The emergence of human races on earth. Races

The population of our planet is so diverse that one can only be surprised. What kind of nationalities and nationalities can you meet! Everyone has their own faith, customs, traditions, and orders. Its own beautiful and extraordinary culture. However, all these differences are formed only by people themselves in the process of social historical development. What lies behind 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 people themselves and formed over thousands of years of evolution. This is how modern human races were formed, which explain the visual diversity of human morphology theoretically. Let's take a closer look at what this term is, what its essence and meaning are.

The concept of "race of people"

What is race? This is not a nation, not a people, not a culture. 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 characteristics, 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 during evolutionary processes. Thus, the characteristics that underlie the division of people into races include:

height;
skin and eye color;
hair structure and shape;
hair growth of the skin;
structural features 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 completely identical biological springboards for the development of certain abilities. Their general karyotype is the same:

women - 46 chromosomes, that is, 23 XX pairs;
men - 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 to others, or higher. From a scientific point of view, everyone is equal.

The species of human races, formed over approximately 80 thousand years, have adaptive significance. It has been proven that each of them was formed with the aim of providing a person with the opportunity for a normal existence in a given habitat and facilitating adaptation to climatic, relief and other conditions. There is a classification showing which races of Homo sapiens existed before, and which ones exist today.

Classification of races

She's not alone. The thing is that until the 20th 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 any individual of the human species could be identified. However, later a classification became widespread that included only 3 human races. 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.

Large: Caucasoid (European), Mongoloid (Asian-American), Equatorial (Australian-Negroid).
Small: many different branches that formed from one of the large races.

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

Genetic research in recent years allows us to again talk about the division of the equatorial group into two. Let's consider all 4 races of people who stood out earlier and became relevant again recently. Let us note the signs and features.

Australoid race

Typical representatives of this group include the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, Melanesia, Southeast Asia, and India. The name of this race is also 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 group presented do not vary too much among themselves. There are several main features that characterize all small races of people of the Australoid group.

Dolichocephaly is an elongated shape of the skull in relation to the proportions of the rest of the body.
Deep-set eyes, wide slits. The color of the iris is predominantly dark, sometimes almost black.
The nose is wide, with a pronounced flat bridge.
The hair on the body is very well developed.
The hair on the head is dark in color (sometimes among Australians there are natural blondes, which was the result of a natural genetic mutation of the species that once took hold). Their structure is rigid, they can be curly or slightly curly.
People are of average height, often above average.
The physique is thin and elongated.

Within the Australoid group, people of different races differ from each other, sometimes quite strongly. So, a native Australian may be tall, blond, of a dense build, with straight hair and light brown eyes. At the same time, a 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 averaged version of their combined analysis. Naturally, crossbreeding also occurs - the 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 or large race.

Negroid race

The people who make up this group are the settlers of the following areas:

Eastern, Central and Southern Africa;
part of Brazil;
some peoples of the USA;
representatives of the West Indies.

In general, such races of people as Australoids and Negroids used to be united in the equatorial group. However, research in the 21st century has proven the inconsistency of this order. After all, the differences in the manifested characteristics between the designated races are too great. And some similar features are explained very simply. After all, the habitats of these individuals are very similar in terms of living conditions, and therefore the adaptations in appearance are also similar.

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

Very dark, sometimes bluish-black, skin color, as it is especially rich in melanin content.
Wide eye shape. They are large, dark brown, almost black.
The hair is dark, curly, and coarse.
Height varies, often low.
The limbs are very long, especially the arms.
The nose is wide and flat, the lips are very thick and fleshy.
The jaw lacks a chin protrusion and protrudes forward.
The ears are large.
Facial hair is poorly developed, and there is no beard or mustache.

Negroids are easy to distinguish from others by their external appearance. 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, etc.

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

Narrow or oblique eye shape.
The presence of an epicanthus - a specialized fold of skin aimed at covering the inner corner of the eye.
The color of the iris is from light to dark brown.
distinguished by brachycephaly (short head).
The superciliary ridges are thickened and strongly protruding.
Sharp, high cheekbones are well defined.
Facial hair is poorly developed.
The hair on the head is coarse, dark in color, and has a straight structure.
The nose is not wide, the bridge is located low.
Lips of different thicknesses, often narrow.
Skin color varies among different representatives from yellow to dark, and there are also light-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 numbers when comparing the main races of people. They populated almost all climatographic zones of the Earth. Close to them in terms of quantitative characteristics are Caucasians, whom we will consider below.

Caucasian

First of all, let’s designate the predominant habitats of people from this group. This:

Europe.
North Africa.
Western Asia.

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

Mesocephaly - medium-headedness in the structure of the skull.
Horizontal eye shape, lack of pronounced brow ridges.
A protruding narrow nose.
Lips of varying thickness, usually medium in size.
Soft curly or straight hair. There are blondes, brunettes, and brown-haired people.
Eye color ranges from light blue to brown.
Skin color also varies from pale, white to dark.
The hairline is very well developed, especially on the chest and face of men.
The jaws are orthognathic, that is, slightly pushed forward.

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

If you look at all the races of people, the photos of whose representatives are located below, the difference becomes obvious. However, sometimes the characteristics are mixed so deeply that identifying an individual becomes almost impossible. He is able to relate to two races at once. This is further aggravated by intraspecific mutation, which leads to the appearance of new characteristics.

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

Origin of the races of man

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

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, and therefore their appearance was approximately the same. However, over time, growing numbers led to a wider spread 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 for the head and body in Negroids. And the narrow shape of the eyes protects them from sand and dust, as well as from being blinded by white snow among Mongoloids. The developed hair of Europeans is a unique way of thermal insulation in harsh winter conditions.

Another hypothesis is called polycentrism. She says that different types of human races descended from several ancestral groups that were unequally distributed 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 aspects of life on different continents. This is how the formation of modern types of people from several phylogenetic lines took place. However, it is not possible to say for certain about the validity of this or that hypothesis, since there is no evidence of a biological and genetic nature, or at the molecular level.

Modern classification

The races of people, according to current scientists, have the following classification. There are two trunks, 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: Nordic, Alpine, Dinaric, Mediterranean, Falsky, East Baltic and others.

Small races of capoids: Bushmen and Khoisan. They inhabit South Africa. In terms of the fold above the eyelid, they are similar to the Mongoloids, but in other characteristics 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, blacks. All of them are settlers from different parts of Africa, so their appearance is similar. Very dark eyes, same skin and hair. Thick lips and lack of chin protuberance.

2. Eastern 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 North and South America. They are very tall and often have an epicanthus, especially in children. However, the eyes are not as narrow as those of the Mongoloids. They combine the characteristics of several races.

Australoids consist of several groups:

Melanesians;
Veddoids;
Ainians;
Polynesians;
Australians.

Their characteristic features were discussed above.

Minor races

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

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

Racism

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

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

The emergence of races

Until now, historians are haunted by the question of the origin of races. According to archaeological data, “homo sapiens” appeared about 40 thousand years ago, but even then there were differences between groups of people: the shape of the lower jaw, etc. It is quite difficult for modern scientists to classify them, since they are in no way connected with real racial characteristics, but still the fact of their presence takes place. It is believed that anthropological changes were associated with the territory on which the development and formation of a certain group of people took place, its climate and some other characteristics.

Classification of races

Human races are groups of people united by characteristic biological characteristics. They should not be confused with biological species - these individuals cannot have common offspring. For example, the extinct Neanderthals and our Cro-Magnon ancestors were different species and, therefore, their mixing could not have occurred. It has now been proven that all human races in the modern world belong to the same species. That is why there are many subraces (small races) that came from the merger of the main, “big” ones. Until now, scientists cannot agree among themselves which human races are considered the main ones. From three to thirty options are offered. Among the first are Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid. The Australoid race is a separate line. In Africa there are Bushmen and Pygmies, in America - Americanoid (Indians), in Japan - Kuril (Ainu) and in the north of Eurasia - Laponoid (Sami, Lapps).

Factors in the formation of races

The main factor in the emergence of any race of man is a natural moment. For example, melanin, the pigment responsible for skin color, is present in the cells of representatives of all humanity (with the exception of albinos, but this is a genetic disorder). A connection can be made between skin color and geographical characteristics, namely, sunlight, which decreases from the equator to the poles. The human body, among others, needs vitamin D, which is synthesized in an amount depending on the intake of ultraviolet rays. There are much more of them closer to the equator, so the process of vitamin D intake occurs faster. In order for this element to reach the northern people in the required quantity, a long process of evolution has led to the fact that the closer to the poles, the lighter the skin of the local population, the less melanin in their body, and the more sunlight they receive. In exactly the same way, a parallel can be drawn with the sinuses of the nose - the protruding Caucasian nose is designed to heat cold air, and the epicanthus in Mongoloids (the fold near the eye) is to protect the organ of vision from dust storms and steppe winds.

Current situation

The process of changing old races and the emergence of new races is continuous. When studying history, we operate over decades, hundreds and thousands of years, so we see a clear picture of the entire transformation of each human race. And even after just a few centuries, everything can change dramatically. As a result of mixing, ecology, and lifestyle, groups of people will acquire new characteristics, and historians’ debates regarding the classification of races will not lose relevance.

The current appearance of humanity is the result of the complex historical development of human groups and can be described by identifying special biological types - human races. It is assumed that their formation began to occur 30-40 thousand years ago, as a result of the settlement of people in new geographical areas. According to researchers, their first groups moved from the area of modern Madagascar to South Asia, then Australia, and a little later to the Far East, Europe and America. This process gave rise to the original races from which all subsequent diversity of peoples arose. The article will consider what main races are distinguished within the species Homo sapiens (reasonable humans), their characteristics and features.

The meaning of race

To summarize the definitions of anthropologists, a race is a historically established set of people who have 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 present, the relationship between race and area is not always clearly visible, but it certainly existed in the distant past.

The origins of the term "race" are uncertain, but there has been much debate in scientific circles over its use. In this regard, initially the term was ambiguous and conditional. There is an opinion that the word represents a modification of the Arabic lexeme ras - head or beginning. There is also good reason to believe that the term may be related to the Italian razza, which means "tribe". It is interesting that in its modern meaning this word is first found 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 human races were made 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 this division of humanity persisted. The Frenchman Francois Bernier tried to give a scientific classification of the main types of races in the 17th century. But more complete and constructed systems appeared only in the twentieth century.

It is known that there is no generally accepted classification, and they are all quite arbitrary. But in the anthropological literature they most often refer to Y. Roginsky and M. Levin. They identified three large races, which in turn are divided into small ones: Caucasian (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.

Characteristics of race

Classic racial characteristics are determined by a set of physical characteristics related to a person’s appearance and anatomy. The color and shape of the eyes, the shape of the nose and lips, the pigmentation of skin and hair, and the shape of the skull are the primary racial characteristics. There are also secondary features 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 racial studies. Racial characteristics are not interconnected by one or another biological dependence, therefore they form numerous combinations. But it is precisely 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 characteristics of a race include morphological, anatomical and other characteristics that have a stable hereditary nature and are minimally subject to environmental influences.

Caucasian

Almost 45% of the world's population belongs to the Caucasian race. The geographical discoveries of America and Australia allowed it to spread throughout the world. However, its main core is concentrated within Europe, the African Mediterranean and southwest Asia.

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

clearly profiled face;
pigmentation of hair, skin and eyes from the 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;
the fold of the upper eyelid is poorly formed;
developed hair on the body;
large hands and feet.

The composition of the Caucasoid race is divided into two large branches - northern and southern. The northern branch is represented by Scandinavians, Icelanders, Irish, English, Finns and others. South - 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 studied. According to some assumptions, the nation 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 dramatic changes in climatic conditions.

Signs of the Mongoloid race:

brown or black eyes with a slanting and narrow cut;
drooping upper eyelids;
moderately widened nose and lips of medium size;
skin color from yellow to brown;
straight, coarse dark hair;
strongly prominent cheekbones;
poorly developed hair on the body.

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 makes up 10% of humanity. It includes Negroid and Australoid groups, which mostly live in Oceania, Australia, tropical Africa and the regions of South and Southeast Asia.

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

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 part;
prominent lower face.

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

Minor 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 identify from 30 to 50 such groups. The Caucasoid race consists of the following types: White Sea-Baltic, Atlanto-Baltic, Central European, Balkan-Caucasian (Pontozagros) and Indo-Mediterranean.

The Mongoloid group distinguishes: Far Eastern, South Asian, North Asian, Arctic and American types. It is worth noting that some classifications tend to consider the last of them as an independent large race. In today's Asia, the most dominant are the Far Eastern (Koreans, Japanese, Chinese) and South Asian (Javanese, Sunda, Malay) types.

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

Mixed Races

In addition to second-order races, there are also mixed and transitional races. Presumably they were 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 characteristics of three main races: prognathism, prominent cheekbones, soft hair and others. The bearers of such characteristics are the Finno-Permian peoples. Or the Ural, which is represented by Caucasian and Mongoloid populations. She is characterized by the following dark straight hair, moderate skin pigmentation, brown eyes, and medium hair. Distributed mostly in Western Siberia.

Until the 20th century, representatives of the Negroid race were not found in Russia. During the period of cooperation with developing countries, about 70 thousand blacks remained living in the USSR.
Only one Caucasian race is capable of producing lactase throughout its life, which is involved in the digestion of milk. In other major races, this ability is observed only in infancy.
Genetic studies have determined that fair-skinned residents 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 discover Native Americans or Africans in their ancestors.
The DNA of all inhabitants of the planet, regardless of external differences (skin color, hair texture), is 99.9% the same, therefore, from the standpoint of genetic research, the existing concept of “race” loses its meaning.

Striving to explain origin of human races goes back to ancient times. In particular, the ancient Greeks called the cause of the emergence of the black race Phaeton, the son of the sun god Helios, who flew too close to the ground in his father’s chariot and burned white people. The Bible traced the origin of human races to the skin color of the sons of Noah, whose offspring were people with different characteristics.

The first attempts to scientifically substantiate raceogenesis date back to the 17th-18th centuries. The first to propose their classifications were the French physician Francois Bernier in 1684 and the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus in 1746, who identified four races of people. Linnaeus based his classification on psychosomatic signs in addition to physiological ones.

The first who began to use skull parameters in the classification of races was the German scientist Johann Blumenbach, who in the 70s of the 18th century identified five races: Caucasian, Mongolian, American, African and Malay. He also relied on the then prevailing ideas about the greater beauty and mental development of the white race compared to others.

In the 19th century, many more complex and ramified classifications appeared; researchers began to distinguish small races within large ones, most often focusing on cultural and linguistic characteristics. In this series are, for example, the classification of J. Virey, who divided the white and black races into their constituent tribes, or the classifications of J. Saint-Hilaire and T. Huxley, who identified four or five main and many minor races that constitute them.

In the 20th century, two main approaches to characterizing races and their classification dominated: typological and population. With the typological approach, the definition of race was carried out on the basis of stereotypes that were believed to be inherent to the entire race. It was believed that the races had some absolute differences. These differences were identified based on the descriptions of individual individuals. Among the typological classifications is the classification of I.E. Deniker, who was guided exclusively by biological characteristics and based his classification on hair type and eye color, thereby dividing humanity into six main groups, within which races were distinguished.

With the development of population genetics, the typological approach has shown its inconsistency. To a greater extent, the population approach is scientifically sound, considering not individual individuals, but groups of their populations. Classifications using this approach are based not on stereotypes, but on genetic traits. At the same time, many transitional races are distinguished, between which there are no absolute differences.

Basic hypotheses of the origin of races

There are several main hypotheses of the origin of human races: polycentrism (polyphyly), dicentrism and monocentrism (monophyly).

The polycentrism hypothesis, one of the creators of which was the German anthropologist Franz Weidenreich, suggests the existence of four centers of origin of races: in East Asia (the center of the Mongoloids), in Southeast Asia (Australoids), sub-Saharan Africa (Negroids) and Europe (Caucasoids).

This hypothesis was criticized and rejected as erroneous, since science does not know cases of the formation of one species of animals in different centers, but with the same evolutionary path.

The dicentrism hypothesis, advanced in the 1950s and 60s, offered two approaches to explaining the origins of races. According to the first, the center of formation of Caucasoids and Negroids was in Western Asia, and the center of formation of Mongoloids and Australoids was in Southeast Asia. From these centers, Caucasoids began to settle throughout Europe, Negroids - along the tropical belt, and Mongoloids initially settled in Asia, after which some of them went to the American continent. The second approach of the dicentrism hypothesis places the Caucasoid, Negroid and Australoid races in one trunk of raceogenesis, and the Mongoloid and Americanoid races in another.

Just like the polycentrism hypothesis, the dicentrism hypothesis was rejected by the scientific community for similar reasons.

The monocentrism hypothesis is based on the recognition of the same mental and physical level of all races and their origin from one common ancestor in one fairly extended place. Supporters of monocentrism attribute the region of race formation to the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia, from where human ancestors began to settle into other regions, gradually forming many smaller racial groups.

Stages of the origin of human races

Genetic studies date the exodus of modern humans from Africa to a period of 80-85 thousand years ago, and archaeological research confirms that already 40-45 thousand years ago people living outside Africa had certain racial differences. The formation of the first prerequisites for the formation of races, therefore, should have occurred in the period 80-40 thousand years ago.

V.P. Alekseev in 1985 identified four main stages in the origin of human races. He attributed the first stage to the time of the formation of modern man, that is, 200 thousand years ago. According to Alekseev, at the first stage, the formation of primary foci of race formation took place and two main trunks of race formation were formed: the western, which includes Caucasoids, Negroids and Australoids, and the eastern, which includes Mongoloids and Americanoids. At the second stage (15-20 thousand years ago), secondary centers of race formation emerged, and the formation of evolutionary branches began within the western and eastern racial trunks. Alekseev attributed the third stage to the period 10-12 thousand years ago, when the formation of local races began in tertiary centers of race formation. At the fourth stage (3-4 thousand years BC), the differentiation of races began to deepen and came to its modern state.

Factors of origin of human races

Natural selection had the greatest influence on the formation of human races. During the formation of races, such characteristics were fixed in populations that made it possible to better adapt to the conditions of the population’s habitat. For example, skin color affects the synthesis of vitamin D, which regulates calcium balance: the more melanin it contains, the more difficult it is for sunlight, which stimulates the production of vitamin D, to penetrate deep into the body. Thus, to get enough of the vitamin and have a normal balance of calcium in the body, people with lighter skin need to be further from the equator than people with dark skin.

The difference in facial features and body type among representatives of different races is also due to natural selection. It is generally accepted that the elongated nose of Caucasians evolved as a means of preventing hypothermia in the lungs. The flat nose of Negroids, on the contrary, contributes to better cooling of the air entering the lungs.

Other factors influencing the formation of human races are genetic drift, as well as isolation and mixing of populations. Thanks to genetic drift, the genetic structure of populations changes, which entails a slow change in the appearance of people.

Isolation of populations contributes to changes in the genetic composition within them. During isolation, the characteristics characteristic of the population at the beginning of isolation begin to be reproduced, as a result of which, over time, the differences in its appearance from the appearance of other populations will increase. This happened, for example, with the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, who developed separately from the rest of humanity for 20 thousand years.

The mixing of populations leads to an increase in the diversity of their genotypes, as a result of which a new race is formed. Nowadays, with the growth of the planet's population, the intensification of globalization processes, and the migration of people, the process of mixing of representatives of different races is also intensifying. The percentage of mixed marriages is increasing, and, according to many researchers, in the future this may lead to the formation of a single human race.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Among the racial characteristics characteristic of Caucasians, depigmentation of the skin, hair and iris of the eyes could have been subject to the action of natural selection in the early stages of human history. Predominantly recessive mutations of the genes that determine these traits had the greatest chance of survival and normal reproduction in northern Europe, where during the Ice Age and post-glacial time a cool or even cold, humid climate prevailed with significant cloudiness and, therefore, with reduced insolation. Light-skinned, fair-haired and light-eyed Northern Caucasians still tolerate direct sunlight much worse than representatives of other races. Extremely depigmented red-haired people, in most cases light-skinned and light-eyed, suffer especially greatly from increased insolation. These people hardly tan, that is, their skin does not produce the additional pigment melanin, which protects against the harmful effects of the sun. Among the northern continental Mongoloids of Siberia there is also some tendency towards depigmentation of hair, eyes and especially skin. For example, the Tungus peoples of Siberia (Evenks, Evens, etc.) are much lighter-skinned compared to the Mongols or, especially, the Chinese. Some groups of Evenks and Evens have mixed and even light eyes, as well as light brown and reddish hair.

N.P. Neverova and co-authors noted that gynoxic syndrome in the indigenous population of the Arctic leads to a cylindrical chest structure and low concentration of ascorbic acid as a result of increased consumption with increased redox processes in cold climates. People arriving in the Arctic for the first time experience an increase in the tone of the respiratory muscles, an increase in the speed of blood flow, an increase in the hemoglobin content and oxygen capacity of the blood. H. Erickson, studying the Eskimos of Cape Barray and Americans living in the same conditions, found higher rates of oxygen absorption in Eskimos (324 ml/min.) than in Americans of Caucasian origin (299 ml/min.). T.I. Alekseeva, analyzing the geographical distribution of cholesterol in blood serum, discovered a general tendency for its increase in the northern regions of the ecumene:

in Canadian Eskimos - from 139.2 to 176.4 mg%, in Alaskan Eskimos - from 202.8 to 214.4 mg%, in Eskimos of the Chukotka Peninsula and Chukchi - from 184.4 to 202.1 mg%, among the Sami of the Kola Peninsula - 202.2 mg%, among the forest Nenets - 131.4 mg%. Very high cholesterol levels are a reflection of a high fat diet. Eskimos have no atherosclerosis. In Caucasian populations, with a high content of fat in the diet and cholesterol in the blood, the percentage of atherosclerosis is also high. In Arctic populations, high levels of cholesterol in the blood serve to ensure higher energy processes in the body. A group of physiologists led by A.P. Milovanov (Institute of Human Morphology of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences) discovered and described stable pulmonary hypertension in residents of the extreme northeast of the USSR (Magadan region) and the European North (Nenets Autonomous Okrug). Increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary circle from 18.3 to 60.4 mm Hg. Art. noted already in the first 3-12 months. after moving to the North, is accompanied by a violation of adaptation. Thus, healthy men begin to complain of shortness of breath during physical activity. Over the next 10 years, the pressure decreases to 47.6 mmHg. Art. (European North). The decrease is accompanied by an improvement in respiratory function. Indigenous residents of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, both Russians and Nenets, also have pulmonary hypertension, reaching 43.9 mm Hg. Art. in the absence of any complaints. Particularly high blood pressure (42.2 mm Hg) was found among Nenets reindeer herders who perform a large amount of physical work. This indicates the adaptive significance of pulmonary hypertension. The cause of hypertension is difficulty in exhaling caused by a combination of cold and wind. The primary reaction is spasm of the small bronchi, which warms and humidifies the inhaled air, but at the same time leads to a decrease in the volume of pulmonary ventilation. This causes spasm of the arterioles, causing an increase in pulmonary arterial pressure. When living in the North for a long time, hypertension is maintained due to the proliferation of the medial lining of the arterioles. Mehan Ts., studying thermoregulation in Eskimos and Alaska Indians in comparison with blacks and whites, discovered a higher temperature of the fingers during the entire cooling period. K. Andersen determined that the Lapps had a higher leg temperature and greater metabolic stability under cooling conditions than the Europeans of Norway. Thus, the aborigines of the North have adaptive genetic mechanisms that determine gas exchange and thermoregulation.

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

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

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

America, as we have seen, was populated at about the same time as Australia, mainly by ancient Mongoloids from North-East Asia, who had not yet developed many characteristic facial features (narrow eye shape, epicanthus, low nose bridge, etc. ). When people mastered the various climatic zones of America, adaptation, apparently, no longer played a significant role, since such sharp racial differences did not form here as in Eurasia and Africa. Still, it is worthy of attention that some groups of Indians of California and the tropical zone of South America (especially the Siriono of Brazil and Bolivia), as well as Fuegians, often have a combination of such “equatorial” features as dark skin, narrowly wavy or even curly hair. hair, wide nose, thick lips, etc. It is quite possible that here, too, at one time there was an increased concentration of mutants similar to the equatorial adaptive mutants of Africa and South Asia.

The action of natural selection on the formation of ancient equatorial, Caucasian and Mongoloid races in the Late Paleolithic does not exhaust the complex processes of raceogenesis. Above, in a review of various serological, odontological, dermatoglyphic and other areal characteristics, we saw that according to some of them, humanity can be divided into two large groups of populations - Western and Eastern. The first group includes African Negroids and Caucasians, the second group includes Mongoloids (including American Indians). The Australoids of Southeast Asia and Oceania occupy a transitional position between these groups; in most adaptive racial characteristics of pigmentation, hair shape, structure of the nose, lips, etc., they show similarities with African Negroids, which gives the right to some anthropologists to unite both of them into one equatorial, or Negro-Australoid, large race. However, in many features of teeth, blood, finger patterns and other neutral (non-adaptive) characteristics, Australoids differ from Negroids and are closer to Mongoloids. With the accumulation of new data on the geographical distribution of such characteristics, the hypothesis about the initial division of humanity into two halves - Western and Eastern - becomes more and more justified. The first group of populations can also be called Euro-African, or Mediterranean-Atlantic, and the second - Asian-Oceanic, or Pacific.

Thus, the relationship of Australoids with Negroids turns out to be no greater than with the main groups of races, and the designation “equatorial races” is not genetic, but only descriptive and geographical in nature. At the same time, the belonging of all modern and fossil people, starting from the Late Paleolithic period, to one species, Homo sapiens, as we have seen, is undoubtedly. The process of sapientation, i.e., the formation of people of the modern species, should have preceded race formation, which does not exclude the involvement of the descendants of ancient presapient human populations in this process. The hypothesis about the existence of several foci of sapientation (polycentrism), defended by some foreign and Soviet anthropologists (for example, F. Weidenreich, K. S. Kuhn, V. P. Alekseev, etc.) in the light of the latest paleoanthropological materials is doubtful. N. N. Cheboksarov writes in the book “Ethnic Anthropology of China” that “not only China, but also East Asia as a whole could not be the “ancestral home” of the human family (hominids), since in this region there are no bone remains of great apes (anthropoids) ), who could be their ancestors. The latest archaeological and paleoanthropological materials suggest that the ancestors of the most ancient people (Archanthropus), represented by Sinanthropus from Lantian, Zhoukoudian and Yuanmou, as well as Pithecanthropus of Indonesia, came to these countries at the beginning of the Pleistocene from the west, most likely from East Africa, where many Soviet and foreign scientists, following Charles Darwin, are searching for the ancestral homeland of hominids. The species Homo sapiens, formed under the influence of natural selection as an adaptive system, like all other species of plants and animals, is unique; it arose in one focus and in one era, on the basis of a single, albeit widely dispersed macropopulation with a common gene pool and a complex internal structure. The initial areal differences between the western and eastern populations of Homo sapiens began to take shape, probably, only at the dawn of the Late Paleolithic and concerned mainly neutral odontological, dermatoglyphic, serological and other signs of a discrete nature. In the formation of these differences, a large role was played by genetic-automatic processes, which were stimulated by the temporary, rather long-term isolation of individual initially small groups of neoanthropes, who moved in the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic from the western regions of the ecumene to the eastern. The Australoid and Mongoloid races that emerged later (not earlier than the end of the Late Paleolithic) inherited many of these areal differences from their ancestors and, in turn, passed them on to their descendants, in whom they have been preserved, at least in part, to the present day. V.P. Alekseev believes that “the emergence of modern man occurred in two places. The first of them is Western Asia, possibly with adjacent areas; the second is the area between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers and adjacent areas. The ancestors of Caucasoids and Negroids were formed in Western Asia, and the ancestors of Mongoloids were formed in China.” However, the hypothesis about the formation of Homo sapiens in two independent foci on the basis of different subspecies of archanthropes and paleoanthropes is in conflict with the general laws of evolution of the organic world under the influence of natural selection established by Charles Darwin and does not agree with irrefutable data on the species unity of all ancient modern human populations. Many foreign and most Soviet scientists (Y. No-meshkeri, T. Liptak, P. Boev, P. Vlahovich, Y. Ya. Roginsky, V. I. Vernadsky, M. G. Levin, N. N. Cheboksarov, V. P. Yakimov, M. I. Uryson, A. A. Zubov, Yu. G. Rychkov, V. M. Kharitonov, etc.) stand in the position of monocentrism - a single focus of the formation of people of the modern species. Sapientation, which probably began at the turn of the Middle and Late Paleolithic in the Eastern Mediterranean, captured areas of South-West and South Asia and then more and more new territories as rapidly multiplying mobile sapient populations settled and mixed with different groups of ancient people (Neanderthals), which, as a result of this process, were saturated with sapiens genes and were involved in the general course of the formation of modern humans and their spread from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the northwest to Europe, south to Africa and east to the depths of the Asian continent up to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It can be assumed that most Neanderthal populations, including their specialized forms, were to one degree or another involved in the process of sapientation. Only some marginal (marginal) groups of Neanderthals (for example, the Rhodesians in Africa or the Ngandong people in Java) could die out and not take part in this process. In the process of this settlement, already in the Late Paleolithic, under the influence of temporary, rather long-term isolation, a division of humanity of a single origin into western and eastern halves arose, and somewhat later the formation of four main groups of human races began: Australoid, Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid.