Australo-Melanesians (also known asAustralasians or theAustralomelanesoid,Australoid orAustralioid race) is an outdatedhistorical grouping of various people indigenous toMelanesia andAustralia. Controversially, some groups found in parts ofSoutheast Asia andSouth Asia were also sometimes included.
While most authors includedPapuans,Aboriginal Australians andMelanesians (mainly fromFiji,New Caledonia,Solomon Islands andVanuatu), there was controversy about the inclusion of the various Southeast Asian populations grouped as "Negrito", or a number ofdark-skinned tribal populations of theIndian subcontinent.[1][2]
The concept of dividing humankind into three, four or five races (often calledCaucasoid,Mongoloid,Negroid, and Australoid) was introduced in the 18th century and further developed by Western scholars in the context of "racist ideologies"[3] during the age ofcolonialism.[3] With the rise of moderngenetics, the concept of distinct human races in a biological sense has become obsolete. In 2019, theAmerican Association of Biological Anthropologists stated: "The belief in “races” as natural aspects of human biology, and the structures of inequality (racism) that emerge from such beliefs, are among the most damaging elements in the human experience both today and in the past."[3]
The term "Australoid" was coined in ethnology in the mid 19th century, describing tribes or populations "of the type of native Australians".[4] The term "Australioid race" was introduced byThomas Huxley in 1870 to refer to certain peoples indigenous toSouth andSoutheast Asia andOceania.[5] Inphysical anthropology,Australoid is used for morphological features characteristic of Aboriginal Australians byDaniel John Cunningham in hisText-book of Anatomy (1902). AnAustralioid (sic, with an additional-i-) racial group was first proposed byThomas Huxley in an essayOn the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind (1870), in which he divided humanity into four principal groups (Xanthochroic,Mongoloid,Negroid, and Australioid).[6] His original model included the native inhabitants ofDeccan inIndia under the Australoid category, specifically "in a well-marked form" among the hill tribes of the Deccan Plateau. Huxley further classified theMelanochroi (Peoples of theMediterranean race) as a mixture of theXanthochroi (northern Europeans) and Australioids.[7]
Huxley (1870) described Australioids asdolichocephalic; their hair as usually silky, black and wavy or curly, with large, heavy jaws andprognathism, with skin the color of chocolate and irises which are dark brown or black.[8]
The term "Proto-Australoid" was used byRoland Burrage Dixon in hisRacial History of Man (1923). InThe Origin of Races (1962),Carleton Coon expounded his system of five races (Australoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Congoid and Capoid) with separate origins. Based on such evidence as claiming Australoids had the largest, megadont teeth, this group was assessed by Coon as being the most archaic and therefore the most primitive and backward. Coon's methods and conclusions were later discredited and show either a "poor understanding of human cultural history andevolution or his use ofethnology for a racialist agenda."[9]
Terms associated with outdated notions of racial types, such as those ending in "-oid" have come to be seen as potentially offensive[10] and related toscientific racism.[9][11]
| Caucasoid: Negroid: Uncertain: | Mongoloid: North Mongol |
The populations grouped as "Negrito", such as theAndamanese (from the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean), theSemang andBatek peoples (from Malaysia), theManiq people (from Thailand), theAeta people, theAti people, and certain otherethnic groups in the Philippines, theVedda people of Sri Lanka and a number ofdark-skinned tribal populations in the interior of theIndian subcontinent (someDravidian-speaking tribes andAustroasiatic-speakingMunda peoples) were also suggested by some to belong to the Australo-Melanesian group,[1][12] but there were controversies about this inclusion.[13]
The inclusion of Indian tribes in the group was not well-defined, and was closely related to the question of the originalpeopling of India, and the possible shared ancestry between Indian, Andamanese, andSahulian populations of the Upper Paleolithic.[citation needed]
The suggested Australo-Melanesian ancestry of the original South Asian populations has long remained an open question. It was embraced by Indian anthropologists as emphasising the deep antiquity of Indian prehistory. Australo-Melanesian hunter-gatherer and fisherman tribes of the interior of India were identified with theNishada Kingdom described in theMahabharata.Panchanan Mitra (1923) following Vincenzo Giuffrida-Ruggeri (1913) recognises a Pre-DravidianAustralo-Veddaic stratum in India.[14]
Alternatively, theDravidians themselves have been claimed as originally of Australo-Melanesian stock,[15] a view held byBiraja Sankar Guha among others.[16]
South Indian tribes specifically described as having Australo-Melanesian affinities include theOraon,Munda,Santal,Bhil,Gondi, theKadars of Kerala, theKurumba andIrula of theNilgiris, thePaniyans of Malabar, theUralis,Kannikars,Muthuvan andChenchus.[17]
In 1953, the Australoid race were believed to be part of the "Archaic Caucasoid race", along withAinus, Dravidians andVeddas.[18]
After discussing various criteria used in biology to define subspecies or races,Alan R. Templeton concludes in 2016: "[T]he answer to the question whether races exist in humans is clear and unambiguous: no."[19]: 360 [20]
The Pan-Asian genome project concluded that Negrito populations in Malaysia and the Negrito populations in the Philippines were more closely related to non-Negrito local populations, rather than to each other, highlighting the non-existence of a distinct Australo-Melanesian grouping.[21]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Australoids, Negroids (Negrito), and Negroes display perplexing disjunct distributions for which there is no historical explanation. Australoids and Negroids alternate with one another in areas from Africa to Australia but maintain their racial distinctions throughout. A careful examination of their distributions, plus examination of their cultures, shows a striking ecological correlation with Negroids always in the rainforests and Australoids clinging to the open country.