or slightly curly.
  6. The height of people is average, more often above average.
  7. The physique is lean, elongated.

Within the Australoid group, people of different races differ from each other sometimes quite strongly. So, the indigenous inhabitant of Australia can be a tall blond with a dense physique, with straight hair, and having light brown eyes. At the same time, the native of Melanesia will be a thin, short, dark-skinned representative with curly black hair and almost black eyes.

Therefore, the general characteristics described above for the entire race are only an average version of their cumulative analysis. Naturally, there is also a cross-breeding - mixing of different groups as a result of natural crossing of species. That is why it is sometimes very difficult to identify a specific representative and attribute him to one or another small and large race.

Negroid race

The people that make up this group are settlers in the following territories:

  • East, Central and South Africa;
  • part of Brazil;
  • some peoples of the USA;
  • representatives of the West Indies.

In general, such races of people as the Australoids and Negroids used to be united in the equatorial group. However, studies of the 21st century have proven the inconsistency of this order. After all, the differences in the displayed characteristics between the designated races are too great. And some of the similarities are very simple to explain. After all, the habitats of these individuals are very similar in terms of the conditions of existence, therefore, the adaptations in appearance are also close.

So, for the representatives of the Negroid race, the following signs are characteristic.

  1. Very dark, sometimes bluish-black, skin color, as it is especially rich in melanin.
  2. Wide eye shape. They are large, dark brown, almost black.
  3. Hair is dark, curly, coarse.
  4. Height varies, often low.
  5. The limbs are very long, especially the arms.
  6. The nose is wide and flat, the lips are very thick and fleshy.
  7. The jaw is devoid of a chin protrusion, protrudes forward.
  8. The ears are large.
  9. The hair on the face is poorly developed, the beard and mustache are absent.

It is easy to distinguish Negroids from others by their external data. Below are the different races of people. The photo reflects how clearly Negroids differ from Europeans and Mongoloids.

Mongoloid race

Representatives of this group are characterized by special features that allow them to adapt to rather difficult external conditions: desert sands and winds, blinding snow drifts, and so on.

Mongoloids are the indigenous people of Asia and much of America. Their characteristic features are as follows.

  1. Narrow or oblique eyes.
  2. The presence of epicanthus - a specialized skin fold aimed at covering the inner corner of the eye.
  3. The color of the iris is light to dark brown.
  4. differs in brachycephaly (short-headedness).
  5. The superciliary ridges are thickened, strongly protruding.
  6. Sharp high cheekbones are well defined.
  7. The hair on the face is poorly developed.
  8. The hair on the head is coarse, dark in color, with a straight structure.
  9. The nose is not wide, the nose is set low.
  10. Lips of varying thickness, often narrow.
  11. Skin color varies in different representatives from yellow to dark-skinned, there are also fair-skinned people.

It should be noted that another characteristic feature is short stature, both in men and women. It is the Mongoloid group that predominates in number, if we compare the main races of people. They populated almost all climatographic zones of the Earth. In terms of quantitative characteristics, Caucasians are close to them, which we will consider below.

Caucasian race

First of all, let us designate the prevailing habitats of people from this group. It:

  • Europe.
  • North Africa.
  • Western Asia.

Thus, the representatives unite the two main parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Since the living conditions were also very different, then the general signs are again the average option after analyzing all the indicators. Thus, the following features of appearance can be distinguished.

  1. Mesocephaly - average head in the structure of the skull.
  2. Horizontal section of the eyes, the absence of pronounced superciliary ridges.
  3. Narrow nose protruding forward.
  4. Lips of different thickness, usually of medium size.
  5. Soft curly or straight hair. There are blondes, brunettes, brown-haired people.
  6. Eye color from light blue to brown.
  7. Skin color also ranges from pale, white to dark-skinned.
  8. The hair is very well developed, especially on the chest and face of men.
  9. The jaws are orthognathic, that is, slightly forward.

In general, a European is easy to distinguish from others. Appearance allows you to do this almost flawlessly, even without using additional genetic data.

If you look at all the races of people, the photos of whose representatives are located below, then the difference becomes obvious. However, sometimes the signs are mixed so deeply that identification of the individual becomes almost impossible. He is capable of relating to two races at once. This is further aggravated by intraspecific mutation, which entails the appearance of new traits.

For example, albino Negroids are a special case of the appearance of blondes in the Negroid race. A genetic mutation that disrupts the integrity of racial traits in a given group.

The origin of the races of man

Where did such a variety of signs of the appearance of people come from? There are two main hypotheses that explain the origin of the human races. It:

  • monocentrism;
  • polycentrism.

However, none of them has yet become an officially accepted theory. According to the monocentric point of view, initially, about 80 thousand years ago, all people lived in the same territory, therefore their appearance was approximately the same. However, over time, growing numbers have led to a wider settlement of people. As a result, some groups found themselves in difficult climatographic conditions.

This led to the development and consolidation at the genetic level of some morphological adaptations that help in survival. For example, dark skin and curly hair provide thermoregulation and a cooling effect on the head and body in Negroids. And the narrow cut of the eyes protects them from the ingress of sand and dust, as well as from being blinded by white snow in Mongoloids. The developed hairline of Europeans is a kind of thermal insulation in harsh winters.

Another hypothesis is called polycentrism. She says that different types of human races descended from several ancestral groups that were unevenly settled around the globe. That is, there were initially several foci, from which the development and consolidation of racial characteristics began. Again, influenced by climatographic conditions.

That is, the process of evolution proceeded linearly, simultaneously affecting the aspects of life on different continents. This is how the modern types of people were formed from several phylogenetic lineages. However, it is not necessary to assert for certain about the validity of this or that hypothesis, since there is no evidence of a biological and genetic nature, there is no molecular level.

Modern classification

The races of people, according to the estimates of current scientists, have the following classification. Two trunks stand out, and each of them has three large races and many small ones. It looks something like this.

1. Western trunk. Includes three races:

  • Caucasians;
  • capoids;
  • negroids.

The main groups of Caucasians are: Nordic, Alpine, Dinaric, Mediterranean, Falska, East Baltic and others.

Small races of capoids: Bushmen and Khoisans. They inhabit South Africa. In the fold above the eyelid, they are similar to the Mongoloids, but in other ways they differ sharply from them. The skin is not elastic, which is why all representatives are characterized by the appearance of early wrinkles.

Groups of Negroids: Pygmies, Nilots, Negroes. All of them are settlers from different parts of Africa, therefore, the signs of appearance are similar. Very dark eyes, the same skin and hair. Thick lips and lack of chin ridge.

2. East trunk. Includes the following large races:

  • Australoids;
  • americanoids;
  • Mongoloids.

Mongoloids are divided into two groups - northern and southern. These are the indigenous inhabitants of the Gobi Desert, which left its mark on the appearance of these people.

Americanoids are the population of the Americas. They are very tall, epicanthus is often developed, especially in children. However, the eyes are not as narrow as those of the Mongoloids. They combine the signs of several races.

Australoids are made up of several groups:

  • Melanesians;
  • Veddoids;
  • the Ainu;
  • Polynesians;
  • Australians.

Their characteristic features have been discussed above.

Small races

This concept is a rather highly specialized term that allows you to identify any person to any race. After all, each large is subdivided into many small ones, and they are already compiled on the basis of not only small external distinctive features, but also include data from genetic research, clinical analyzes, and the facts of molecular biology.

Therefore, small races are what makes it possible to more accurately reflect the position of each specific individual in the system of the organic world, and specifically, in the composition of the species Homo sapiens sapiens. What specific groups exist was discussed above.

Racism

As we found out, there are different races of people. Their signs can be very polar. This is what caused the emergence of the theory of racism. She says that one race is superior to another, since it is composed of more highly organized and perfect beings. At one time, this led to the emergence of slaves and their white masters.

However, from the point of view of science, this theory is completely absurd and untenable. The genetic predisposition to the development of certain skills and abilities is the same for all peoples. The proof that all races are biologically equal is the possibility of free interbreeding between them while maintaining the health and vitality of the offspring.

Question 1. What large races distinguish Homo sapiens within the species?
Homo sapiens are divided into three large races: Eurasian (Caucasoid), Asian-American (Mongoloid) and Australo-Negroid (equatorial).
Racial types differ in skin color, hair structure, eye shape. For the rest of the signs, they do not differ, since they belong to the same species - Homo Sapiens.
The Caucasoid race is characterized by: light skin pigmentation, soft hair (straight or wavy), abundant beard and mustache development, eyes from blue to brown and black.
The Mongoloid race is characterized by: hard dark hair, dark eyes, yellowish skin, flattened face, with prominent cheekbones, flat nose bridge, scoop-shaped incisors, epicanthus - a special fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye. The nose is rather narrow.
The Negroid race is characterized by: dark curly hair, dark skin and eyes, full lips, wide nose, weak or moderate development of the hairline, the facial part of the skull protrudes in a vertical plane.

Question 2. What are the mechanisms underlying the formation of human races?
It is known that there were many different physical types among the neoanthropes. As a result of migrations around the globe, individual populations of people sometimes adapted to diametrically opposite environmental conditions. Isolation contributed to the consolidation of traits and the emergence of races that were maximally adapted to local conditions. A classic example is the dark skin of Negroids, which protects them from solar radiation. Epicanthus among the Mongoloids served to protect the eyes from dust, which is abundant in the steppe, or from a snowstorm in the North.

Question 3. Give evidence of the unity of the origin of human races.
All races of man are of the same origin. The main evidence of this is the possibility of interracial marriages giving fertile offspring. Currently, due to the ease with which people move around the globe, the number of missed marriages is on the rise. For example, in Russia more than 45 million people belong to the transitional Caucasian-Mongoloid type. The mixing of races speaks of the species unity of man.
Other evidence of this unity is the anatomical and physiological similarities of races, the commonality of blood groups and diseases, the similarity (on a non-verbal, emotional level) of communication methods. Finally, the degree of genome differences in people of different races is about 0.1%, which is clearly less than the average level of interspecies differences (more than 1%).
Based on the determination of the number of alleles characteristic of a particular group of organisms, it is possible to determine the genetic distance between them. This value for large races of man is 0.03. It is much lower than the numbers typical for true subspecies (0.17-0.22), and even smaller in comparison with the interspecific distance (0.5-0.6 and more). In the animal kingdom, the genetic distance equal to 0.03 usually corresponds to the genetic differences between local populations from each other. All these data indicate that the concept of race is conditional, secondary and does not allow to bring a deep biological, and therefore a social basis, under the hierarchical classification of races.

Question 4. Why, in the process of evolution, none of the races reached the level of the species in their development?
The main reason for this is the insufficient time of evolution of Homo Sapiens. As a biological species, and the insufficient level of geographic isolation of human populations. In addition, in the course of human evolution, the significance of biological (racial) characteristics as objects of natural selection gave way to the social significance of the individual. That is, as society developed, selection affected specific racial qualities less and less, which slowed down the process of genetic division of races.
Question 5. What is the difference between race and nation?
Races are groups of people historically formed in certain geographic conditions, possessing common hereditary morphological and physiological characteristics. Differences between nations are formed as a result of economic, political, religious and other social (social) factors. Identity and cultural heritage are of great importance to the nation.

Question 1. What large races distinguish Homo sapiens within the species?

Homo sapiens are divided into three large races: Eurasian (Caucasoid), Asian-American (Mongoloid) and Australo-Negroid (equatorial).

Representatives of the Caucasian race are characterized by relatively light skin, soft straight or wavy hair, thin lips, and a narrow protruding nose. Men usually grow well beards and mustaches. Within the race, there is great variability in hair and eye color, therefore it is divided into three large parts: light-colored northern (Scandinavians), dark-colored southern (Indians, Arabs) and Central European with an intermediate type of pigmentation.

Typical representatives of the Mongoloid race have a dark yellowish skin, dark brown eyes, dark and straight coarse hair. In men, the hair on the body is poorly developed. For most Mongoloids, epicanthus is characteristic - a special fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye. The nose is rather narrow.

The equatorial race has black curly hair, very dark skin, and brown eyes. Beard and mustache grow poorly in men. The nose is rather flat, slightly protruding, with wide wings. Most have thick lips and a prominent jawbone skull.

Question 2. What are the mechanisms underlying the formation of human races?

It is known that there were many different physical types among the neoanthropes. As a result of migrations around the globe, individual populations of people sometimes adapted to diametrically opposite environmental conditions. Isolation contributed to the consolidation of traits and the emergence of races that were maximally adapted to local conditions. A classic example is the dark skin of Negroids, which protects them from solar radiation. Epicanthus among the Mongoloids served to protect the eyes from dust, which is abundant in the steppe, or from a snowstorm in the North.

Question 3. Give evidence of the unity of the origin of human races.

All races of man are of the same origin. The main evidence of this is the possibility of interracial marriages, which produce fertile offspring. Nowadays, due to the ease of movement of people around the globe, the number of mixed marriages is on the rise. For example, in Russia more than 45 million people belong to the transitional Caucasian-Mongoloid type. The mixing of races speaks of the species unity of man.

Other evidence of this unity is the anatomical and physiological similarities of races, the commonality of blood groups and diseases, the similarity (on a non-verbal, emotional level) of communication methods. Finally, the degree of genome differences in people of different races is about 0.1%, which is clearly less than the average level of interspecies differences (more than 1%).

Question 4. Why, in the process of evolution, none of the races reached the level of the species in their development?

The main reason for this is the insufficient time of evolution of Homo sapiens as a biological species, and the insufficient level of geographic isolation of human populations. In addition, in the course of human evolution, the significance of biological (racial) characteristics as objects of natural selection gave way to the social significance of the individual. That is, as society developed, selection affected specific racial qualities less and less, which slowed down the process of genetic division of races.

Question 5. What is the difference between race and nation?

Race is a biological entity, and genetic inheritance of specific traits is of paramount importance for its definition. Differences between nations are formed as a result of economic, political, religious and other social (social) factors. Identity and cultural heritage are of great importance to the nation.

Question 1. What large races distinguish Homo sapiens within the species?

Homo sapiens are divided into three large races: Eurasian (Caucasoid), Asian-American (Mongoloid) and Australo-Negroid (equatorial).

Representatives of the Caucasian race are characterized by relatively light skin, soft straight or wavy hair, thin lips, and a narrow protruding nose. Men usually grow well beards and mustaches. Within the race, there is great variability in the color of hair and eyes, therefore it is divided into three large parts: light-colored northern (Scandinavians), dark-colored southern (Indians, Arabs) and Central European with an intermediate type of pigmentation.

Typical representatives of the Mongoloid race have a dark yellowish skin, dark brown eyes, dark and straight coarse hair. In men, the hair on the body is poorly developed. For most Mongoloids, epicanthus is characteristic - a special fold of the upper eyelid that covers the inner corner of the eye. The nose is rather narrow.

The equatorial race has black curly hair, very dark skin, and brown eyes. Beard and mustache grow poorly in men. The nose is rather flat, slightly protruding, with wide wings. Most have thick lips and a prominent jawbone section of the skull.

Question 2. What are the mechanisms underlying the formation of human races?

It is known that there were many different physical types among the neoanthropes. As a result of migrations around the globe, individual populations of people sometimes adapted to diametrically opposite environmental conditions. Isolation contributed to the consolidation of traits and the emergence of races that were maximally adapted to local conditions. A classic example is the dark skin of Negroids, which protects them from solar radiation. Epicanthus among the Mongoloids served to protect the eyes from dust, which is abundant in the steppe, or from a snowstorm in the North.

Question 3. Give evidence of the unity of the origin of human races.

All races of man are of the same origin. The main evidence of this is the possibility of interracial marriages, which produce fertile offspring. Nowadays, due to the ease of movement of people around the globe, the number of mixed marriages is on the rise. For example, in Russia more than 45 million people belong to the transitional Caucasian-Mongoloid type. The mixing of races speaks of the species unity of man.

Other evidence of this unity is the anatomical and physiological similarities of races, the commonality of blood groups and diseases, the similarity (on a non-verbal, emotional level) of communication methods. Finally, the degree of genome differences in people of different races is about 0.1%, which is clearly less than the average level of interspecies differences (more than 1%).

Question 4. Why, in the process of evolution, none of the races reached the level of the species in their development?

The main reason for this is the insufficient time of evolution of Homo sapiens as a biological species, and the insufficient level of geographic isolation of human populations. In addition, in the course of human evolution, the significance of biological (racial) characteristics as objects of natural selection gave way to the social significance of the individual. That is, as society developed, selection affected specific racial qualities less and less, which slowed down the process of genetic division of races.

Question 5. What is the difference between race and nation?

Race is a biological entity, and genetic inheritance of specific traits is of paramount importance for its definition. Differences between nations are formed as a result of economic, political, religious and other social (social) factors. Identity and cultural heritage are of great importance to the nation.

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