Spanish descent; noted for their laziness and political instability.
=Edomites.= See IDUMÆANS.
=Egbas.= See YORUBAS.
=Egyptians.= (1) The ancient inhabitants of Egypt--known
to them as Khem, the Biblical Mizraim--who reared one of the
oldest and most important civilised states of the ancient world.
The aborigines of Egypt were apparently a Palæolithic branch of
Ethiopic Man, allied to the modern Bushmen. They were dispossessed
and practically exterminated, probably about 7000 B.C.,
by a slender, fair-skinned race of European type, belonging to
the Hamitic family, and resembling the modern Berbers (_q.v._) in
many respects. These were probably the same as the ancient Libyans
(_q.v._). Later this race was modified by the introduction of a
Semitic element, partly from Syria, partly from the Phœnician
conquerors who founded dynastic rule in Egypt under Menes, between
5000 and 4000 B.C. Their later history is written on their
imperishable monuments, and need not be summarised here. In later
times the Egyptian racial type was modified by Greek and Roman
influence. The ancient Egyptians were highly skilled in agriculture
and engineering, warlike but not aggressive, and with a highly
developed literature and religion. (2) The modern Egyptians are
partly descended from the ancient Egyptians, whose racial type
as represented on the monuments is still to be found in purity,
mingled with Bedouin Arabs, Turks, Syrians, and other races. See
COPTS and FELLAHIN.
=English.= Natives of England; used in a wider sense as
equivalent to citizens of the British Empire [See BRITONS,
ANGLO-SAXONS]. The English people are a Low German branch
of the Teutonic stock of the Aryan family, with a faint Celtic
element derived from the primitive Britons, a strong Scandinavian
element (especially in the north-east), derived from the invading
Danes and Norsemen in the ninth to eleventh centuries, and a
considerable Norman element--Norse modified by French culture. The
typical Englishman is white-skinned and fair-haired, belonging to
the Xanthochroi, but there are many deviations due to modifying
influences. The race is eminently warlike and aggressive, and makes
the most successful colonisers known to the world.
=Erie Indians.= See IROQUOIAN.
=Erse.= See IRISH.
=Eshi-Kongo.= A semi-civilised race of Bantu Negroes,
belonging to the ancient Kongo Empire, now Portuguese West Africa.
=Eskimos=, or =Innuits=. An Arctic aboriginal race,
now inhabiting Greenland and the northern coasts of the American
continent. They are nomadic, live by hunting and fishing, and are
inured to extremes of cold. They are very broad-headed, fat, and
of short stature, with flat quasi-Mongolic features. They seem
to occupy a place midway between the North American Indian and
the Mongolic type, and there is some reason to suppose that they
represent a prehistoric Mongoloid incursion from Northern Asia, or
perhaps from Indo-Malaysia.
=Esthonians.= A branch of Baltic Finns (_q.v._) settled in
Esthonia, and possessing an ancient ballad literature and mythology.
=Ethiopians.= An ancient Berber tribe, settled in Egypt at
least 5,000 years ago, now represented by the fair Berbers of
Mauritania. Homer called them “blameless,” because he knew so
little about them. See NUBIANS.
=Ethiopic.= One of the four great divisions of the human race,
occupying Africa, Australia, and many islands of the Eastern Ocean.
Its members are typically black-skinned and woolly haired, with
projecting jaws and broad skulls.
=Etruscans.= An ancient Italian people, inhabiting Etruria
in North Italy in pre-Roman times. They probably consisted of an
aboriginal Pelasgian (_q.v._) race, modified by a dominant race of
invaders, who may have been of Mongolic type, or perhaps akin to
the Hittites (_q.v._). The Etruscans may be classed as Hamitic.
They had a distinctive civilisation, and made great progress in
art, of which many monuments remain. The Etruscan confederation,
of which Veii was the chief city, long warred with the rising
power of Rome, under whose dominion it fell in the fourth century
B.C. Families of undoubted Etruscan descent are still
found in North Italy.
=Europeans.= Natives of Europe, mainly Aryan.
=Ewe.= A group of Sudanese Negro tribes of Guinea Coast. The
best known are the Dahomans, or natives of the ancient kingdom
of Dahomey, on the Slave Coast. Of small stature, but robust and
warlike, they are noted for their great human sacrifices and their
employment of female warriors or “Amazons.” Now under French rule.
The Togos are also an Ewe tribe.
[Illustration: AN ARAB VILLAGE ON THE BORDERS OF EGYPT]
=Fans.= A race of powerful and aggressive warriors, who
intruded into Gaboon-Ogoway district about the middle of the
nineteenth century; possibly related to Azandeh or Fulahs
(_q.v._). Cannibals, but otherwise of higher intellect and morality
than the average Negro, from whom they differ in physical type.
=Fantis.= See TSHI.
=Fellahin.= The labouring peasantry of modern Egypt,
industrious but not warlike, descendants of ancient Egyptians, with
a mixture of Syrian and Arab blood.
=Felup.= A group of Sudanese Negro tribes on Casamanza and
Cacheo estuaries.
=Fertits.= See NILITIC GROUP.
=Fijians.= Natives of Fiji, belonging to the Melanesian stock
of the Oceanic Negro family. Formerly ferocious cannibals, they are
now civilised.
=Filipinos.= See PHILIPPINES.
=Fingus=, or =Ama-Fingu=. Bantu Negroes of the Kafir
division in South-east Africa, regarded by Zulus and Ama-Xosa as an
inferior race.
=Finno-Ugrian.= A stock of the Northern Mongolic family,
including (1) Ugrian or Siberian Finns, of which the chief races
are Soyots, Ostyaks, Samoyedes, Voguls, Permian Finns, Siryanians,
and Magyars (_q.v._); (2) European Finns, divided into: (_a_) Volga
Finns, (_b_) Baltic Finns.
=Finns.= The Finns proper are the inhabitants of Finland,
between Russia and Norway. They are a Northern Mongolic race, of
Finno-Ugrian stock, who are supposed to have originated beside
the head waters of the Yenisei River. They entered Finland about
the end of the seventh century and established themselves there,
being afterwards annexed, first by Sweden and then by Russia.
They are a strong, hardy race, who make excellent seamen, with
round faces, fair hair and blue eyes. They are honest, highly
moral and religious, and possess a remarkable ballad and folk-tale
literature, of which the Kalevala is the chief example. The
Baltic Finns of allied race include Esthonians, Karelians, Lapps,
Livonians and Tavastians (_q.v._). The Volga Finns are another
branch of the same people, whose chief tribe was the ancient
Bulgars (_q.v._). The Mordvins and Cheremisses, still settled on
the banks of the Volga in small communities, belong to the same
race.
=Flathead= or =Salish Indians=. A mixed race of North
American Indians, in British Columbia and Montana.
=Flemings=, or =Flemish=. The inhabitants of Flanders,
now divided between Belgium and Holland, descended from Belgic
tribes settled there in Cæsar’s time. They are a Low German branch
of the Teutonic stock. They are an industrious and honest, though
phlegmatic, people, who played a great part in mediæval commerce.
=Formosans.= Natives of Formosa, of mixed Malayan and Negrito
descent. They were divided into three classes by the Chinese
invaders: the Pepohwan, civilised agriculturists, under Chinese
rule; Sekhwan, settled tribes who acknowledged Chinese rule; and
Chinhwan, the wild savage tribes of the mountains, who waged
unceasing war against the invaders. The island has now passed under
Japanese dominion. The Formosans in general approximate to the
Malay type, but are more sturdily built.
=Fox Indians.= See ALGONQUIAN.
=Franks.= A confederation of Germanic tribes, dwelling on the
Middle and Lower Rhine in the third century. They belonged to the
High German branch of the Teutonic stock. In the third and fourth
centuries they began to invade Gaul, where they established a
Frankish kingdom under Clovis (481-511), who adopted Christianity.
This later developed into the modern State of France. The Franks
were a brave and stalwart race of warriors, with blue eyes and long
flowing hair, well-built and large-limbed. They were a nation of
democratic fighting men, who practised agriculture in the intervals
of war.
=French.= The inhabitants of modern France, a race of
mixed origin. Among their ancestors are the Celtic Gauls, the
Teutonic Belgae and Franks, the Hamitic Iberians, the Romans,
and the Scandinavian Normans (_q.v._). They are probably the
quickest-witted and most intelligent race of modern Europe.
Extremely warlike and aggressive in earlier days, they are now
displaying greater devotion to the arts of peace, especially
agriculture. Paris has long been the chief centre of ideas in
Europe.
=Frisians.= A Teutonic race of Low German stock, living
between Scheldt and Weser in Roman times, now belonging to the
Netherlands.
=Fuegians.= Natives of Tierra del Fuego in South America,
savages of a very low physical and mental type.
=Fulahs.= A warlike and predatory race of Saharan Hamites,
formerly occupying small communities throughout the West and
Central Sudan, who over-ran the native Hausa States about
1800-1810, and founded the empire of Sokoto.
=Furs.= See NUBA GROUP.
=Ga.= A Sudanese Negro group in Guinea, including Accras and
Krobos.
=Gaels.= See HIGHLANDERS.
=Gaikas= and =Galekas=. See XOSAS.
=Galchas.= Highlanders of Hindu Kush and Turkistan, of Iranian
descent.
=Gallegos.= Natives of Galicia, in Spain, of Gothic descent.
=Gallas.= A branch of Eastern Hamites, occupying Gallaland,
south of Abyssinia. The finest people in all Africa, strongly
built, of a light chocolate colour. They are distinguished for
their energy and honesty. They are divided into numerous tribes,
and are inveterate foes of the Somalis.
=Gallinas.= Sudanese Negroes of Sierra Leone.
=Garamantes.= An ancient Hamitic race inhabiting the
neighbourhood of Tripoli in Roman times.
=Garhwalis.= Tibetan natives of Garhwal, on the border of
Tibet.
=Gascons.= Natives of Gascony, of Basque descent, modified
by Frank and French blood. They are notorious for their lively
imagination and boasting “Gasconades.”
=Gauchos.= A mixed race of Spanish and Indian descent,
admirable horsemen, who are the chief herdsmen of Uruguay and the
Argentine Republic. See PUELCHES.
=Gauls.= In Cæsar’s time the Gauls occupied the central part,
and formed the chief race, of modern France, which, after them,
was called Gaul. They probably belonged to the Brythonic division
of the Celtic stock, being closely allied to the ancient Britons,
as well as to the modern Welsh and Bretons, who respectively
represent the remnants of the primitive Celtic population of
England and France. It is possible that there was a still earlier
Celtic element in France, corresponding to the Goidelic division of
the Celtic stock. Mingled with the Celtic element in the Gauls were
traces of the earlier Iberian and Ligurian aborigines (_q.v._). The
Gauls were blue-eyed, fair-haired and long-headed, in distinction
to the older dark-eyed, black-haired, round-headed type, which is
more commonly known as Celtic, but is probably characteristic of
an older race. Under Roman rule the Gauls acquired a considerable
degree of civilisation. They were dispossessed in the decline of
the empire by Franks, Burgundians and Visigoths (_q.v._), but
became in part ancestors of the modern French.
=Georgians.= The chief race of the Southern Caucasus, a fine
athletic race of pure Caucasic type, noted for the personal beauty
of its individuals. The Georgians were formerly fierce and warlike,
but under Russian rule have become industrious in the arts of
peace. They are noted for a passionate love of music. They first
appear in history in the time of Alexander the Great, when they
were already settled in their mountains. The Georgian kingdom had
an independent existence for about seven centuries, but suffered
much from Mongolian and especially Turkish invasions. Georgia
and Circassia furnished the majority of white slaves for Turkish
harems. In 1801 Georgia was annexed to Russia. Other important
South Caucasian races are the Imerians and the Mingrelians, who
closely resemble the Georgians in physical characteristics, but
have displayed less aptitude for civilisation.
=Gepidæ.= See GOTHS.
=Getæ.= An ancient race of Thracian (_q.v._) descent, who
settled in Wallachia in the fourth century B.C. They
were warlike and turbulent, but were conquered by Trajan and
incorporated in the Roman Empire. In later centuries they appear to
have been fused with the Goths (_q.v._).
=Germans.= The Germans first appear in history as a multitude
of independent and warlike tribes living amongst the dense forests
which stretched in Roman times from the Rhine to the Vistula.
They belonged to the Teutonic stock of the Aryan family. They
were a tall and vigorous race, with long, fair hair and fierce
blue eyes, who delighted in war and the chase. Their democratic
social organisation has greatly influenced all Teutonic history;
their love of liberty was a passion. At an early period they were
divided into High and Low Germans, differing in type, according as
they inhabited the central and southern portions of modern Germany
or the low-lying lands towards the North Sea and the Baltic. The
chief races of the former were the Goths, Franks, Burgundians,
Swiss, Swabians, Austrians; of the latter, Saxons, Angles, Jutes,
Frisians, Flemings, Batavi--from whom the modern English and
Dutch are descended, whilst the High Germans represent the modern
Germans. These are a very enterprising, thorough, and industrious
race, alike in war and peace, and have thus given birth to one of
the greatest Powers of the modern world.
=Ghilzais.= See AFGHANS.
=Gilyaks.= A Siberian Mongolic race of Saghalien.
=Gipsies.= A nomadic race, which was first described as
appearing in Europe in the fifteenth century, and is now found in
nearly all civilised countries. At first they were believed to come
from Egypt, and their name is a corruption of “Egyptians.” They
have a dark, tawny skin, black hair and eyes, are small-handed
and often very handsome, and live by tinkering, basket-making,
fortune-telling, and other arts which can be practised on the
road. Their chief characteristic is independence and love of a
wandering life. Their origin is still uncertain; though their
language, Romany, is known to be a corrupt dialect of Hindi, which
supports the older theory that they are of Indian descent. A later
and well-supported theory is that they are the descendants of the
prehistoric race which introduced metal-working into Europe. On
this view they must have existed in Europe from time immemorial,
without being noticed in literature. The gipsy problem still awaits
solution.
=Goajiris.= See TUPI-GUARANI.
=Golden Hordes.= See KIPCHAKS.
=Gonaquas.= Hottentot Negro half breeds on Kafirland frontier.
=Goads.= See DRAVIDAS.
=Goths.= One of the chief Teutonic races of ancient times,
who played a great part in European history from the third to
the eighth century, but have left no descendants as a distinct
race. They first appear in history in the third century, as a
confederation of German tribes who had made a settlement in the
district north of the Lower Danube. They soon split up into two
distinct peoples, the East Goths or Ostrogoths, and the West Goths
or Visigoths. There was a third and unimportant race of Mœsogoths,
settled in Mœsia, for whom Ulfilas made his famous translation of
the Scriptures. The Goths were extremely warlike and aggressive,
a typical race of German warriors. The Ostrogoths remained north
of the Danube, where they were subjugated for a time by the Huns
of Attila. Recovering their independence, they invaded Italy,
destroyed the Western Empire, and established a new kingdom under
Theodoric. This was conquered by the Byzantine Narses in 552,
after which the Ostrogoths disappear from history. The Visigoths,
unwilling to submit to the Huns, crossed the Danube and settled in
the Roman Empire, where they furnished many recruits for the army.
In 395 they rebelled, and under Alaric invaded Italy and besieged
Rome. Afterwards they founded kingdoms in the south of Gaul and in
Spain, where the Visigoths ruled till the invasion of the Saracens,
and where their blood is still found incorporated with that of
the older races. A branch of the Ostrogoths which settled in the
Crimea preserved its nationality and language down to the sixteenth
century, or even later. The Bastarnæ, Gepidæ, and perhaps the
Vandals (_q.v._), were branches of the Gothic race.
=Greeks.= (1) For ancient Greeks, see HELLENES. (2)
The modern Greeks are partly descendants of ancient Greeks, with a
large admixture of Albanian, Wallachian and Slavonic elements. They
are great in commerce, but not warlike.
=Griquas.= A race of Hottentot-Dutch half-breeds, also known
as Bastaards, in Griqualand.
=Guaicuris.= Central American Indians of Lower California.
=Guanches.= Aborigines of Canary Islands: so-called “White
Africans,” probably of Berber Hamitic stock.
=Guatemalans.= White natives of Guatemala, in Central America,
of Spanish descent.
=Guatusas.= Central American Indians of Costa Rica.
=Guebres.= See PARSEES.
=Gujeratis.= Natives of Gujerat in Western India, Aryans of
Hindu stock.
=Gurkas.= The dominant race of Nepal, who claim a Hindu
(Aryan) origin, but have probably acquired a Mongoloid tinge from
inter-marriages. They are of small stature, yet eminently warlike,
and supply some of the best troops to our Indian Army.
=Gypsies.= See GIPSIES.
=Hadendowas.= See BEJAS.
=Haidas.= North American Indians in British Columbia.
=Hamites.= A family of Caucasic Man, belonging to the
Melanochroid or dark type, ranging in colour from white to brown,
and even black; hair soft, straight or wavy; skull, medium
(mesocephalic); square-jawed (orthognathous); generally of fine
physical development. Divided into Eastern Hamites--_e.g._, Somali,
and Western Hamites--_e.g._, Berbers and Basques. Closely related
to Semites.
=Hau-Khoin.= See HEREROS.
=Hausas.= The most important Sudanese Negro race of Northern
Nigeria. Keen traders, physically well developed, they make
excellent soldiers, and are largely utilised for this purpose by
their British rulers. The Hausa States were over-run by the Hamitic
Fulahs (_q.v._) about 1800-1810, and now form part of the Empire of
Sokoto. The Hausa language is the common medium of commerce in the
Central Sudan.
=Hawaiians.= Natives of Hawaii, of brown Polynesian stock,
akin to Maoris. A remarkably fine and handsome race, steadily
decreasing since contact with European civilisation and diseases.
Peculiarly subject to leprosy.
=Haytians.= Natives of the negro republic of Hayti, descended
from negro slaves imported by the earlier Spanish and French
owners, who freed themselves at the time of the French Revolution.
The Spanish portion afterwards formed the Dominican Republic in
the eastern part of the island. Of mixed Bantu and Sudanese Negro
descent, with a cross of white blood.
=Hazaras.= Mountaineers of N.W. Afghanistan, a vigorous and
turbulent race of Mongolo-Persian descent, often troublesome to
British India.
=Hebrews.= See JEWS.
=Hellenes.= Inhabitants of ancient Greece, which they called
Hellas. The Proto-Hellenes, or aborigines, were probably of
Pelasgian origin, belonging to the Western Hamitic family, of
whom the ancient Cretans and Mycenæans (_q.v._) may represent the
ancestral type. These were followed by the true Hellenes--Achæans
or Argives--divided into three main branches--Dorians, Ionians, and
Æolians. Later they were divided into many local states, such as
Athens and Sparta. The modern Greeks are in part descended from the
Hellenes, crossed with Albanian, Wallachian, and Turkish blood. It
is to the Hellenes that we owe the first important developments of
civilisation in Europe.
=Helveti.= Ancient inhabitants of Switzerland in Cæsar’s time,
probably a German tribe, from whom the modern Swiss are in part
descended.
=Hereros=, or =Ovaherero=. Bantu Negroes inhabiting the
plains of Damaraland, or German South-West Africa. The Damaras or
Hau-Khoin are a cross between Hereros and the Hottentot aborigines.
A pastoral nation who migrated thither about two centuries ago from
the inland districts, and dispossessed the aboriginal Hottentots,
now represented by the Namas of Namaqualand, with whom they
are perennially at war. Recently they rose against the German
authorities, and have given them much trouble. A fine, warlike race.
=Highlanders.= The Gaelic-speaking inhabitants of Northern
Scotland, a branch of the Goidelic or Q Kelts, also known as Gaels.
They are descended from the ancient Scots (_q.v._), who originally
migrated from Ireland in the fifth century. One of the finest races
of the British Islands, who give them their finest soldiers.
=Himyarites.= A branch of the Semitic family (“Red Men,”
whence the Red Sea), formerly occupying Arabia Felix and Abyssinia;
they form the main stock of the Abyssinian race. They included the
kingdoms of the Minæans and Sabæans, the latter being identified by
some with the Biblical Sheba.
=Hindus.= A stock of the Aryan family, comprising a large
proportion of the natives of India, described under the headings
of Kashmiris, Punjabis, Rajputs, Marathas, Bengalis, Sindis,
Gujeratis, Assamis, etc. The original Hindus entered India--hence
called Hindustan--from the north-west at some prehistoric time, and
soon became the predominant race in the peninsula.
=Hittites.= A forgotten but once mighty people of Semitic
race, who contested the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, and
waged war with Egypt and Assyria for many centuries. Little is
known about them, but they seem to have reared a mighty empire
between Lebanon and the Euphrates, which endured for more than a
thousand years, and was destroyed by the Assyrian Sargon II. in 717
B.C.
=Hondurans.= White natives of Honduras, of Spanish descent;
few in numbers, the population being mostly of mixed blood.
=Hor-Soks.= A primitive Mongol-Turki race of the Tibetan
plateau.
=Hottentots=, or =Khoi-Khoin=. The aboriginal Negro
inhabitants of South Africa, which they shared with the Bushmen
(_q.v._). Possibly the Bushmen are degraded Hottentots, or the
Hottentots are a cross between the Bantus from the north and the
Bushmen, who would on this view be the true aborigines. The only
surviving race of pure Hottentots are the Namas of Namaqualand: the
Damaras, Griquas, Gonaquas, and Koranas, are other races in which
Hottentot blood is mixed with that of Bantu Negroes or of Europeans
(mostly Boers). The Hottentots are a distinct branch of the Negro
family, marked by extremely long heads and high cheek-bones, a
brownish-yellow complexion, with other physical peculiarities
exemplified in the so-called “Hottentot Venus,” and also found in
the Bushmen. Their language is peculiar for its unique “clicks,”
which no European can pronounce, and which seem to stand between
articulate and inarticulate speech.
=Hovas.= The dominant Malagasy race of Madagascar, of Malay
descent, mixed with Bantu Negro blood from Africa. They stand
nearest to pure Malays of all Malagasy peoples. The existing French
Protectorate was only established after much fighting with the
warlike Hovas, who had conquered all the other native tribes.
=Huastec.= See MAYA-QUICHÉ.
=Hungarians.= See MAGYARS.