The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European historyGrant, Madison
History
The passing of the great race; or, The racial basis of European history
Grant, Madison
Ethnology -- Europe
There seem to have been traces of Nordic blood among the Philistines and
still more among the Amorites. Certain references to the size of the
sons of Anak and to the fairness of David, whose mother was an Amoritish
woman, point vaguely in this direction.
References in Chinese annals to the green eyes of the Wu-suns or to the
Hiung-Nu in central Asia are almost the only evidence we have of the
Nordic race in contact with the peoples of eastern Asia, though there
are statements in ancient Chinese or Mongolian records as to the
existence of blond and tall tribes and nations in those parts of
northern Asia where Mongols are now found exclusively. We may expect to
acquire much new light on this subject during the next few decades.
The so-called blondness of the hairy Ainus of the northern islands of
Japan seems to be due to a trace of what might be called Proto-Nordic
blood. In hairiness these people are in sharp contrast with their
Mongoloid neighbors but this is a generalized character common to the
highest and the lowest races of man. The primitive Australoids and the
highly specialized Scandinavians are among the most hairy populations in
the world. So in the Ainus this somatological peculiarity is merely the
retention of a primitive trait. The occasional brown or greenish eye and
the sometimes fair complexion of the Ainus are, however, suggestive of
Nordic affinities and of an extreme easterly extension of Proto-Nordics
at a very early period.
The skull shape of the Ainus is dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic, while
the broad cheek bones indicate a Mongolian cross as among the Esquimaux.
The Ainus, like many other small, mysterious peoples, are probably
merely the remnants of one of the early races that are fast fading into
extinction. The division of man into species and subspecies is very
ancient and the chief races of the earth are the successful survivors of
a long and fierce competition. Many species, subspecies and races have
vanished utterly, except for reversional characters occasionally found
in the larger races.
The only Nordics in Asia Minor, so far as we know, were the Phrygians
who crossed the Hellespont about 1400 B. C. as part of the same
migration which brought the Achæans into Greece, the Cimmerians who
entered by the same route and also through the Caucasus about 650 B. C.
and still later, in 270 B. C., the Gauls who, coming from northern Italy
through Thrace, founded Galatia. So far as our present information goes
little or no trace of these invasions remains in the existing
populations of Anatolia. The expansions of the Persians and the
Aryanization of their empire and the conquests of the Nordics east and
south of the Caspian-Aral Sea, will be discussed in connection with the
spread of Aryan languages.
XI
RACIAL APTITUDES
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account