The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2): with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish ConquestFiske, John
History
The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2): with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest
Fiske, John
America -- Discovery and exploration; Latin America -- History
To prevent any possible misconception of my meaning, a further word of
explanation may be needed at this point. The word "race" is used in such
widely different senses that there is apt to be more or less vagueness
about it. The difference is mainly in what logicians call extension;
sometimes the word covers very little ground, sometimes a great deal. We
say that the people of England, of the United States, and of New South
Wales belong to one and the same race; and we say that an Englishman, a
Frenchman, and a Greek belong to three different races. There is a sense
in which both these statements are true. But there is also a sense in
which we may say that the Englishman, the Frenchman, and the Greek
belong to one and the same race; and that is when we are contrasting
them as white men with black men or yellow men. Now we may correctly say
that a Shawnee, an Ojibwa, and a Kickapoo belong to one and the same
Algonquin race; that a Mohawk and a Tuscarora belong to one and the same
Iroquois race; but that an Algonquin differs from an Iroquois somewhat
as an Englishman differs from a Frenchman. No doubt we may fairly say
that the Mexicans encountered by Cortes differed in race from the
Iroquois encountered by Champlain, as much as an Englishman differs from
an Albanian or a Montenegrin. But when we are contrasting aboriginal
Americans with white men or yellow men, it is right to say that Mexicans
and Iroquois belong to the same great red race.
In some parts of the world two strongly contrasted races have become
mingled together, or have existed side by side for centuries without
intermingling. In Europe the big blonde Aryan-speaking race has mixed
with the small brunette Iberian race, producing the endless varieties in
stature and complexion which may be seen in any drawing-room in London
or New York. In Africa south of Sahara, on the other hand, we find,
interspersed among negro tribes but kept perfectly distinct, that
primitive dwarfish race with yellow skin and tufted hair to which belong
the Hottentots and Bushmen, the Wambatti lately discovered by Mr.
Stanley, and other tribes.[20] Now in America south of Hudson's Bay the
case seems to have been quite otherwise, and more as it would have been
in Europe if there had been only Aryans, or in Africa if there had been
only blacks.[21]
[Footnote 20: See Werner, "The African Pygmies," _Popular
Science Monthly_, September, 1890,--a thoughtful and
interesting article.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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