probably of Turki stock, who settled in the neighbourhood of the
Volga and the Urals about the dawn of the Christian era. In the
fourth century they conquered and dispossessed the Ostrogoths and
Visigoths on the Danube. Under Attila, in the fifth century, they
invaded Greece and Gaul, and pushed their arms as far as Rome,
which was only saved by the diplomacy of the Pope. Their cruel
fierceness in war caused their great leader to be known as the
Scourge of God. Like the Mongols, they were essentially a race of
horsemen, and their “deformed figures and hideous Mongolic faces”
added to the terror which they inspired. After Attila’s death in
453 the Huns fell to pieces, and soon were absorbed into other
nations--especially, perhaps, the Bulgars.
=Hunzas.= See DARDS.
=Hupas.= See ATHABASCAN.
=Hurons=, or =Wyandots=. A North American Indian race of
Iroquoian stock, formerly inhabiting the shores of Lake Huron.
=Hyksos.= A Northern Mongolic race who invaded Egypt
and established the dynasty of the Shepherd kings about 2000
B.C.
=Ibeas.= A Negro race which recently invaded the Cameroons
from the East: they bring down ivory from the unexplored interior.
Either Bantu, or Sudanese--perhaps connected with the Azandeh
(_q.v._).
=Iberi=, or =Iberians=. An ancient race of Western
Hamites, related to the fair Berbers of Mauritania. The Basques
are probably descended from them, and there is good reason
for identifying them with the Picts of Scotland and the Irish
aborigines.
=Ibo.= See ABO.
=Icelanders.= Inhabitants of Iceland, originally Norwegians,
who settled there about the end of the ninth century. A typical
tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed Scandinavian race. The Icelandic Sagas
form the chief part of ancient Scandinavian literature.
=Idumæans= or =Edomites=. A warlike Semitic race of
Canaanite stock, thought to be descended from Esau, who were
conquered by the Israelites under Saul and David, and again by
Judas Maccabæus in 165 B.C., after which they disappear
from history.
=Ife.= See YORUBAS.
=Igorrotes.= An industrious agricultural race of the
Philippine Islands. Indonesians of Malay descent, with a possible
Chinese or Japanese element.
=Illinois Indians.= See ALGONQUIAN.
=Illyrians.= A savage piratical race of the eastern Adriatic
sea-board, who were conquered by the Romans, and were the last of
the Balkan peoples to be civilised. Probably the modern Albanians
are descended from them, and they were among the first Aryan
immigrants to Europe.
=Ilocanos.= A Malay race of the Philippine Islands.
=Imerians.= See GEORGIANS.
=Incas.= The chief of the six Indian races, including the
Quichuas and the warlike Chancas, which formerly occupied the
central mountain-region of Peru. The Incas became the dominant
race about 1000 A.D., and built up a vast and peaceful
civilisation, in which a purely socialistic government was
successfully administered. This Inca Empire was destroyed by the
Spanish under Pizarro in 1533, but the Inca Indians still survive
as a race in Central Peru, where they are known as industrious and
honest agriculturists.
=Indians.= Native races (1) of India; (2) of North, Central,
and South America.
=Indo-Chinese.= A section of the Southern Mongolic family,
inhabiting the countries between India and China.
=Indo-European, Indo-German.= See ARYAN.
=Indonesians.= The light-coloured, non-Malay inhabitants of
the Eastern Archipelago and South Sea Islands, who are of Caucasic
type, and are mostly brown-skinned Polynesians (_q.v._). They also
include the Batjans of Batjan I., the Burus, Korongui, and Suvu of
the Malay Archipelago, and the Mentawey Islanders (_q.v._).
=Ingushis.= See CHECHENZES.
=Innuits.= See ESKIMOS.
=Ionians.= (1) One of the three main Hellenic races of ancient
Greece. (2) Greek inhabitants of the coast districts and islands of
Western Asia Minor, forming the Ionian League, who passed in the
sixth century B.C. under the Persian sway.
=Iowa Indians.= See SIOUAN.
=Iranians.= Ancient inhabitants of the Asian plateau bounded
by the Indus, the Tigris, and the Hindu Kush. A stock of the Aryan
family, now including Persians, Afghans, Baluchis, Kurds, and
Armenians (_q.v._).
=Irish.= (1) The aborigines of Ireland, probably Iberians
(_q.v._). (2) The later Erse-speaking inhabitants of Ireland,
a branch of the Goidelic or Q Celts. (3) Modern inhabitants of
Ireland, mostly Celtic, but largely mixed with Teutonic elements in
the north.
=Iroquoian.= One of the families of North American Indians,
including the Iroquois, or “Six Nations,” who comprised the
Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas, Tuscaroras and Cayugas;
the Hurons, or Wyandots, including the Eries, and the Cherokees.
Their territory was Upper Canada, round the great lakes, New York,
and the Virginian Highlands, and they played a large part in the
Franco-British warfare of the eighteenth century. They are now few
in numbers and confined to Indian Reservations in the U.S. and
Canada.
=Israelites.= See JEWS.
=Italians.= (1) Ancient inhabitants of Italy, of Ligurian
stock, probably Eastern Hamites, related to the Pelasgians [see
LATINS and ROMANS]. (2) Modern Italians, mostly
of Latin stock, crossed with Teutonic (Gothic and Lombard) blood.
=Italic.= A stock of the Aryan family, including ancient and
modern Italians (with ancient Romans), modern French, Spanish,
Portuguese, and Roumanian, with Latin (Spanish and Portuguese)
Americans.
=Jallonké.= See MANDINGAN.
=Jangalis.= An aboriginal Indian tribe, inhabiting the forest
district north of Cuttack--the most primitive race in all India.
Perhaps an early Dravidian (_q.v._) stock.
=Japanese.= A race of the Northern Mongolian family, probably
originating in Korea, whence they spread to Japan and dispossessed
the Ainu aborigines, about the dawn of the Christian era. The
most enterprising and civilised people in Asia, often called “the
English of the Far East.” They possess a singularly high standard
of honour and patriotism, which was the main factor in their recent
victory over Russia, and they are eminently warlike, besides
producing industrious agriculturists and enterprising traders.
Of short but sturdy stature, white skin and yellow or sallowish
complexion, oblique eyes, black hair.
=Jats.= A numerous agricultural race of the Punjab in
North-west India. They are probably of an Aryan stock, but
ethnologists disagree as to their history, assigning them ancient
Scythian invaders, the Rajputs, or the Gipsies, for ancestors.
=Javanese.= A Malay race inhabiting Java, where they
dispossessed the Negrito aborigines [see KALANGS] in
prehistoric times. The Sundanese and Madurese are allied tribes,
possessing parts of the island of Java, now under Dutch rule.
=Jebus.= See YORUBAS.
=Jews=, =Hebrews=, or =Israelites=. The most
important of Semitic races, of the ancient Canaanite stock. The
Israelites descended from Abraham, who came from Mesopotamia to
Canaan about 2000 B.C.; thence they migrated to Egypt, and
returned to take possession of Palestine. Their history is familiar
to all from the Bible. After the Roman capture of Jerusalem under
Titus, 70 A.D., the Jews--as they were now called--were
dispersed through the world, but they have retained their racial
characteristics in remarkable purity through long persecutions, and
now play a great part in the commerce and finance of nearly all
civilised countries, though they have no national unity or racial
home.
=Jivaros.= South American Indians, in Peru, on the head-waters
of the Amazon.
=Jolofs.= See WOLOFS.
=Jutes.= Early inhabitants of Jutland, a Low German branch of
Teutonic stock, who invaded England in the fifth century and made
the first Teutonic settlement in that country, in Kent.
=Kabards.= A Western Caucasian race, allied to the Circassians
(_q.v._) and presenting a high standard of physical beauty.
=Kabyles.= See BERBERS.
=Kacharis.= Natives of the Terai at the foot of the Himalayas,
belonging to the Tibetan stock of the Southern Mongolic family.
=Kafirs=, or =Kaffirs=. Generic name of the fierce and
warlike Bantu Negro races which occupied the south-eastern seaboard
of South Africa when Europeans first colonised that country. They
then held all the coast lands from the Gamboos to the Limpopo.
The southern part (Kaffraria) belonged to the Kafirs proper, and
the northern (Zululand) to the Zulus, an allied race, but usually
distinguished from the Kafirs, or Ama-Xosa, whose chief tribes are
Galekas, Gaikas and Tembus (_q.v._). Throughout the greater part
of the nineteenth century the English settlers were engaged in
constant Kafir wars, which resulted in the gradual subjugation of
both Kafirs and Zulus.
=Kafirs.= Fair-skinned mountaineers of Kafiristan, between
the Kabul River and Hindu Kush. An offshoot of the Aryan family,
thought by some to be descendants in part of the Greek troops with
which Alexander the Great invaded India.
=Kakhyens.= A race of freebooters, inhabiting the northern
frontiers of Burma, whence they raid the more civilised
agriculturists of the plains and levy blackmail. A Southern
Mongolic race of Indo-Chinese stock.
=Kalangs.= A recently extinct Negrito race of Java, remnants
of the aborigines of that island; small, black and woolly-haired,
with very retreating forehead and projecting jaws. The most
ape-like of human beings, and the nearest approach yet found to the
“missing link” between man and ape. They belonged to the Oceanic
Negro family.
=Kalmuks.= The Western Mongol stock of the Northern Mongolic
family, scattered through Central Asia, and extending into Southern
Russia. Nomadic pastors, owning large flocks and herds, and living
in tents on the great steppes, they include the tribes of the
Chorasses, Turguts, Khoshots, and Durbats. A large horde of Kalmuks
invaded Russia in 1650, and settled there for a century, but in
1771 most of them were expelled, and endured great sufferings on
the march to China, so brilliantly described by De Quincy. These
were mainly Khoshots and Durbats.
=Kamchadales.= A Siberian branch of the Northern Mongolic
family, inhabiting Kamchatka; a hardy race of hunters and fishers.
=Kanakas.= A name given to South Sea Islanders, generally
by sailors and traders, and especially to Polynesian labourers
imported to Queensland.
=Kanakas=, or =Bakanaka=. Negro aborigines of Angola,
probably akin to the Bushmen. Other similar tribes are the Korokas,
Kulabes, Kwandes and Kwisses.
=Kanarese.= Mongoloid aborigines of Mysore in India. See
DRAVIDIANS.
=Kanembu, Kanuris.= See LAKE CHAD GROUP.
=Kara-Kalpaks=, or =Black Bonnets=. A branch of the Turki
stock of the Northern Mongolic family, dwelling on the south-east
of the Aral Sea and in the Oxus basin. A pacific pastoral race,
dominated by their warlike relatives, the nomadic Kirghiz, and now
subject to Russia.
=Kara-Kirghiz.= See KIRGHIZ.
=Karelians.= An Eastern branch of Baltic Finns dwelling in
the eastern parts of Finland and adjoining provinces of Russia.
Probably a Slavo-Mongolic mixture in which the original Mongolic
element has been largely eliminated.
=Karens.= Inhabitants of Burma, of the Indo-Chinese branch
of the Southern Mongolic family. Largely Christianised. Formerly
oppressed by the Burmans, than whom they are less clever, but more
industrious. Agriculturists.
=Karons.= A Negrito race of New Guinea, of very degraded type,
and addicted to cannibalism.
=Kargos.= See NUBA GROUP.
=Kashmiris.= Natives of Kashmir, belonging to the Hindu
branch of the Aryan family. Of fine physique, but corrupt and
untrustworthy.
=Kassonké.= See MANDINGAN.
=Kazaks.= See KIRGHIZ.
[Illustration:
A RED INDIAN CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY Underwood & Underwood
]
=Kelts=, or =Celts=. A stock of the Aryan family which
settled in France and the British Islands in prehistoric times. The
Gauls and Belgæ of Cæsar’s time and the early Britons represent
them. They are divided into two branches, Goidelic and Brythonic
Celts, respectively known also as Q and P Celts, from a linguistic
peculiarity. The former are represented in modern times by Irish,
Manx, and Scottish Highlanders; the latter by Welsh, Cornish,
and Bretons. The typical Celt was probably a tall, broad-headed
individual, with prominent nose, high cheek-bones, light hair and
eyes. The small, round-headed, dark race which is also classed as
Celtic, is more probably an earlier Hamitic type, allied to the
Basques (_q.v._).
=Khulkas.= A nomadic race of Eastern Mongols, occupying the
Gobi desert.
=Khamtis.= An Assamese race--Indo-Chinese stock of Southern
Mongolic family--in the Brahmaputra Valley.
=Khasis.= An Indo-Chinese hill tribe of Southern Mongolic
family, in Khasi Hills of Assam.
=Khoi-Khoin.= The name given to themselves by the Hottentots
(_q.v._).
=Khoshots.= See KALMUKS.
=Kickapoos.= See ALGONQUIAN.
=Kiowas.= A North American Indian race in Oklahoma.
=Kipchaks.= A Turki race of Northern Mongolic family, settled
in eleventh century between Urals and Don. In the middle of the
thirteenth century, Batu Khan, a son of Genghiz Khan, led them
to conquer all Central and South Russia, where they founded the
Empire of the Golden Horde. It was broken up by Tamerlane about
1390, and from its fragments arose the Khanates of Astrakhan, the
Crimea, etc., now absorbed by Russia. From the Eastern Kipchaks
are descended the Kirghiz (_q.v._), one of whose hordes is still
known as Kipchak. The modern Kipchaks are nomadic, and live by
stock-feeding in the steppes of western Turkestan.
=Kirantis.= A Tibetan race of East Nepal, of Southern Mongolic
family.
=Kirghiz.= A nomadic people of Central Asia, where they occupy
the vast steppes which lie to the north of Turkestan. They are
descended from the Kipchaks (_q.v._) of the Golden Horde. They
form a group of the Turki stock of the Northern Mongolic family.
The Kara-Kirghiz, who inhabit the uplands between the Issik-Kul
and the Kuen-Lun, are the oldest Turki nomads of whom there is any
historical record, and are divided into On and Sol--right and left
wings. The Kirghiz proper, who call themselves Kazaks, or “riders,”
roam from Lake Balkash to the Volga, over the vast level steppes,
where they dwell in skin tents and support themselves by breeding
camels, horses, oxen, sheep and goats. They live in the saddle, and
were formerly a warlike people, who once could put 400,000 fighting
men in the field. They are divided into four hordes--Great, Middle
or Kipchak, Little, and Inner. They are all now under Russian
dominion.
=Kishis.= See CHECHENZES.
=Kissis.= See TEMNÉ GROUP.
=Kizil-Bashis.= Persianised Turkis of Afghanistan, belonging
to Turki branch of Northern Mongolic family, who supply the chief
commercial classes of Afghanistan.
=Kolajis.= See NUBA GROUP.
=Kolarians.= One of the three non-Aryan races to which the
primitive inhabitants of India belonged, of the Indo-Chinese stock
of the Southern Mongolic family. They entered Bengal from the
north-east, and are now represented by a few scattered tribes, like
the Santals, Mundas, Kurkus, and Bhils.
=Koranas.= See HOTTENTOTS.
=Koreans.= Natives of Korea, belonging to the Koreo-Japanese
stock of the Northern Mongol family. They stand midway between
Chinese and Japanese, the latter being probably their descendants,
and are taller, with lighter complexion and more regular features,
than the typical Mongol. Their civilisation is of Chinese origin.
They are not warlike, but are prosperous agriculturists.
=Korokas.= See KANAKAS.
=Korungas.= See WADAI GROUP.
=Koryaks.= An Arctic race of North-east Siberia, allied to the
Chukchis (_q.v._).
=Krej.= See NILITIC GROUP.
=Krim-Tartars.= See TARTARS.
=Krus=, or =Krooboys=. Sudanese Negroes of Liberian
Group. Bold and skilful boatmen, employed for that purpose all
along the West African Coast.
=Kulabes.= See KANAKAS.
=Kulfans, Kunjaras.= See NUBA GROUP.
=Kurds.= Native of Kurdistan, partly nomad and pastoral,
partly settled and agricultural. A fierce and warlike people, they
are much given to raiding, and were utilised by the Sultan to
oppress the Armenians. They have settled in Kurdistan from time
immemorial, and belong to the Iranian stock of the Aryan family.
=Kurile Islanders.= See AINUS.
=Kurinis.= See LESGHIANS.
=Kurkus.= A broken Kolarian tribe, allied to the Santals of
Central India, belonging to the Indo-Chinese branch of Southern
Mongolic family.
=Kutchins.= See ATHABASCAN.
=Kwandes, Kwisses.= See KANAKAS.
=Ladakhis.= Natives of Ladakh in the Upper Indus Valley,
belonging to the Tibetan stock of the Southern Mongolic family,
conquered by Kashmir in seventeenth century.
=Lake Chad Group.= A group of Sudanese Negro tribes,
inhabiting the districts round Lake Chad, including Kanembus,
Kanuris, Baghirmis (warlike slave-raiders), Mandaras, Yedinas,
Logons, Mosgus, Bulalas, Saras, etc.
=Lampongs.= Malay inhabitants of Southern Sumatra.
=Lamuts.= See TUNGUSES.
=Landumans.= Sudanese Negroes of Senegambia.
=Laos.= See SHANS.
=Lapps.= A branch of the Finno-Ugrian stock of the Northern
Mongolic family, inhabiting the parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland,
and Russia collectively known as Lapland. They are the shortest and
broadest-skulled people in Europe. Most of them are nomads, who
live by their vast reindeer herds, though some have become settled
and live by fishing and hunting. They are closely allied to the
Baltic Finns, and like them show traces of a mixture of Caucasic
blood.
=Lascars.= A term applied to sailors of Indian and Malay
seafaring races, employed on British vessels.
=Latins.= The ancient inhabitants of Latium, the district
of Central Italy which lay between the Tiber and the Liris, and
included the Roman Campagna. They absorbed the earlier allied races
of Oscans, Sabines, Samnites and Umbrians, and formed a league
of thirty cities, which warred for some generations with Rome and
then fell under the Roman dominion. Rome itself was originally a
Latin city. The ancient population of Italy was divided into three
grades: Roman citizens--not necessarily residents in Rome--Latins,
and Italians. The Latins are a branch of the Italic stock of the
Aryan family.
=Latin= or =Romance Races=. A name often given to the
modern races which speak a Romance language derived from Latin, and
belong in whole or part to the Italic stock of the Aryan family.
They include Italians, French (including Provençals), Spaniards,
Portuguese, and Roumanians.
=Latin Americans.= The white inhabitants of South America, of
Spanish or Portuguese descent, and speaking these languages.
=Lazes.= See GEORGIANS.
=Lencan.= A group of semi-civilised Central American Indian
tribes, including Chontals, Ramas, Payas, Wulwas, and Guatusas.
=Lepchas.= Natives of Sikkim and Bhutan, belonging to the
Tibetan stock of the Southern Mongolic family.
=Lesghians.= A branch of the Eastern stock of the Caucasian
family, inhabiting the Eastern Caucasus. Wild mountain tribes,
who long offered an unavailing resistance to the Russian arms
under Shamyl (1859). Their chief tribes are the Avars (the most
cultivated and powerful), Andis, Dargos, Didis and Kurinis.
=Lettic.= A stock of the Aryan family, including Letts,
Lithuanians and the extinct Pruczi, Borussians, or Old Prussians,
from whom modern Prussia takes its name. The Letts and Lithuanians
in the fifteenth century formed a united people, inhabiting the
south-west of Russia, from Courland to Odessa. Afterwards they
passed under Polish and then Russian dominion. They are now mostly
peasant agriculturists. They are fair and well-built, with fine
features and blue eyes.
=Letts.= See LETTIC.
=Liberian Group.= Sudanese Negro tribes, inhabiting the Grain
Coast of West Africa. The Krus or Krooboys (_q.v._), Queahs and
Bassas are their chief tribes.
=Liberians.= Natives of the negro republic of Liberia on the
Guinea Coast, partly descended from freed slaves of all races, but
mainly belonging to the Liberian group.
=Libyans.= An ancient fair-haired and light-skinned race of
Northern Africa, akin to the modern Berbers, belonging to the
western stock of the Hamitic family. They are depicted on Egyptian
monuments of fifteenth century B.C.
=Ligures=, or =Ligurians=. An ancient race of the western
stock of the Hamitic family, probably the aborigines of North-West
Italy round Genoa, to whom the Siculi, Sards and Corsicans were
apparently akin.
=Limbas.= See TEMNÉ GROUP.
=Lithuanians.= See LETTIC.
=Livonians.= A branch of Baltic Finns, belonging to the
Finno-Ugrian stock of the Northern Mongolic family; a dwindled
remnant now inhabits the Baltic provinces of Russia.
=Logons.= See LAKE CHAD GROUP.
=Lolos.= A fair-complexioned aboriginal race on the frontiers
of China and Tibet, belonging to the Chinese stock of the Southern
Mongolic family.
=Lombards.= A race of Teutonic stock, formerly settled in the
district of the Lower Elbe, who invaded Italy in 568, and there
founded a powerful Lombard kingdom under Alboin and his successors.
The Lombards were at first fierce warriors and little more; but
they soon fell under the influence of Italian civilisation, and
were merged into the Italian race when Charlemagne destroyed their
independence in 774. Their name and some traces of their racial
character still remain in Lombardy, between the Alps and the Po.
=Luchuans.= Natives of the Luchu or Liu-Kin Archipelago,
between Japan and Formosa, resembling the Japanese, but with
differences which are attributed to a cross of the aboriginal Ainu
blood. They belong to the Koreo-Japanese stock of the Northern
Mongolic family.
=Lushais.= A warlike race of Tibetan stock inhabiting the
Lushai Hills on the confines of Assam, Bengal and Burma.
=Mabas.= See WADAI GROUP.
=Macedonians.= A warlike people of ancient Greece, who
attained their greatest power under Alexander the Great. They were
not true Hellenes, but a race of wild mountain tribes probably
of Hamitic origin. Modern Macedonia is peopled by an extremely
mixed race of Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, etc., among whom some
descendants of the ancient Macedonians may no doubt be found.
=Macusis.= See CARIBS.
=Madis.= See NILITIC GROUP.
=Madurese.= A Malay race inhabiting Java, and allied to the
Javanese (_q.v._).
=Magars.= A Tibetan tribe of Western Nepal.
=Magwangwaras.= A fierce predatory race of Bantu Negroes,
occupying the head-waters of the Rovuma River in East Central
Africa.
=Magyars.= A warlike and now highly civilised race belonging
to the Finno-Ugrian stock of the Northern Mongolic family. They
first appeared in Europe about a thousand years ago, being
probably Scythian (_q.v._) immigrants from the Caspian district.
They conquered the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Dacia, and
there founded the Kingdom of Hungary in the year 1000. They are
still the dominant race in Hungary, which now forms part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and preserve their Finno-Ugrian speech.
They are a chivalrous and highly intelligent race, whose Mongolic
descent is no longer perceptible in their white skins and regular,
often handsome features. Probably this is due to frequent crossing
of blood with German, Slav and Roumanian neighbours.
=Mahrattas.= See MARATHIS.
=Makololos.= A warlike branch of the Basuto race of Bantu
Negroes who, in 1835, moved north and conquered the Barotses, only
to be reduced by them to vassalage about 1864.
=Makuas.= A savage cannibal race of Bantu Negroes, living
north of the Zambesi in Portuguese East Africa.
=Malagasy.= A Malayo-African people of mixed blood, inhabiting
Madagascar. The Hovas (_q.v._) are the dominant tribe.