Early European History Part 8

RACES OF MAN

At the dawn of history the various regions of the world were already in the possession of many different peoples. Such physical characteristics as the shape of the skull, the features, stature, or complexion may serve to distinguish one people from another. Other grounds for distinction are found in language, customs beliefs, and general intelligence.

CLa.s.sIFICATION OF RACES

If we take complexion or color as the basis of cla.s.sification, it is possible to distinguish a few large racial groups. Each of these groups occupies, roughly speaking, its separate area of the globe. The most familiar cla.s.sification is that which recognizes the Black or Negro race dwelling in Africa, the Yellow or Mongolian race whose home is in central and eastern Asia, and the White or Caucasian race of western Asia and Europe. Sometimes two additional divisions are made by including, as the Red race, the American Indians, and as the Brown race, the natives of the Pacific islands.

THE WHITE RACE

These separate racial groups have made very unequal progress in culture.

The peoples belonging to the Black, Red, and Brown races are still either savages or barbarians, as were the men of prehistoric times. The Chinese and j.a.panese are the only representatives of the Yellow race that have been able to form civilized states. In the present, as in the past, it is chiefly the members of the White race who are developing civilization and making history.

INDO-EUROPEANS AND SEMITES

Because of differences in language, scholars have divided the White or Caucasian race into two main groups, called Indo-Europeans and Semites.

[14] This cla.s.sification is often helpful, but the student should remember that Indo-European and Semitic peoples are not always to be sharply distinguished because they have different types of language. There is no very clear distinction in physical characteristics between the two groups.

A clear skin, an oval face, wavy or curly hair, and regular features separate them from both the Negro and the Mongolian.

PRINc.i.p.aL INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES

The Indo-Europeans in antiquity included the Hindus of India, the Medes and Persians dwelling on the plateau of Iran, the Greeks and Italians, and most of the inhabitants of central and western Europe. All these peoples spoke related languages which are believed to be offshoots from one common tongue. Likeness in language does not imply that all Indo-Europeans were closely related in blood. Men often adopt a foreign tongue and pa.s.s it on to their children.

PRINc.i.p.aL SEMITIC PEOPLES

The various Semitic nations dwelling in western Asia and Arabia were more closely connected with one another. They spoke much the same type of language, and in physical traits and habits of life they appear to have been akin. The Semites in antiquity included the Babylonians and a.s.syrians, the Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Arabs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RACE PORTRAITURE OF THE EGYPTIANS Paintings on the walls of royal tombs. The Egyptians were painted red, the Semites yellow, the Negroes black, and the Libyans white, with blue eyes and fair beards. Each racial type is distinguished by peculiar dress and characteristic features.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map. Distribution of SEMITIC and INDO-EUROPEAN PEOPLES]

PEOPLES OF UNCERTAIN RELATIONSHIP

At the opening of the historic period still other parts of the World were the homes of various peoples who cannot be cla.s.sed with certainty as either Indo-Europeans or Semites. Among these were the Egyptians and some of the inhabitants of Asia Minor. We must remember that, during the long prehistoric ages, repeated conquests and migrations mingled the blood of many different communities. History, in fact, deals with no unmixed peoples.

STUDIES

1. On an outline map indicate the areas occupied in antiquity by Semites and Indo-Europeans.

2. Find definitions for the following terms: society, nation, state, government, inst.i.tution, culture, and civilization.

3. Explain the abbreviations B.C. and A.D. In what century was the year 1917 B.C.? the year 1917 A.D.?

4. Look up the derivation of the words "paper" and "Bible."

5. Distinguish between the three stages of savagery, barbarism, and civilization, and give examples of existing peoples in each stage.

6. Can you name any savages still living in the Stone Age?

7. What stone implements have you ever seen? Who made them? Where were they?

8. Why should the discovery of fire be regarded as of more significance than the discovery of steam?

9. Why has the invention of the bow-and-arrow been of greater importance than the invention of gunpowder?

10. How does the presence of few tameable animals in the New World help to account for its tardier development as compared with the Old World?

11. What examples of pastoral and agricultural life among the North American Indians are familiar to you?

12. Give examples of peoples widely different in blood who nevertheless speak the same language.

13. In the cla.s.sification of mankind, where do the Arabs belong? the Persians? the Germans? the inhabitants of the United States?

14. Enumerate the most important contributions to civilization made in prehistoric times.

FOOTNOTES

[1] There are still some savage peoples, for instance, the Australians, who continue to make stone implements very similar to those of prehistoric men. Other primitive peoples, such as the natives of the Pacific islands, pa.s.sed directly from the use of stone to that of iron, after this part of the world was opened up to European trade in the nineteenth century.

[2] Iron was unknown to the inhabitants of North America and South America before the coming of the Europeans. The natives used many stone implements, besides those of copper and bronze. The Indians got most of their copper from the mines in the Lake Superior region, whence it was carried far and wide.

[3] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 45.

[4] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 14.

[5] In the New World, the only important domestic animal was the llama of the Andes. The natives used it as a beast of burden, ate its flesh, and clothed themselves with its wool.

[6] The plants domesticated in the New World were not numerous. The most important were the potato of Peru and Ecuador, Indian corn or maize, tobacco, the tomato, and manioc. From the roots of the latter, the starch called tapioca is derived.

[7] See page 2.

[8] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 14.

[9] Latin cuneus, "a wedge".

[10] See page 71.

[11] From the Greek words hieros, "holy," and glyphein, "to carve" The Egyptians regarded their signs as sacred.

[12] Our word "alphabet" comes from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, _alpha_ (a) and _beta_ (b).

[13] See page 186 and note 2.

[14] The Old Testament (_Genesis_, x 21-22) represents Shem (or Sem), son of Noah, as the ancestor of the Semitic peoples. The t.i.tle "Indo- Europeans" tells us that the members of that group now dwell in India and in Europe. Indo-European peoples are popularly called "Aryans," from a word in Sanskrit (the old Hindu language) meaning "n.o.ble."