Major nations of the world by region of the world. What is ethnicity - concept, examples, ethnic relations

The largest nations of the world May 12th, 2012

Modern science is not yet able to answer the question of what is the exact number of peoples on Earth and how many of them are nations, nationalities and other types of ethnic groups. Most often, ethnographers define total There are between 2200 and 2400 peoples on the planet.
Only 24 of them have a population exceeding 50 million people. And out of twenty-four, nine represent India.

The largest people on Earth are the Chinese (self-name - Han), who currently number 1 billion 310 million people. This represents 19% of the total population of our planet.
Chinese actor and director Jackie Chan

In second place among the largest nations on Earth are the Arabs, who currently number about 350 million people.
Arab actor Omar Sharif

The Hindustanis are in third place among the largest nations on Earth, but they can only be called a single people conditionally. Hindustani are a group of ethnic groups in India, which are united by the unity of the language - Hindi. Currently, more than 330 million people speak Western and eastern dialects Hindi.
Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, Hindustani by nationality

The fourth largest population among the peoples of the Earth is occupied by Americans (314 million people). Americans are a group of different origins national groups who are US citizens and carriers American culture, as a result of which they claim to be called a single people.
US President Barack Obama with his family

In fifth place among the largest peoples on the planet are the Bengalis - the main population of the state of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. The total number of Bengalis in the world is more than 250 million (about 150 million in Bangladesh and about 100 million in India).
Indian writer and poet Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali by nationality

In sixth place among the largest nations on Earth are the Brazilians (193 million people) - a nation that was formed in the same way as the American nation - by mixing different ethnic groups.
Brazilian fashion model Camila Alves

The seventh largest people on Earth are Russians, of whom there are about 150 million people in the world, of which 116 million live in Russia, 8.3 million in Ukraine, 3.8 million in Kazakhstan. Russians are the largest people in Europe.
19th-century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy

Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova

The eighth largest people on the planet are Mexicans, of whom there are 147 million people in the world, of which 112 million people. live in Mexico and 32 million in the USA.
Mexican Ximena Navarrete - Miss Universe 2010

The ninth largest people in the world are the Japanese (130 million people).
Japanese actress Kyoko Fukada

Punjabis close the top ten largest nations on Earth. There are 120 million Punjabis in the world, of which 76 million are lives in Pakistan and 29 million in India.
Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, Punjabi by nationality

There are 11 nations in the world, numbering more than 100 million people. These peoples, in addition to the above, also include the Biharis, who mainly live in the Indian state of Bihar. There are 105 million Biharis in the world.
Indian actress Sonakshi Sinha is of Bihari ethnicity

The 12th largest people in the world are the Javanese (85 million people), indigenous people Java islands in Indonesia.
Javanka Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia

The 13th largest people on the planet are Koreans. There are 81 million Koreans in the world, of which 50 million live in South Korea and 24 million in North Korea.
South Korean actors Song Seung Heon (left) and Song Hye Kyo

The 14th largest people in the world - the Marathas (80 million people) - are the main population of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Indian actress Madhuri Dixit is from the Maratha people.

The 15th largest people on Earth are the Tamils, of whom there are 77 million people in the world, of which 63 million live in India.
Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand (Tamil by nationality), current champion world chess.

There are approximately the same number of Vietnamese (Viets) in the world as there are Tamils ​​(77 million people).
Truong Tri Truc Diem (born 1987) – singer, actress, ambassador good will UNESCO. Represented Vietnam twice international competitions beauty: in 2007 she took part in the Miss Earth contest, and in 2011 in the Miss International contest.

Another large nation is the Germans. There are 75 million Germans in Germany. If we also count persons German origin, then we get a more impressive figure - 150 million people. For example, in the United States, 60 million people have German ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group among Americans.
German actress Diane Kruger

The Telugu people, the main population of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, also number at least 75 million.
Indian spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, Telugu by nationality.

About 70 million people are Thai - the main population of Thailand.
Thai Piyaporn Deejin, Miss Thailand 2008

About 65 million people are Turks.
Tuba Büyüküstün is a Turkish actress.

Also, at least 65 million people are Gujaratis - the main population of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarati by nationality

One of the largest peoples in Europe and the world is the French (64 million people).
Catherine Deneuve - French actress

Another European nation, one of the largest nations in the world, is the Italians. 60 million Italians live in Italy
Claudia Cardinale - Italian actress

About 60 million people are Sindhis. 53.5 million Sindhis live in Pakistan and about 6 million Sindhis live in India.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto is a Sindhi.

Despite the efforts of historians and ethnographers, the history of these peoples still keeps its mysteries.

1. Russians

Yes, Russians are one of the most mysterious peoples. Scientists still cannot come to a consensus either about when Russians became “Russians” or about where this word actually came from. The question of the origin of the people remains controversial. The ancestors of the Russians included the Normans, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the Wends, and even the South Siberian Usun people.

We do not know the origins of the Maya people, nor where they disappeared to. Some scientists trace the roots of the Mayans to the legendary Atlanteans, others believe that their ancestors were the Egyptians. The Mayans created an effective farming system and had deep knowledge of astronomy. The calendar developed by the Mayans was also used by other peoples of Central America. They used a hieroglyphic writing system, partially deciphered. The Mayan civilization was very developed, but by the time the conquistadors arrived it was in deep decline, and the Mayans themselves seemed to have disappeared into history.

3. Laplanders

Laplanders are also called Sami and Lapps. The age of this ethnic group is at least 5000 years. Scientists are still arguing about who the Laplanders are and where they came from. Some consider this people to be Mongoloid, others argue that the Laplanders are Paleo-Europeans. The Sami language is classified as a Finno-Ugric language, but the Laplanders have 10 dialects of the Sami language, which are so different from each other that they can be called independent. This even makes it difficult for some Laplanders to communicate with others.

4. Prussians

The very origin of the Prussian name is shrouded in mystery. The first time it is found only in the 9th century in the form Brusi in a draft by an anonymous merchant, and later in Polish and German chronicles. Linguists find analogies for it in many Indo-European languages ​​and believe that it goes back to the Sanskrit purusa - “man”. There is also no sufficient information preserved about the language of the Prussians. Its last bearer died in 1677, and the plague of 1709-1711 exterminated the last Prussians in Prussia itself. Already in the 17th century, instead of Prussian history, the history of “Prussianism” and the kingdom of Prussia began, the local population of which had little in common with the Baltic name of the Prussians.

5. Cossacks

The question of where the Cossacks came from still remains unresolved. Their homeland is found in the North Caucasus, the Azov region, and Western Turkestan. The ancestry of the Cossacks is traced back to the Scythians, Alans, Circassians, Khazars, Goths, and Brodniks. Supporters of all versions have their own arguments. Today the Cossacks are a multi-ethnic community, but they themselves like to insist that the Cossacks are a separate people.

6. Parsis

Parsis are an ethno-religious group of followers of Zoroastrianism in South Asia, of Iranian origin. Its number now amounts to less than 130 thousand people. Parsis have their own temples and so-called “towers of silence”, where, in order not to desecrate the sacred elements (earth, fire, water), they bury the dead (the corpses are pecked by vultures). Parsis are often compared to Jews; they were also forced to leave their homeland and are meticulous in matters of religious observance. The Iran League in India at the beginning of the 20th century promoted the return of Parsis to their homeland, reminiscent of the Zionism of the Jews.

7. Hutsuls

There is still debate about the meaning of the word “hutsul”. Some scientists believe that the etymology of the word goes back to the Moldavian “gots” or “guts”, which means “robber”, others - to the word “kochul”, which means “shepherd”. The Hutsuls are also called “Ukrainian highlanders.” Among them, the traditions of witchcraft are still strong. Hutsul sorcerers are called molfars. They can be white or black. Molfars enjoy unquestioned authority.

8. Hittites

The Hittite power was one of the most influential forces on the geopolitical map Ancient world. The first constitution appeared here, the Hittites were the first to use war chariots and revered the double-headed eagle, but information about the Hittites is still fragmentary. In their “tables about the courageous deeds” of kings there are many notes “on next year", but the year of the report is unknown. We know the chronology of the Hittite state from the sources of its neighbors. The question remains open: where did the Hittites disappear? Johann Lehmann in his book “Hittites. People of a Thousand Gods” gives a version that the Hittites went north, where they assimilated with the Germanic tribes. But this is just a version.

9. Sumerians

The Sumerians are the most interesting and still one of the most mysterious peoples of the Ancient World. We don't know where they came from or what language family their language belonged to. A large number of homonyms suggests that it was tonal (like, for example, modern Chinese), which means that the meaning of what was said often depended on intonation. The Sumerians were one of the most advanced peoples of their time, they were the first in the entire Middle East to use the wheel, create an irrigation system, invent a unique writing system, and the Sumerians’ knowledge of mathematics and astronomy is still amazing.

10. Etruscans

The ancient people of the Etruscans unexpectedly arose in human history, but also suddenly disappeared into it. According to archaeologists, the Etruscans inhabited the northwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula and created a fairly developed civilization there. It was the Etruscans who founded the first cities in Italy. Historians also believe that Roman numerals can also be called Etruscan. It is unknown where the Etruscans disappeared to. According to one version, they moved to the east and became the founders of the Slavic ethnic group. Some scientists argue that the Etruscan language is very close in structure to the Slavic ones.

11. Armenians

The origin of the Armenians remains a mystery. There are many versions. Some scholars correlate Armenians with the people ancient state Urartu, but the Urartu genetic component is present in genetic code Armenians as well as the genetic component of the same Hurrians and Luwians, not to mention the proto-Armenians. There are Greek versions of the origin of the Armenians, as well as the so-called “Hayasian hypotheses”, in which Hayas, the territory east of the Hittite kingdom, becomes the original homeland of the Armenians. Scientists have never given a final answer to the question of the origin of the Armenians and most often adhere to the migration-mixed hypothesis of Armenian ethnogenesis.

12. Gypsies

According to linguistic and genetic studies, the ancestors of the Roma left Indian territory in numbers not exceeding 1,000 people. Today there are about 10 million Roma in the world. In the Middle Ages, Gypsies in Europe were considered Egyptians. The word Gitanes itself is a derivative of the Egyptian. Tarot cards believed to be the last surviving remnant of the cult Egyptian god Thoth, were brought to Europe by the gypsies. It was not for nothing that they were called “Pharaoh’s tribe.” What was also amazing for Europeans was that the gypsies embalmed their dead and buried them in crypts, where they placed everything they needed for life after death. These funeral traditions are still alive among the Roma today.

13. Jews

Jews are one of the most mysterious living peoples. For a long time it was believed that the very concept of “Jews” was cultural rather than ethnic. That is, that “Jews” were created by Judaism, and not vice versa. There are still fierce discussions in science about what the Jews originally were - a people, a social class or a religious denomination.

There are many mysteries in the history of the Jewish people. At the end of the 8th century BC, five-sixths of Jews disappeared completely - 10 out of 12 ethnic-forming clans. Where they disappeared to is the big question. There is a version that from the Scythians and Cimmerians, as descendants of 10 tribes, come the Finns, Swiss, Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, Welsh, French, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Irish and Welsh, that is, almost everyone European peoples. The question of the origin of the Ashkenazim and their closeness to Middle Eastern Jews also remains debatable.

14. Guanches

Guanches are the natives of Tenerife. The mystery of how they ended up in the Canary Islands has not yet been solved, since they did not have a fleet and did not have seafaring skills. Their anthropological type did not correspond to the latitudes where they lived. The rectangular pyramids on the island of Tenerife, similar to the Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico, are also controversial. Neither the time of their construction nor the purpose for which they were erected is known.

15. Khazars

Neighboring peoples wrote a lot about the Khazars, but they themselves left virtually no information about themselves. How unexpectedly the Khazars appeared on historical scene, just as suddenly they left her. Historians still do not have sufficient archaeological data about what Khazaria was like, nor an understanding of what language the Khazars spoke. It is also unknown where they eventually disappeared. There are many versions. There is no clarity.

16. Basque

The age, origin and language of the Basques is one of the main mysteries modern history. The Basque language, Euskara, is considered the only relict pre-Indo-European language that does not belong to any currently existing language family. When it comes to genetics, according to a 2012 study by the National Geographic Society, all Basques contain a set of genes that significantly distinguishes them from other peoples around them.

17. Chaldeans

The Chaldeans are a Semitic-Aramaic people who lived at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. in the territory of Southern and Central Mesopotamia. In 626-538 BC. Babylon was ruled by the Chaldean dynasty, which founded the Neo-Babylonian kingdom. The Chaldeans were a people who are still associated with magic and astrology. IN Ancient Greece and ancient Rome, Chaldeans called priests and fortune-tellers of Babylonian origin. The Chaldeans made predictions to Alexander the Great and his successors Antigonus and Seleucus.

18. Sarmatians

Sarmatians are one of the most mysterious peoples in world history. Herodotus called them “lizard-headed”, Lomonosov believed that the Slavs descended from the Sarmatians, and the Polish gentry called themselves their direct descendants. The Sarmatians left a lot of mysteries. They probably had a matriarchy. Some scientists trace the roots of the Russian kokoshnik to the Sarmatians. Among them, the custom of artificially deforming the skull was widespread, thanks to which a person’s head took on the shape of an elongated egg.

19. Kalash

The Kalash are a small people living in the north of Pakistan in the Hindu Kush mountains. They are probably the most famous "white" people in Asia. Disputes about the origins of the Kalash continue today. The Kalash themselves are sure that they are the descendants of Macedonian himself. The Kalash language is called phonologically atypical; it has retained the basic composition of Sanskrit. Despite attempts at Islamization, many Kalash retain polytheism.

20. Philistines

The modern name "Palestine" comes from "Philistia". The Philistines are the most mysterious people mentioned in the Bible. In the Middle East, only they and the Hittites mastered the technology of steel smelting, marking the beginning of the Iron Age. The Bible says that these people originate from the island of Caphtor (Crete), although some historians correlate the Philistines with the Pelasgians. Egyptian manuscripts and archaeological finds. It is still not clear where the Philistines disappeared to. Most likely, they were assimilated by the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The concept “people” has several meanings. It is understood as the population of a country (for example, the people of India, the people of Switzerland, the people of France, etc.), workers, just a group, a crowd of people (in the expression: there are a lot of people on the street, etc.) and, finally , what scientists call the term “ethnos”, “ethnic community”. An ethnos (people) is defined as a historically established stable collection of people in a certain territory who have common relatively stable characteristics of language, culture and psyche, as well as an awareness of their unity and difference from all other similar entities.

There are several thousand peoples living in the world. They differ from each other in their numbers, level social development, language and culture, racial appearance.

The tribal leader dances. New Guinea.



Swazi woman in festive clothes. Swaziland.



The art of Tunisian carpet weavers is known all over the world.



Children's holiday in Hanoi.



thumb|Mongolian woman in national costume.



Norwegian schoolchildren.



Girls from the island of Nauru.



Large Indian market in the city of Toluca. Mexico.



frame|right|Belarusian folk holiday.



frame|right|Sugar cane harvesting in Cuba.



Modern races of the world.



frame|center|Representatives of the main races.



Tajik girl harvesting cotton.



Residents of Yakutia are accustomed to severe frosts.

Fluctuations in the numbers of different ethnic groups are quite significant. Thus, the number of the largest nations exceeds 100 million people. These are Chinese, Hindustani, US Americans, Bengalis, Russians, Brazilians, Japanese. Tiny endangered ethnic groups (more precisely, fragments of ethnic groups) today do not number even 10 people. These include ouma, eba, bina in Papua New Guinea and others. No less significant are the differences between ethnic groups in terms of the level of socio-economic development: peoples who are socially highly developed coexist with peoples who are actually still at the primitive stage. Linguistic and cultural differences are also very large. Every nation speaks special language, although it happens that the same language is used by several ethnic groups or, conversely, one ethnic group speaks several languages. At the same time, many languages ​​are related to each other, and the degree of this relationship varies. The range of similarities and differences in the culture of different peoples is also significant.

The principles for classifying the peoples of the world are different. In ethnography, the ethnolinguistic classification is most often used, grouping all peoples based on linguistic kinship. This classification also helps with historical research, as it provides a genetic interpretation of the existing similarities between peoples. According to the ethnolinguistic classification, the peoples of the world are divided into the following families: Indo-European, Afroasiatic (Semitic-Hamitic), Kartvelian, Ural (Ural-Yukaghir), Dravidian, Altai, Eskimo-Aleutian, Chukchi-Kamchatka, North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Miao-Yao, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Paratai, Na-Dene, North Amerindian, Central Amerindian, Chibcha-Paes, Zhe-Pano-Caribbean, Andean, Equatorial-Tucanoan, Australian, Andamanese, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, Khoisan, and also several Papuan. Along with the peoples united by the listed families, there are also ethnic groups that occupy an isolated position linguistically. These are the Basques, Burishi, Kets, Nivkhs, Ainu, etc.

The largest of the families is Indo-European, uniting 45% of the population globe. The peoples of this family live in most of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, overseas Europe, Iran and Afghanistan, in the northern and central regions of South Asia. They also predominate today in America and Australia. (All peoples included in one or another family are named in the appendix to the article.

The Kartvelian family is small (0.1% of the world population). This includes Georgians living in Transcaucasia and ethnic communities close to them. The peoples of the Ural (Ural-Yukaghir) family (0.5% of the world's population) live in the Trans-Urals, in the far north of Siberia, in the Volga region, in the north of the European part of Russia, in the Baltic states, Finland, and the north of Scandinavia and Hungary. The Dravidian family (4% of the world's population) is concentrated mainly in South Asia. Peoples Altai family(6% of the world's population) form a number of geographically unconnected areas from the Balkan Peninsula to the Russian Far East. Many scientists consider the groups included in its composition to be genetically unrelated and classify them as belonging to several different families.

A small Eskimo-Aleut family whose range mainly covers the far north North America and Greenland, unites, as the name suggests, Eskimos and Aleuts. The small peoples of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family (Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens) live in the extreme northeast of our country.

The peoples of the Afroasiatic family (5% of the world's population) are settled in South-West Asia and North Africa. The Afroasiatic family includes the Semitic, Berber, Cushitic and Chadian groups.

The North Caucasian family is relatively small in number (0.1% of the world population). It includes two groups - Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan.

The Sino-Tibetan family (23% of the world's population) is second in number only to the Indo-European (it includes the Chinese, the largest people on Earth).

The peoples of the Miao-Yao family (0.2% of the world's population) live in China, as well as in Vietnam and some other countries South-East Asia. The two most significant ethnic communities are the Miao and Yao, which is where the family's name comes from. Some researchers consider the Miao-Yao a group within the Sino-Tibetan family, others as a group within the Austroasiatic family.

The peoples of the Austroasiatic family (2% of the world's population) live mostly in Southeast Asia, as well as in adjacent areas of South and East Asia.

The Austronesian family (5% of the world's population) unites peoples living over a vast area from Madagascar to Hawaiian Islands and Easter Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The Paratai family (1.5% of the world's population belongs to it) is concentrated in the countries of Southeast Asia and neighboring areas of China. It does not always stand out as an independent unit. Some scientists consider it a group of the Sino-Tibetan family, others - combine the Paratai and Austronesian families.

The Indian peoples of America are linguistically divided into families: Na-Dene, North Amerindian, Central Amerindian, Chibcha-Paes (southern Central and northern South America), Zhe-Pano-Caribbean, Andean, Equatorial-Tucanoan. Of these families, the most significant is the Andean family (0.4% of the world's population), which includes the largest Indian people, the Quechua.

The Australian family, as its name suggests, is centered in Australia. It unites the very small indigenous peoples of this continent.

The Andaman family consists of several very small ethnic groups of the Adaman Islands (Ongyo and others).

In New Guinea and adjacent islands (New Guinea region in terms of complexity ethnic structure surpasses any other region of the globe) live Papuan peoples, linguistically united into ten families: Trans-New Guinea, West Papuan, Sepik-Rama, Torricelli, East Papuan, East Chendravasih Chendravasih Bay, Kwomtari, Arai, Amto-Musian. Only the first five families are significant, of which the Trans-New Guinea family stands out (the peoples included in its composition form 0.1% of the world's population).

The peoples of sub-Saharan Africa form three families: Niger-Kordofanian (6% of the world's population), Nilo-Saharan (0.6%) and Khoisan. The Nilo-Saharan family as a whole is localized to the north of the Niger-Kordofan family; small peoples of the Khoisan family (Hottentots, Bushmen, etc.) live on the southern periphery of Africa and in Tanzania.

A number of peoples of the world occupy a linguistically isolated position. Two linguistically distinct peoples - the Nivkhs and the Kets (both very small in number) - live in the Asian part of our country. In the far north of South Asia, in the Karakoram Mountains, live a small Burishi people, whose language also occupies an isolated position. In Europe, the isolated language is spoken by Basques living in the Pyrenees, on either side of the border between Spain and France. Isolated languages ​​are also spoken by the Ainu (Hokkaido Island, Japan). Finally, a large group of peoples speaking isolated languages ​​lives in New Guinea (Borumeso, Varenbori, Pauwi, etc.), but perhaps the classification of the languages ​​of the New Guinean peoples as isolated is not the result of true genetic isolation, but a consequence of their still poor study.

Some researchers are trying to identify more distant linguistic relationships, identifying macro-families in addition to families. So, for example, the Indo-European, Kartvelian, Dravidian, Ural-Yukaghir, Altai, Eskimo-Aleutian, and sometimes Afrasian families are combined into the Nostratic macrofamily; all Indian families (except Na-Dene) are included in the Amerindian macrofamily.

In addition to the ethnolinguistic classification, there is also an areal classification, when peoples are grouped into large regions called historical-cultural or historical-ethnographic regions. Within these areas, over a long period of time historical development a certain cultural community has developed.

The peoples of the world are also divided into three main races: Caucasoid (or Caucasoid), Mongoloid and Negroid. The eastern range of Negroids is often considered as a special Australoid large race. Some foreign scientists highlight larger number main human races, for example, Americanoids, Lapanoids, Malayan race, etc. (see map).

As a result of the mixing of various large races, the so-called contact races were formed, of which there are quite a lot today. Thus, from the mixing of the eastern branch of northern Caucasoids and northern Mongoloids, the Ural (Ural-Laponoid) racial group arose. The mixed group includes those that arose from the first centuries new era in the vast steppe space between the Urals and the Yenisei, the South Siberian group, in which Mongoloid features predominate. In the Middle Ages, more southern regions Mixed Central Asian groups are formed with dominance in most cases of the Caucasian element. In the east and southeast of Asia there was a contact zone between Mongoloids and Australoids, where a number of mixed forms arose at different times, for example, the South Asian group with a preponderance of Mongoloid features.

APPLICATION

INDIAN FAMILIES

NADEN FAMILY Athabascan (Navajo, Apache and others), Tlingit, Haida NORTH AMERINDIAN FAMILY Maya, Qeqchi, Quiché, Kaqchikel, Algonquin, Sioux and others CENTRAL AMERINDIAN FAMILY Aztec, Shoshone, Otomi, Mixtec, Zapotec and others CHIBCHA-PAES Mi FAMILY hermitage, paes and others ANDEAN FAMILY Quechua, Aymara, Araucanas and others EQUATORIAL-TUCAN FAMILY Arawak, Tupi, Tucano and others JE-PANO-CARIBBEAN FAMILY Caribbean, Pano, zhe and others

The concept of “ethnicity” includes a historically established stable group of people who have a certain number of common subjective or objective characteristics. Ethnographic scientists include these characteristics as origin, language, cultural and economic characteristics, mentality and self-awareness, phenotypic and genotypic data, as well as the territory of long-term residence.

The word "ethnicity" has Greek roots and is literally translated as “people”. The word “nationality” can be considered a synonym for this definition in Russian. The term “ethnos” was introduced into scientific terminology in 1923 by the Russian scientist S.M. Shirokogorov. He gave the first definition of this word.

How does the formation of an ethnic group occur?

The ancient Greeks adopted the word “ethnos” designate other peoples who were not Greeks. Long time in Russian the word “people” was used as an analogue. Definition of S.M. Shirokogorova made it possible to emphasize the commonality of culture, relationships, traditions, way of life and language.

Modern science allows us to interpret this concept from 2 points of view:

The origin and formation of any ethnic group implies great length of time. Most often this formation occurs around specific language or religious beliefs. Based on this, we often pronounce phrases such as “ Christian culture", "Islamic world", "Romance group of languages".

The main conditions for the emergence of an ethnic group are the presence common territory and language. These same factors further serve as supporting factors and main distinctive features one or another ethnic group.

Additional factors influencing the formation of an ethnic group include:

1. General religious beliefs.
2. Intimacy from a racial perspective.
3. The presence of transitional interracial groups (mestizo).

Factors that unite an ethnic group include:

1. Specific features material and spiritual culture.
2. Community of life.
3. Group psychological characteristics.
4. General awareness of oneself and the idea of ​​a common origin.
5. The presence of an ethnonym - a self-name.

Ethnicity is essentially a complex dynamic system, which is constantly undergoing processes of transformation and at the same time maintains its stability.

The culture of each ethnic group maintains a certain constancy and at the same time changes over time from one era to another. Peculiarities national culture and self-knowledge, religious and spiritual-moral values ​​leave an imprint on the nature of the biological self-reproduction of the ethnic group.

Features of the existence of ethnic groups and their patterns

The historically formed ethnic group acts as a holistic social organism and has the following ethnic relations:

1. Self-reproduction occurs through repeated homogeneous marriages and the transmission from generation to generation of traditions, self-awareness, cultural values, language and religious characteristics.
2. In the course of their existence, all ethnic groups undergo a number of processes within themselves - assimilation, consolidation, etc.
3. In order to strengthen their existence, most ethnic groups strive to create their own state, which allows them to regulate relations both within themselves and with other groups of peoples.

The laws of peoples can be considered behavioral models of relationships, which are typical for individual representatives. This also includes behavioral models that characterize individual social groups emerging within a nation.

Ethnicity can simultaneously be considered as a natural-territorial and sociocultural phenomenon. Some researchers propose to consider the hereditary factor and endogamy as a kind of connecting link that supports the existence of a particular ethnic group. However, it cannot be denied that the quality of a nation’s gene pool is significantly influenced by conquests, living standards, and historical and cultural traditions.

The hereditary factor is tracked primarily in anthropometric and phenotypic data. However, anthropometric indicators do not always completely coincide with ethnicity. According to another group of researchers, the constancy of an ethnic group is due to national identity. However, such self-awareness can simultaneously act as an indicator collective activity.

The unique self-awareness and perception of the world of a particular ethnic group may directly depend on its activities in developing the environment. The same type of activity can be perceived and evaluated differently in the minds of different ethnic groups.

The most stable mechanism that allows preserving the uniqueness, integrity and stability of an ethnic group is its culture and common historical fate.

Ethnicity and its types

Traditionally, ethnicity is considered primarily as a generic concept. Based on this idea, it is customary to distinguish three types of ethnic groups:

1. Clan-tribe (species characteristic of primitive society).
2. Nationality ( characteristic type in the slave and feudal centuries).
3. Capitalist society is characterized by the concept of nation.

There are basic factors that unite representatives of one people:

Clans and tribes historically were the very first types of ethnic groups. Their existence lasted several tens of thousands of years. As lifestyle and the structure of humanity developed and became more complex, the concept of nationality appeared. Their appearance is associated with the formation tribal unions in the common area of ​​residence.

Factors in the development of nations

Today in the world there are several thousand ethnic groups. They all differ in level of development, mentality, numbers, culture and language. There may be significant differences based on race and physical appearance.

For example, the number of ethnic groups such as Chinese, Russians, and Brazilians exceeds 100 million people. Along with such gigantic peoples, there are varieties in the world whose number does not always reach ten people. State of the art different groups can also vary from the most highly developed to those living according to primitive communal principles. Every nation has own language However, there are also ethnic groups that simultaneously use several languages.

In the process of interethnic interactions, processes of assimilation and consolidation are launched, as a result of which a new ethnic group can gradually form. The socialization of an ethnic group occurs thanks to the development of such social institutions like family, religion, school, etc.

The unfavorable factors for the development of a nation include the following:

1. High mortality rate among the population, especially in childhood.
2. High prevalence of respiratory infections.
3. Alcohol and drug addiction.
4. Destruction of the family institution - high number single-parent families, divorces, abortions, parental abandonment of children.
5. Low quality life.
6. High unemployment rate.
7. High crime rate.
8. Social passivity of the population.

Classification and examples of ethnicity

Classification is carried out according to a variety of parameters, the simplest of which is number. This indicator not only characterizes the state of the ethnic group in this moment, but also reflects the nature of its historical development. Usually, formation of large and small ethnic groups proceeds along completely different paths. The level and nature of interethnic interactions depends on the size of a particular ethnic group.

Examples of the largest ethnic groups include the following (according to data from 1993):

The total number of these peoples is 40% of total number the entire population of the globe. There is also a group of ethnic groups with a population of 1 to 5 million people. They make up about 8% of the total population.

Most small ethnic groups may number several hundred people. As an example, we can cite the Yukaghir, an ethnic group living in Yakutia, and the Izhorians, a Finnish ethnic group inhabiting territories in Leningrad region.

Another classification criterion is population dynamics in ethnic groups. Minimal population growth is observed in Western European ethnic groups. The maximum growth is observed in the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

National composition of the population– distribution of people based on ethnicity. An ethnos (or people) is a historically established stable community of people, united by the unity of language, territory, economic life and culture, and national identity. The forms of ethnic community change and become more complex in the process of development human society- from clan and tribal associations under the primitive system, nationalities under early class societies to independent nations - in the conditions of the merger of local markets into a single national market. If, for example, the formation of nations has long been completed, then in some underdeveloped countries, and (, etc.) tribal associations are widely represented.

Today there are 2200 – 2400 ethnic groups in the world. Their numbers vary greatly - from several dozen people to hundreds of millions. Among the most large nations include (in million people):

• Chinese – 11 70,
• Hindustani ( main people India) – 265,
• Bengalis (in India and) – 225,
• Americans - 200,
• Brazilians – 175,
• Russians – 150,
• Japanese – 130,
• Punjabis (main people) – 115,
• Mexicans – 115,
• Biharis - 105.

Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century, 10 ethnic groups account for about 45% of all humanity.

In many countries and regions of the world, different ethnic groups are represented unequally. Therefore, they usually distinguish between the main peoples, i.e., the ethnic groups that make up the bulk of the population, and national minorities.

According to its origin and social status National minorities are usually divided into two types:
autochthonous, i.e. indigenous peoples, ethnic groups born of immigration.

Thus, the following proportions are characteristic of the modern national composition. The main ethnic group - the British - make up 77% of the total population; autochthonous ethnic groups, including the Scots, Irish, etc. - 14% and immigrants from different countries - 9%.

Constantly evolving as a result of territorial heterogeneity of natural population movements, migration, as well as processes of consolidation and assimilation of ethnic groups.
Consolidation of ethnic groups is the merging of several related ethnic groups into one, larger ethnic community.

Assimilation of ethnic groups- this is the loss of the peoples native language And national identity as a result of long-term communication with other ethnic groups, i.e. a kind of dissolution of ethnic groups in a multinational environment. This process is especially widespread in immigration countries, which include the USA, Australia, and many European countries. As a result of the processes of consolidation and assimilation of ethnic groups, the total number of peoples is gradually decreasing.

One of the main signs of ethnic unity is colloquial. According to this criterion, all peoples of the world are divided into 15 language families and more than 45 language groups, which, in turn, are divided into language branches. In addition, there are separate languages ​​that are not included in any language family. These include, for example, Japanese, Korean, Basque and some others.

More than 40% of the world's population speaks languages Indo-European family, which includes 11 language groups: Romance (French, Italians, Spaniards, Moldovans, Romanians, Latin Americans); Germanic (Germans, English, Swedes, Danes, Americans); Slavic (Russians, Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Slovenes); Baltic ( , ); Iranian (Kurds, Afghans, Tatars, etc.).

About 20% of the world's population speaks languages ​​of the Sino-Tibetan or Sino-Tibetan family. Its weight is determined by the Chinese language group. The distribution of these languages ​​is almost entirely localized to the Asian continent.

About 8% of humanity uses the languages ​​of the Niger-Cordofenian family, which are represented exclusively in Africa. Within this family, the main language group is the Niger-Congo group.

Another 5 - 7% of the world's population speaks languages ​​of the Afroasiatic (or Semitic-Hamitic) family, which are widespread mainly in Africa and Asia. The main language of this family is Arabic.

Thus, the languages ​​of these four families are spoken by almost 4/5 of all humanity.

The exact number of languages ​​in the world has not been determined. Some experts believe that there are about 3 thousand of them, others - more than 5 thousand. This discrepancy is explained by the fact that some linguists consider the same dialects as different languages, and another part of scientists recognizes them as dialects of the same language. The problem of classifying ethnic groups and languages ​​is largely complicated by the fact that many peoples speak the same languages. For example, English is spoken not only by the British, but also by many Australians, New Zealanders, US Americans, Canadians, many peoples of the Caribbean countries, etc. Spanish is native not only to the Spaniards, but to most of the peoples of Latin America. The same language is spoken by Germans, Austrians, and part of the population of Switzerland. These, the most common languages, serve as a means of interethnic communication.
Some languages ​​develop and become more widespread, others die and lose their former meaning. For example, in Africa, the languages ​​of Swahili, Hausa, and Yoruba are becoming increasingly widespread, which are used as a means of communication by many tribes and nationalities, gradually displacing the languages ​​of the colonialists that have taken root here. The highest concentration of languages ​​(up to 1 thousand) is on Novaya Island, where they live a large number of original tribes.

A significant part of all the world's languages ​​does not have a written language. In order to facilitate communication between representatives of different ethnic groups, the number of attempts to create artificial international language. The most famous of them is Esperanto.

The most common languages ​​of the world include the following:

• Chinese – more than 1 billion people,
• English – 400 – 500 million people,
• Hindi – more than 350,
• Spanish – about 300,
• Russian – about 200,
• Bengali – about 170,
• Indonesian – about 170,
• Arabic – 160,
• Portuguese – 140,
• Japanese – 125,
• German – about 100,
• French – more than 100 million people.

Thus, only 12 languages ​​are spoken by almost 2/3 of all humanity. Of these most widely spoken languages, six are official and working languages ​​of the UN (English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese).

In accordance with the nature of the national (ethnic) composition of the population, five types of states can be distinguished.

1 type These are single-national states. The majority of such states are in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

And Russia, although some countries in Western and Southern Africa can also be included.

IN last years In countries with a complex national composition, interethnic contradictions have intensified.