Mongoloid race

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The term Mongoloid or Mongolian race sometimes referred to as "Sinoid" or "Mongolid", is most used in discussions of human prehistory, historical definitions of race and in the forensic analysis of human remains.

The term comes from the Mongolian people of East Asia. The "mongolian" or "yellow race" (and "red race" for Native Americans) was defined by Johann Blumenbach's color coded five race model and described the peoples of East Asia. By the nineteenth century Georges Cuvier's more simplified threefold divisions of humans into Caucasians, Mongolians, and Negroes would achieve widespread popularity^[2] In an attempt to adapt Blumenbach's five race model to the new three race system, the Mongolian race was more broadly defined to include Amerindians (or the red race as defined by Blumenbach). Based on late 20th century genetics, some racial scholars began using the term Mongoloid exclusively for peoples of North East Asian ancestry. The terms Oriental or Asian are sometimes used interchangeably with Mongoloid especially by those who define the mongolian race as Johan Blumenbach originally intended. Racial classification, and even the existence of race, is controversial. In forensics, Mongoloid is considered a craniofacial type that is used to determine the probable soft-tissue reconstruction of discovered human remains. The -oid racial terms are now often controversial in both technical and non-technical contexts and are likely to give offense no matter how they are used. ^[3]

Contents 1 Usage 2 Geographic range 3 Characteristic features 4 Strict Usage in Forensics 5 Mongoloid variation 5.1 Northern Mongoloid 5.2 Southern Mongoloid 5.3 Central Asian Mongoloid 5.4 New World Mongoloids 5.5 South Asian Mongoloid 6 Fringe views 6.1 Thomas Huxley 7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 External links

Usage

"Mongoloid" defines a set of physical traits and is not equivalent to contemporary or historic definitions of racial or social groups. Some current terms for the latter are Asian, East Asian, Southeast Asian, and Oriental; however the range of Mongoloid does not correspond exactly to any one of these. In regard to "Asian", it can be said that North Asians, East Asians, and Southeast Asians are physically Mongoloid. Many Central Asians are Mongoloid, such as the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Uighurs, but many display a mix of Caucasoid and Mongoloid traits. South Asians predominantly display Caucasoid traits, with the exception of Tibeto-Burman speaking peoples living in the northeast, such as the Nagas. West Asians (Middle Easterners) are classified as Caucasoids, though some Turkish people have Mongoloid traits, proof of their Central Asian heritage .

Since people with Down syndrome have some Mongoloid characteristics, specifically, epicanthal fold and brachycephalization. The term "Mongol" or "Mongoloid Idiocy"^[4] was once also used as a synonym for retardation. It has also been employed by some, primarily in John Langdon Down's Observations on the Ethnic Classification of Idiots (1866), as an alleged evolutionary degeneration when applied to Caucasoids. For these reasons, use of the term "Mongoloid" for racial purposes has acquired offensive connotations for some people.

Geographic range

People have long debated what groups properly fall under this designation. As a form of classification used by Carleton S. Coon (1904-1981), "Mongoloid" includes the indigenous peoples of North Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some parts of Central Asia and South Asia. Most people from South Asia are usually classified as Caucasoid, while most of those from Central Asia as intermediate.

By extension, Mongoloid may include Polynesians from the mid-Pacific Oceania, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and those of Greenland. Some indigenous populations of Northern Europe (eg. the Sami of Lapland ) and some Eastern Europeans are said to have the cranial morphology (brachycephalicy, high zygomas, etc.) but not the pigmentation (blondism, eye color, etc) appropriate to Mongoloids. However the Mongol affiliation of Sami and Finns has been totally dismissed by Niskanen 2002 who concludes that Sami and Finns are no more "Mongoloid" than the average European population.

Mongoloid peoples may be the most widely distributed of all human populations. According to Carleton S. Coon's definition, they have stretched almost completely around the earth's surface as either aboriginals (the first to arrive in a given region) or as conquering migrants. They can be found as far "east" as Greenland, and yet also as far to the "west" as Kalmykia, giving Asiatic peoples or their descendants a historical presence across the vast expanse of four continents.

Characteristic features

Physical characteristics typical of Mongoloids include oblique palpebral fissures that create almond-shaped eyes, also known as epicanthal folds. The presence of epicanthic folds is most prevalent in people of East Asian descent, followed by those of Southeast Asian decent.

The overwhelming majority also exhibit the Mongolian spot, which is a natural smooth brown or blue-gray birthmark usually on the lower back and buttocks area of infants and is visible up to about age four. This feature, however, is not unique to Mongoloids, and may be found among European and African populations although at a much reduced frequency.

The vast majority of Mongoloids have straight black hair, although wavy hair is not that uncommon, especially in parts of North Asia. The vast majority of Mongoloids also possess dark brown eyes, but the occurrence of grey eyes and even blue eyes has been observed among a few Central Asian and Mongolians, though this could be from a Caucasoid continuum. Skin pigmentation varies significantly. The skin's undertone is usually slightly yellow-hued, but the actual pigmentation may go from very pale, to pale and light brown, medium brown, to dark brown and extremely dark. Greater facial and body hair may sometimes also occur.

Cranial morphology is typically more brachycephalic (round-headed) than Caucasoids and Negroids, with higher-set zygoma (cheekbones). Faces are relatively broader and flatter, while noses are typically smaller with lower nasal bridges and minimal nasal projection. They have higher forehead vaults and rounded countours to their skull with few skull sutures on their cranium.^[5] Body hair is scarce and sweat glands are also fewer. Nevertheless, mesocephalic craniology (intermediate between round and oval), somewhat higher nasal bridges.

Note that among the New World Mongoloids, or more specifically the people who are not the indigenous populations of Arctic North America, the occurrence of epicanthal folds is almost absent; skin pigmentations may also go from pale to light, medium, and dark brown, but the undertone is reddish; and larger often "hooked" noses, with high nasal bridges and great nasal projection are most common.

The "prototypic" Mongoloid features seem to have originated among those who originate from drier, arid, or colder inland or northern regions. Whereas tropical and damper weather along the Pacific coast or in the proximity of the Equator seems to have contributed to significantly less body and facial hair. The same might also be argued for Africans.

Strict Usage in Forensics

Main article: Forensic classification of race

In forensic anthropology, however, remains are often classified into one of the three populations: Black, White, or Asian. In U.S. legal practice, these are respectively termed "Negroid," "Caucasoid," and "Mongoloid". Based on these parameters, populations genetically unrelated to Mongoloids, such as the Khoisan, are found to be "Mongoloid".^{[citation needed]}

• See also: Craniofacial Anthropometry

Mongoloid variation

Because there is much dispute on what constitutes a "Mongoloid", many physical anthropologists have classified different people as "Mongoloid" due to superficial physical similarities such as the presence of an epicanthal fold or brachycephalization. Although the description of physical characteristics provided by 19th century field researchers may be accurate, their theories on genetic links between peoples as distant as the Sami and the Tibetans are generally unaccepted by the scientific community today.

Northern Mongoloid

The Northern Mongoloid peoples are from North Asia ^[6] also known as East Asia. They are larger, taller and lighter-skinned than other Mongoloids. They have somewhat hairier bodies than the other Mongoloid type and their facial features are quite sharp.

Farther to the south and east of interior Asia, the northern and interior the Japanese, Koreans, northern Han Chinese, and Manchus also continue to inherit these other prototypical physical features. Other Northern Mongoloids include many smaller groups in Central Asia and the Arctic regions such as the Buryats, Chukchis, Tuvans, Nivkhs, Evenki, Yakuts, Siberian Inuit, Tibetans, and Mongolians.

The indigenous Ainu people of Japan are also grouped into the northern Mongoloids although others view them as being descended from Caucasoids. Some of their characteristics are considered Caucasoid.^[7] In the early 20th century, anthropologists debated on what typological classification the Ainu belonged to. The typological models of racial classification in use at that time have since undergone significant revision, in the light of developments in fields such as genetics.

The Han Chinese are by far the most populous and heterogeneous Mongoloid "group". Indeed, the Han are often said to be the largest single group of any race; however, they are really not a truly coherent single ethnicity. The concept of a unified group of Han Chinese is more so a cultural anthropological concept rather than a biological anthropological one.

Southern Mongoloid

The peoples of the majority of continental Southeast Asia, specifically those who are located west of the Annamite Mountain range, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are Southern Mongoloids^[8] They are considered Mongoloid according to the four-race theory ^{[citations needed]}, however, they are genetically distinct from their neighbors to the north and may be considered a Southern Mongoloid race ^{[citations needed]}.

The Southern Mongoloid is typically shorter-nosed, with quite hairless bodies, and tend to be slender. Starting with the southern Han Chinese of the southeastern coast, they are believed to be adapted to damper climates and allegedly mixed with Austronesian prototypes migrating to the Pacific Ocean.

In Southeast Asia, these Southern Mongoloids have assimilated, mixed in with, or replaced Australoids in some areas. Some Pacific Islanders or Polynesians may also be considered Mongoloids, although in this area of the world, Australoids and Mongoloids have hybridised considerably and the lines between the two "races" are blurred.

Although the Vietnamese, who are located and originate to the northeast of the Annamite Mountain Range, are geographically labelled as "Southeast Asians", their ethnic and cultural heritage ties them to their immediate northern neighbours, the Southern Chinese and other tribes within the proximity of South China.

The Ainu people are believed to be the product of an ancient Southern Monogoloid migration into the Japanese archipelago, occurring before the Jomon Period in Japan.^[9]

Central Asian Mongoloid

Recent genetic studies suggest that humans ancestral in part to both today's Mongoloids and Caucasoids migrated to Central Asia from South Asia or the Middle East 40-50 thousand years ago, much of modern Central Asians' ancestry is thought to stem from later migrations from the west (such as the Tocharian Caucasoids and Indo-Iranian Caucasoids) and from the east (such as various Turkic peoples and the Mongols); migration from South Asia had less of an impact in this later period. See also History of Central Asia.

Mongoloid elements are strongest among the northern traditionally nomadic peoples such as the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, and Mongols. The farming populations further south like the Uzbeks and Uyghurs show both northern Mongoloid and Mediterranean Caucasoid traits. There is no sharp distinction in appearance between the Uzbeks who speak a Turkic language and their close neighbors the Tajiks who speak an Iranian language; traditionally, mixture and bilingualism were very common, until boundaries based on linguistic nationalism were drawn in the 20th century. In general, Caucasoid traits increase away from the steppes and in mountains such as the Pamirs. However, the Hazara are a southern outlier of part-Mongoloids in the Hindu Kush mountains of central Afghanistan.

New World Mongoloids

The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas are believed to have entered the American continent from Asia between 35 to 25 thousand years ago. See Models of migration to the New World. The earlier of these migrations are known as Amerindians, and they are distinct from the subsequent migrations who would become the indigenous populations of Arctic North America (the various Alaskan and indigenous Arctic Canadian groups such as the Inuit, Innu, and Aleuts).

The indigenous groups of Arctic North America — including the Haida people of British Columbia on the northwest coast — can often resemble Central Asians and even Northern Asians (such as Koreans or Japanese), making them much closer to the Northern Mongoloid type than even Southeast Asians.

The Amerindians, however, are often considered a separate population pool to, or at most a distant division of, Mongoloids. The Amerindians branched off of archaic or proto-Mongoloids from Siberia and other parts of Northeast Asia, including the Ainu or such groups related to them (See Kennewick man). From that point in time, when they crossed over to North America and dispersed into Central and South America, they evolved independently for tens of thousands of years, not coming into contact with any Old World populations until the arrival of Europeans just over 500 years ago. This large time gap of separate isolated evolution resulted in certain distinct genetic and physical characteristics not found in Old World Mongoloids or the indigenous groups of Arctic North America.

The indigenous groups of Arctic North America are always clustered with Old World Mongoloids due to their recent arrival and their shared evolution.

Boyce Rensberger claims that New World Mongoloids may be partially Caucasoid. He reports that the 9,300 year old remains of a man unearthed in Kennewick, Washington as having Caucasoid features. This has led anthropologist D. Gentry Steele to hypothesize that there were two separate waves of Caucasoid and Mongoloid migrations into the Americas. Many anthropologists consider these two physical types to have mixed in ancient history, resulting in the broad range of physical types of New World Mongoloids. Anthropologist Owsley considers a proto-Caucasoid physical type in Northeast Asia to have been the forebearer of the Caucasoid physical type in the Americas. Others speculate that the Caucasoid physical type may have arisen independently from the Mongoloid physical type in the Americas.^[10]

South Asian Mongoloid

Paul Kekai also claims that Kerala is partially Mongoloid due to the migrations Turko-Mongoloids there.^[11] The Andaman and Nicobar islands off of India's coast are also partially Mongoloid. The Nicobarese and Shompen are a Mongoloid people who live there.^[12] Also, anthropologist Lobsang Gelek concluded that the South Asian Mongoloid was physically distinct from Northern and Southern Mongoloids. He theorizes that the South Asian Mongoloid broke away from the Northern Mongoloid in the Neolithic era. These South Asian Mongoloids are physically different from their Northern Mongoloid counterparts by their dimunitive stature.^[13] Vikrant Kumar also agrees they are significantly physically different from other Mongoloid populations.^[14]

Fringe views

Listed below are a few historical views that are no longer accepted by the mainstream scientific community.

Thomas Huxley

Main article: Thomas Huxley

According to him, the Mongoloid Type encompassed An enormous area, which lies mainly to the east of a line drawn from Lapland to Siam, is peopled, for the most part, by men who are short and squat, with the skin of a yellow-brown colour; the eyes and hair black, and the latter straight, coarse, and scanty on the body and face, but long on the scalp. ^[15]

See also

• Craniofacial anthropometry

Footnotes

External links

• Asian Skulls This website discusses the variation in Asian skulls.
• The first modern East Asians? Another look at Upper Cave 101, Liujiang and Minatogawa
• The Origin of the Baltic-Finns from the Physical Anthropological Point of View, Niskanen 2002
• The New Student's Reference Work/Yellow Race, The (historical)