The Caucasian race, sometimes called the Caucasoid race,[1][2] is defined by the Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English as "relating to a broad division of humankind covering peoples from Europe, Western Asia, parts of the Indian Subcontinent and North Africa" or "white-skinned; of European origin" or "relating to the region of the Caucasus in SE Europe". The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English is a one-volume Dictionary published by Oxford University Press. Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan White People is the second album by Handsome Boy Modeling School. The European peoples are the various Nations and Ethnic groups of Europe. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East [3] The concept originated in attempts chiefly by 19th c. European thinkers to develop a method of racial classification. This typological method was discredited and the concept is not relied on in scientific work related to humans. [4][5] However, it survives along with the similar classification "white" on many sociological studies, most of which require respondents to choose their "race" from a list of terms. Some also allow "other" or "mixed". The idea is to use the self-selected classification (sometimes selected by the surveyor by appearance) for correllational studies, sometimes in conjunction with other sciences, especially medicine and public health. People in Europe, especially in Russia and nearby, generally use the term "Caucasian" exclusively to identify people who are from the Caucasus region or who speak the Caucasian languages. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains which lie between
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The term "Caucasian" originated as one of the racial categories developed in the 19th century by people studying craniology. Craniometry is the technique of measuring the Bones of the Skull. It was derived from the region of the Caucasus mountains[6]. The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East The 18th century German philosopher Christoph Meiners first named the concept of the Caucasian race[7], but the term was more widely popularized in the 19th c. Christoph Meiners (1747-1810 was a German philosopher He supported a Polygenist theory of human origins under the name "Varietas Caucasia" by the German scientist and naturalist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) who "borrowed the name Caucasian" from Meiners. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach ( May 11, 1752 – January 22, 1840) was a German doctor and Physiologist, [8] Blumenbach based the classification of the Caucasian race primarily on skull features, which Blumenbach claimed were optimized by the Caucasian peoples,[9] particularly a single skull from the Caucasia which resembled German skulls. This article deals with the various Ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region [10] It was from this similarity that he conjectured Europeans having arisen in the Caucasia. [10] Blumenbach wrote about the "primeval"[7] Caucasian race which he believed was "the oldest race of man"[7] and the "first variety of humankind"[7].
Caucasian variety - I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind[11]
In 1855, French diplomat and man of letters Arthur de Gobineau popularized ideas about race: "I must say, once and for all, that I understand by white men the members of those races which are also called Caucasian[12]. . . [these] white races. . . had their first settlement in the Caucasus. "[12]
The Caucasus was historically an area of fascination for Europeans. Myths of the Caucasus featured Prometheus and Jason and the Argonauts. In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Προμηθεύς "forethought" is a Titan known for his wily intelligence who stole Fire from Zeus [13] Greek mythology considered women from the Caucasus to have magical powers. [7], such as Medea of Jason and the Argonauts fame. Medea (Μήδεια Mēdeia) in Greek mythology was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of In Greek mythology, this area was thought of as a kind of hell since Zeus imprisoned many Titans who opposed him (e. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology g. Prometheus) there. In Greek mythology, Prometheus (Προμηθεύς "forethought" is a Titan known for his wily intelligence who stole Fire from Zeus In this sense, these Titans were banished outside the civilized world to an area inhabited by Colchians. In ancient Geography, Colchis or Kolchis ( Georgian and Laz: კოლხეთი k'olxeti; Greek:, Kolchís The Greeks considered them barbaric. [14]
Among the main racial group of Caucasians there are three subgroups; Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean. The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many Western anthropologists classified humans into a variety of races and subraces The Mediterranean race was one of the three sub-categories into which the people of Europe were divided by anthropologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
18th century anthropologist Christoph Meiners, who first defined the Caucasian race, posited a "binary racial scheme" of two races with the Caucasian whose racial purity was exemplified by the "venerated. . . ancient Germans", although he considered some Europeans as impure "dirty whites"; and "Mongolians", who consisted of everyone else. [7] Meiners did not include the Jews as Caucasians and ascribed them a "permanently degenerate nature". PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ [15] Anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, Meiners' contemporary, stated, "to this first variety [Caucasians] belong the inhabitants of Europe (except the Lapps and the remaining descendents of the Finns) and those of Eastern Asia, as far as the river Obi, the Caspian Sea, the Ganges and the Basque Country; and lastly, those of North Africa" [7]. The Sami people are the Indigenous people of northern Europe inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway The terms Finns and Finnish people ( Finnish: suomalaiset, Swedish: finländare) are used in English to Ob River (Обь also Obi, is a major river in West Siberia, Russia, the country's fourth longest The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged Sea. The Ganges (ˈgænʤiːz also Ganga, Devanāgarī: hi गंगा in most Indian languages) is the major river in the Indian subcontinent French doctor and pharmacist Jean Joseph-Virey[16] also known as "Julien-Joseph Virey"[17] or "Jean-Julien Virey"[18] followed Meiners' racial system. Hannah Franzieka identified 19th c. writers who believed in the "Caucasian hypothesis" and noted that "Jean-Julien Virey and Louis Antoine Desmoulines were well-known supports of the idea that Europeans came from Mount Caucasus. "[18] In his political history of racial identity, Bruce Baum wrote,"Jean-Joseph Virey (1774-1847), a follower of Chistoph Meiners, claimed that "the human races. . . may divided. . . into those who are fair and white and those who are dark or black. "[19]
Early 20th century anthropologist Carleton Coon wrote in the 1930s that within the Caucasoid race there is a "third division [Mediterraneans which]. . . included. . . southern India" but remarked this group had "facial features of a Veddoid character which in some instances suggest Australoid affinities. "Vedda" and "Veddas" redirect here For the Sanskrit texts see Vedas. "[20] He further elaborated that in India there are "Veddoids. . . individuals who are to all extents and purposes Australoid. " Regarding the exact racial composition of India, Coon admitted, "[T]he racial history of southern Asia has not yet been thoroughly worked out, and it is too early to postulate what these relationships may be. . . [I] shall leave the problems of Indian physical anthropology in the competent hands of Guha and of Bowles. "[20]
In 1995, geneticist Cavalli-Sforza wrote, "[T]he Caucasoids are mainly fair-skinned peoples, but this group also includes the southern Indians, who live in tropical areas and show signs of a marked darkening in skin pigmentation, although their facial and body traits are Caucasoid rather than African or Australian. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (born January 25, 1922) is an Italian population geneticist born in Genoa, who has been a professor at "[21]
18th century anthropologist Christoph Meiners, who first defined the term, characterized the "Caucasian" as having the characteristics of "lightness", "beauty" and being "handsome" with the "ancient Germans" having the "whitest, most blooming and most delicate skin" because they were the most racially pure Caucasians. [7] 18th century anthropologist Johann Blumenbach, the second person to define the term, considered Caucasians to be the top of "racial hierarchy" he organized where, "the white color holds the first place, such as it is that most Europeans. The redness of cheeks in this variety is almost peculiar to it: at all events it is but seldom seen in the rest. " and described Caucasians as, "Color white, Cheeks rosy; hair brown or chestnut-colored; head subglobular; face oval, straight, its parts moderately defined, forehead smooth, nose narrow, slightly hooked, mouth small. The primary teeth placed perpendicularly to each jaw: the lips (especially the lower one) moderately open, the chin full and rounded. "[7]
In 2003, the term "Caucasoid race" is a term used in physical anthropology to refer to people of a certain range of anthropometric measurements [22]. Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology is a branch of Anthropology that studies the mechanisms of biological Evolution, genetic inheritance Anthropometry ( Greek άνθρωπος man and μέτρον measure literally meaning "measurement of humans" in Physical anthropology, refers to the
However, some anthropologists point to Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis and Nubians who exhibit phenotypical traits such as orthognathism, keen facial features and non-kinky hair texture usually exclusive to Caucasoid peoples. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known The Nubians (Arabic نوبي Nuubi are an ethnic group originally from northern Sudan, now inhabiting East Africa and some parts of Northeast Africa in southern Egypt They contend such variations are indigenous to these groups and cannot be attributed to invasions from outside Caucasoid peoples as suggested under the Dynastic Race Theory and in more recent biological studies. The Dynastic Race Theory was the earliest thesis to attempt to explain how predynastic Egypt developed into the Pharonic monarchy [23] Such phenotypical variations, they argue, often occur within nuclear family groups and are inherent to what they term "Africoid" peoples, much as there are broad variations in physical stature and body proportions between the Pygmies of the Congo, who generally reach a height of 4. Pygmies (singular Pygmy) refers to a member of any human group whose adult males grow to less than 150 cm (4 feet 11 inches in average height or less than 155 cm The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. 5 feet, and of the Tutsi of Rwanda, whose average height is 6. The Tutsi are one of three native Peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa, the other two being the Twa The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the 5 feet and who are described as "gracile", or gracefully slender. [24] Similarly, they continue, African peoples commonly considered "Negroid" such as the Senegalese also sometimes lack prognathism. Senegal (le Sénégal officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. [25].
This view, however, has no shortage of critics whom argue that a segment of the Wolof people of Senegal possesses Caucasoid maternal admixture which could very well explain the relatively attenuated prognathism attributed to some members of that population. Prognathism is a term used to describe the positional relationship of the Mandible and/or Maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws protrudes Critics also point out that the so-called "elongated" physique common to many Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis is strictly an adaptive response to living in a tropical environment and not a sign of shared racial ancestry with neighboring black groups as has been proposed:
The elongation of the distal segments of the limbs is also clearly related to the dissipation of metabolically generated heat. Because heat stress and latitude are clearly related, one would expect to find a correlation between the two sets of traits that are associated with adaptation to survival in areas of great ambient temperature, namely, skin color and limb proportions. This is clearly the case in such areas as Equatorial Africa, the tropical portions of South Asia, and northern Australia, although there is little covariation with other sets of inherited traits. In this regard it is interesting to note that the limb proportions of the Predynastic Naqada in Upper Egypt are reported to be "super-Negroid", meaning that the distal segments are elongated in the fashion of tropical Africans. It would be just as accurate to call them "super-Veddoid" or "super-Carpentarian" because skin color intensification and distal limb elongation are apparent wherever people have been long-term residents of the tropics. The term "super-tropical" would be better, as it implies the results of selection associated with a given latitude rather than the more "racially loaded" term "Negroid. [26]
With the turn away from racial theory in the late 20th century, the term "Caucasian" as a racial classification fell into disuse in Europe. The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets In Germany and Russia, the term "Europid" or "Europoid" is used. Consequently, in the United Kingdom, the term "Caucasian" is more likely than in the United States to describe people from the Caucasus, although it may still be used as a racial classification. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [27] Sarah A Tishkoff and Kenneth K Kidd state, "Despite disagreement among anthropologists, this classification remains in use by many researchers, as well as lay people. "[28] According to Leonard Lieberman, Rodney C. Kirk, and Alice Littlefield, the concept of race has all but been completely rejected by modern mainstream anthropology. [29] In 2003, United States National Library of Medicine stopped using the term Caucasian race in favor of the term "European". The United States National Library of Medicine ( NLM) operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest Medical library. [30] In the United States, "Caucasian" has been mainly a distinction based on skin color with "white" or light complexion. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Caucasians are also distinguished as a people who are, or whose ancestors were, "from Europe" . [7] Whether "Caucasian", "white", or "European" is used, it is also common in studies today to use the term "Latin" or "Latino/Latina", asking those with ancestral origins from Spain or Portugal to check that instead. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.