Mongoloid (/ˈmɒŋɡəˌlɔɪd/)[1] is anobsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts ofAsia, theAmericas, and some regions inEurope andOceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race.[2] In the past, other terms such as "Mongolian race", "yellow", "Asiatic" and "Oriental" have been used as synonyms.
The concept of dividing humankind into the Mongoloid,Caucasoid, andNegroid races was introduced in the 1780s by members of theGöttingen school of history. It was further developed by Western scholars in the context ofracist ideologies during the age ofcolonialism.[3][4] 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."[4]
The termMongoloid has had a second usage referencing people withDown syndrome, now generally regarded as highly offensive.[5][6][7][8] Those affected were often referred to as "Mongoloids" or in terms of "Mongolian idiocy" or "Mongolian imbecility".
Mongolian as a term for race was first introduced in 1785 byChristoph Meiners, a scholar at the then modernGöttingen University. Meiners divided humanity into two races he labeled "Tartar-Caucasians" and "Mongolians", believing the former to be beautiful, the latter to be "weak in body and spirit, bad, and lacking in virtue".[9]: 34
His more influential Göttingen colleagueJohann Friedrich Blumenbach borrowed the termMongolian for his division of humanity into five races in the revised 1795 edition of hisDe generis humani varietate nativa (On the Natural Variety of Mankind). Although Blumenbach's concept of five races later gave rise toscientific racism, his arguments were basically anti-racist,[10] since he underlined that humankind as a whole forms one singlespecies,[11] and points out that the transition from one race to another is so gradual that the distinctions between the races presented by him are "very arbitrary".[12] In Blumenbach's concept, theMongolian race comprises the peoples living in Asia east of theOb River, theCaspian Sea and theGanges River, with the exception of theMalays, who are considered to be transitional between Caucasian and Ethiopian.[13][14] Of peoples living outside Asia, he includes the "Eskimos" in northern America and the EuropeanFinns, among whom he includes the "Lapps".[15]
Discussions on race among Western scholars during the 19th century took place against the background of the debate betweenmonogenists andpolygenists, the former arguing for a single origin of all humankind, the latter holding that each human race had a specific origin. Monogenists based their arguments either on a literal interpretation of thebiblical story ofAdam and Eve or on secular research. Since polygenism stressed the perceived differences, it was popular amongwhite supremacists, especiallyslaveholders in the US.[17]
British biologistThomas Huxley, a strong advocate ofDarwinism and a monogenist, presented the views of polygenists in 1865: "[S]ome imagine their assumed species of mankind were created where we find them... the Mongolians from theOrangs".[18]
During the 19th century, diverging opinions were pronounced whether Native Americans or Malays should be included in the grouping which was sometimes called "Mongolian" and sometimes "Mongoloid". For example, D. M. Warren in 1856 used a narrow definition which did not include either the "Malay" or the "American" races,[19] while Huxley (1870)[20] andAlexander Winchell (1881) included both Malays and indigenous Americans.[21] In 1861,Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire added the Australian as a secondary race (subrace) of the principal race of Mongolian.[22]
In hisEssai sur l'inégalité des races humaines (Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, published 1853–55), which would later influenceAdolf Hitler, the FrencharistocratArthur de Gobineau defined three races which he called "white", "black", and "yellow". His "yellow race", corresponding to other writers' "Mongoloid race", consisted of "the Altaic, Mongol, Finnish and Tartar branches".[23][24] While he saw the "white race" as superior, he claimed that the "yellow race" was physically and intellectually mediocre but had an extremely strong materialism that allowed them to achieve certain results.[25]: 100
In 1909, a map published based on racial classifications in South Asia conceived byHerbert Hope Risley classified inhabitants ofBengal and parts ofOdisha asMongolo-Dravidians, people of mixed Mongoloid andDravidian origin.[27] Similarly in 1904,Ponnambalam Arunachalam claimed theSinhalese people ofSri Lanka were a people of mixedMongolian andMalay racial origins as well asIndo-Aryan,Dravidian andVedda origins.[28] Howard S. Stoudt inThe Physical Anthropology of Ceylon (1961) andCarleton S. Coon inThe Living Races of Man (1966) classified the Sinhalese as partly Mongoloid.[29][30]
Germanphysical anthropologistEgon Freiherr von Eickstedt, an influential proponent ofRassenkunde (racial studies) inNazi Germany, classified people from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, East India, parts of Northeast India, western Myanmar and Sri Lanka asEast Brachid, referring to people of mixedIndid andSouth Mongolid origins.[31] Eickstedt also classified the people of central Myanmar, Yunnan, southern Tibet, Thailand and parts of India asPalaungid deriving from the name of thePalaung people of Myanmar. He also classified the Burmese, Karen, Kachin, Shan, Sri Lankans, Tai, South Chinese, Munda and Juang, and others as having "mixed" with thePalaungid phenotype.[32]
Commenting on the situation of the United States in the early 20th century,Leonard Lieberman said that the notion of the whole world being composed of three distinct races, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid, seemed credible because of the history ofimmigration to the United States with most immigrants coming from three areas,Southeast China,Northwest Europe, andWest Africa. This made the point of view of three races appear to be "true, natural, and inescapable".[33]
In 1950,UNESCO published their statementThe Race Question. It condemned all forms ofracism, naming "the doctrine ofinequality of men and races"[34]: 1 among the causes ofWorld War II and proposing to replace the term "race" with "ethnic groups" because "serious errors ... are habitually committed when the term 'race' is used in popular parlance".[34]: 6
Alfred L. Kroeber (1948),Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, referring to the racial classification of humankind on the basis of physical features, said that there are basically "three grand divisions." Kroeber indicated that, within the three-part classification, the Mongoloid, theNegroid, and theCaucasian are the three "primary racial stocks of mankind." Kroeber said that the following are the divisions of the Mongoloid stock: the "Mongolian proper ofEast Asia," the "Malaysian of theEast Indies," and the "American Indian." Kroeber alternatively referred to the divisions of the Mongoloid stock as the following: "Asiatic Mongoloids," "Oceanic Mongoloids," and "American Mongoloids." Kroeber said that the differences among the three divisions of the Mongoloid stock are not very large. Kroeber said that the Malaysian and the American Indian are generalized type peoples while the Mongolian proper is the most extreme or pronounced form. Kroeber said that the original Mongoloid stock must be regarded as being more like the current Malaysians, the current American Indians, or an intermediate type between these two. Kroeber said that it is from these generalized type peoples, who kept more nearly the ancient type, that peoples such as theChinese graduallydiverged, who added theoblique eye, and a "certain generic refinement of physique." Kroeber said that, according to mostanthropometrists, theEskimo is the most particularized sub-variety out of the American Mongoloids. Kroeber said that in the East Indies, and in particular thePhilippines, there can at times be distinguished a less specifically Mongoloid strain, which has been called the "Proto-Malaysian," and a more specifically Mongoloid strain, which has been called the "Deutero-Malaysian." Kroeber said thatPolynesians appear to have primary Mongoloid connections by way of the Malaysians. Kroeber said that the Mongoloid element of Polynesians is not a specialized Mongoloid. Kroeber said that the Mongoloid element in Polynesians appears to be larger than the definite Caucasian strain in Polynesians. Speaking of Polynesians, Kroeber said that there are locally possible minor Negroid absorptions, as the ancestral Polynesians had to pass by or througharchipelagoes which are presentlyPapuo-Melanesian Negroid to get to the centralPacific.[35][36]
American anthropologistCarleton S. Coon published his much debated[37]: 248 Origin of Races in 1962. Coon divided the speciesHomo sapiens into five groups: Besides theCaucasoid,Mongoloid, andAustraloid races, he posited two races among the indigenous populations of sub-Saharan Africa: theCapoid race in the south and theCongoid race.
Coon's thesis was thatHomo erectus had already been divided into five different races or subspecies. "Homo Erectus then evolved intoHomo Sapiens not once but five times, as each subspecies, living in its own territory, passed a critical threshold from a more brutal to a moresapient state."[38]
Since Coon followed the traditional methods of physical anthropology, relying on morphological characteristics, and not on the emerginggenetics to classify humans, the debate overOrigin of Races has been "viewed as the last gasp of an outdated scientific methodology that was soon to be supplanted."[37]: 249 [39]
The fact that there are no sharp distinctions between the supposed racial groups had been observed by Blumenbach and later byCharles Darwin.[40]
With the availability of new data due to the development of modern genetics, the concept of races in a biological sense has become untenable. Problems of the concept include: It "is not useful or necessary in research",[33] scientists are not able to agree on the definition of a certain proposed race, and they do not even agree on the number of races, with some proponents of the concept suggesting 300 or even more "races".[33] Also, data are not reconcilable with the concept of a treelike evolution[41] nor with the concept of "biologically discrete, isolated, or static" populations.[4]
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."[42]: 360
The last edition of the German encyclopediaMeyers Konversations-Lexikon (1971–79, 25 volumes) lists the following characteristics of the "Mongoloid" populations of Asia: "Flat face with a low nasal root, accentuatedzygomatic arches, flat-lying eyelids (which are often slanting), thick, tight, dark hair, dark eyes, yellow-brownish skin, usually short, stocky build."[43]
In 2004, British anthropologistCaroline Wilkinson gave a description of "Mongoloid" skulls in her book onforensic facial reconstruction: "The Mongoloid skull shows a round head shape with a medium-width nasal aperture, rounded orbital margins, massive cheekbones, weak or absentcanine fossae, moderate prognathism, absent brow ridges, simple cranial sutures, prominent zygomatic bones, broad, flat, tented nasal root, short nasal spine, shovel-shaped upper incisor teeth (scooped out behind), straight nasal profile, moderately wide palate shape, arched sagittal contour, wide facial breadth and a flatter face."[44]
In 1950,Carleton S. Coon,Stanley M. Garn, andJoseph B. Birdsell proposed that the relative flatness of "Mongoloid" faces was caused by adaption to the extreme cold of subarctic and arctic conditions.[45]: 132 [46]: 66 They supposed that "Mongoloid" eye sockets have been extended vertically to make room for adipose tissue around the eyeballs, and that the "reduced" brow ridges decrease the size of the air spaces inside of the brow ridges known as thefrontal sinuses which are "vulnerable" to the cold. They also supposed that "Mongoloid" facial features reduce the surface area of the nose by having nasal bones that are flat against the face and having enlarged cheekbones that project forward which effectively reduce the external projection of the nose.[45]
Still, in 1965 a study by A. T. Steegmann showed that the so-called cold-adapted Mongoloid face provided no greater protection against frostbite than the facial structure of Europeans.[46]: 66
In 1985, Michael P. Malone of theFBI Laboratory said that the FBI Laboratory is in a good position for the examination of Mongoloid hairs, because it does most of the examinations forAlaska, which has alarge Mongoloid population, and it conducts examinations for the majority ofIndian reservations in the United States.[49]
"Mongoloid" has had a second usage, now generally avoided as highly offensive: until the late 20th century, people withDown syndrome[5][6][7][8] were often referred to as "Mongoloids", or in terms of "Mongolian idiocy" or "Mongolian imbecility". The term was motivated by the observation that people with Down syndrome often haveepicanthic folds.[53]Coined in 1908, the term remained in medical usage until the 1950s. In 1961, its use was deprecated by a group of genetic experts in an article inThe Lancet due to its "misleading connotations".[54] The term continued to be used as apejorative in the second half of the 20th century, with shortened versions such asmong in slang usage.[55]
In the 21st century, this usage of the term is deemed "unacceptable" in the English-speaking world and has fallen out of common use[56] because of its offensive and misleading implications. The terminology change was brought about both by scientific and medical experts[57] as well as people of Asian ancestry,[57] including those from Mongolia.[58]
^Mongoloid. (2012). Dictionary.com. Retrieved September 3, 2012, fromlink.
^Templeton, A. (2016). "Evolution and Notions of Human Race". In Losos, J.; Lenski, R. (eds.).How Evolution Shapes Our Lives: Essays on Biology and Society. Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 346–361.doi:10.2307/j.ctv7h0s6j.26.
^Demel, Walter (1 January 2013). "How the "Mongoloid Race" Came into Being: Late Eighteenth-Century Constructions of East Asians in Europe".Race and Racism in Modern East Asia. Brill. pp. 59–85.ISBN978-90-04-23741-4 – via brill.com.
^Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1797).Handbuch der Naturgeschichte. p. 60. Retrieved2020-05-24.Es giebt nur eine Gattung (species) im Menschengeschlecht; und alle uns bekannte Völker aller Zeiten und aller Himmelsstriche können von einer gemeinschaftlichen Stammrasse abstammen.
^German: "sehr willkürlich":Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1797).Handbuch der Naturgeschichte. p. 61. Retrieved2020-05-24.Alle diese Verschiedenheiten fließen aber durch so mancherley Abstufungen und Uebergänge so unvermerkt zusammen, daß sich keine andre, als sehr willkürliche Grenzen zwischen ihnen festsetzen lassen.
^Huxley, T. H.On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind (1870)Journal of the Ethnological Society of London. Huxley indicates that he has omitted certain areas with complex ethnic compositions that do not fit into his racial paradigm, including much of the Indian subcontinent and Horn of Africa. (Huxley, Thomas (1873). Critiques and Addresses by Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S. Macmillan and Company. p. 153.) By the late nineteenth century, his Xanthochroi group had been redefined as theNordic race, whereas his Melanochroi became theMediterranean race. As such, Huxley's Melanochroi eventually also comprised various other dark Caucasoid populations, including theHamites andMoors. (Gregory, John Walter (1931). Race as a Political Factor. Watts & Company. p. 19. Retrieved 8 May 2016.)
^Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning. The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, New York: Nation Books 2016.ISBN978-1-5685-8464-5, chapters 4, 7–12, 14, 16passim.
^Huxley, Thomas.Collected Essays of Thomas Huxley: Man's Place in Nature and Other Kessinger Publishing: Montana, 2005. p. 247.ISBN1-4179-7462-1
^Warren, D.M. (1856). A System of Physical Geography. Philadelphia: H. Cowperthwait & Co. p. 77.
^Winchell, A. (1881). Preadamites; or A Demonstration of the Existence of Men Before Adam; (3rd ed.). Chicago: S.C. Griggs and Company; London: Trubner & Co. pp. 57, 66.
^Deniker, Joseph.The Races of Man: An Outline of Anthropology and Ethnography C. Scribner's Sons: New York, 1900, p.282ISBN0-8369-5932-9
^von Eickstedt, Egon Frhr. (21 April 2018). "Die Indien-Expedition des Staatlichen Forschungsinstituts für Völkerkunde in Leipzig. 1. Anthropologischer Bericht".Anthropologischer Anzeiger.4 (3):208–219.JSTOR29535004.
^abJackson, John Jr. (June 2001). ""In Ways Unacademical": The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races".Journal of the History of Biology.34 (2):247–285.doi:10.1023/A:1010366015968.JSTOR4331661.S2CID86739986.
^Cited according toJackson, John Jr. (June 2001). ""In Ways Unacademical": The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races".Journal of the History of Biology.34 (2): 248.doi:10.1023/A:1010366015968.JSTOR4331661.S2CID86739986. The reference given there is to "Coon,Origin of the [sic]Races, 1963 [sic], p. 657".
^"It may be doubted whether any character can be named which is distinctive of a race and is constant... they graduate into each other, and.. it is hardly possible to discover clear distinctive characters between them... As it is improbable that the numerous and unimportant points of resemblance between the several races of man in bodily structure and mental faculties (I do not here refer to similar customs) should all have been independently acquired, they must have been inherited from progenitors who had these same characters.", Charles Darwin,The Descent of Man p. 225 onwards
^"Indeed, if a species has sufficient gene flow, there can be no evolutionary tree of populations, because there are no population splits...", Templeton, A. (2016). Evolution and Notions of Human Race. In Losos J. & Lenski R. (Eds.),How Evolution Shapes Our Lives: Essays on Biology and Society (p. 355). Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press.doi:10.2307/j.ctv7h0s6j.26.
^"Anthropologie".Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon in 25 Bänden. Neunte, völlig neu bearbeitete Auflage zum 150jährigen Bestehen des Verlages (in German). Vol. 2. p. 308.flaches Gesicht mit niedriger Nasenwurzel, betonte Jochbogen, flachliegende Lidspalte (die oft schräggestellt ist), dickes, straffes, dunkles Haar, dunkle Augen, gelbbräunl. Haut, in der Regel kurzer, untersetzter Wuchs
^Caroline Wilkinson (2004).Forensic Facial Reconstruction. Cambridge University Press. p. 86.ISBN0-521-82003-0.
^Scientific Working Group on Materials Analysis (SWGMAT). (2005). Forensic Human Hair Examination Guidelines.Forensic Science Communications, (7)2.Wayback Machine link.
^"The importance of this anomaly among Europeans and their descendants is not related to the segregation of genes derived from Asians; its appearance among members of Asian populations suggests such ambiguous designations as 'Mongol Mongoloid'; increasing participation of Chinese and Japanese in investigation of the condition imposes on them the use of an embarrassing term. We urge, therefore, that the expressions which imply a racial aspect of the condition be no longer used. Some of the undersigned are inclined to replace the term Mongolism by such designations as 'Langdon Down Anomaly', or 'Down's Syndrome or Anomaly', or 'Congenital Acromicria'. Several of us believe that this is an appropriate time to introduce the term 'Trisomy 21 Anomaly', which would include cases of simple Trisomy as well as translocations. It is hoped that agreement on a specific phrase will soon crystallise once the term 'Mongolism' has been abandoned."Allen, G. Benda C.J. et al (1961). Lancet corr. 1, 775.
