The American Encyclopedia of History, Biography and Travel: Comprising Ancient and Modern History: the Biography of Eminent Men of Europe and America, and the Lives of Distinguished Travelers.Prescott, Thomas H.
History
The American Encyclopedia of History, Biography and Travel: Comprising Ancient and Modern History: the Biography of Eminent Men of Europe and America, and the Lives of Distinguished Travelers.
Prescott, Thomas H.
Biography; World history
of founding a cultured and prosperous community.
MONGOLIAN HISTORY――THE CHINESE.
As from the great central mass of mankind, the first accumulation of
life on our planet, there was parted off into Africa a fragment called
the Negro variety, so into eastern Asia there was detached, by those
causes which we seek in vain to discover, a second huge fragment, to
which has been given the name of the Mongolian variety. Overspreading
the great plains of Asia, from the Himalehs to the Sea of Okhotsk,
this detachment of the human species may be supposed to have crossed
into Japan; to have reached the other islands of the Pacific, and
either through these, or by the access at Behring’s Straits, to have
poured themselves through the great American continent; their
peculiarities shading off in their long journey, till the Mongolian
was converted into the American Indian. Blumenbach, however, erects
the American Indian into a type by himself.
Had historians been able to pursue the Negro race into their central
African jungles and deserts, they would no doubt have found the
general Ethiopic mass breaking up there under the operation of causes
connected with climate, soil, food, etc., into vast sections or
subdivisions, presenting marked differences from each other; and
precisely so was it with the Mongolians. In Central Asia, we find them
as Thibetians, Tungusians, Mongols proper; on the eastern coasts, as
Mantchous and Chinese; in the adjacent islands, as Japanese, etc.; and
nearer the North Pole, as Laplanders, Esquimaux, etc.; all presenting
peculiarities of their own. Of these great Mongolian branches
circumstances have given a higher degree of development to the Chinese
and the Japanese than to the others, which are chiefly nomadic hordes,
some under Chinese rule, others independent, roaming over the great
pasture lands of Asia, and employed in rearing cattle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account