stock of the Oceanic Mongolic family. They are of a distinctly
Mongolic physical type, of low stature and yellowish colour,
with high cheek-bones, black lank hair and broad skulls. They
may be divided into three races: the Orang-Benua, or men of the
soil, the indigenous Malay tribes at a low stage of culture; the
Orang-Laut, or men of the sea, who live by fishing and piracy;
and the Orang-Malayu, or civilised Malays proper. They inhabit
the southern provinces of Sumatra, the native states of the Malay
Peninsula (Kelantan, etc.), the British Straits Settlements (Johor,
Perak, Selangor, etc.), parts of Borneo, Ternate, Tidor and the
Banda Islands, and many islands of the Malay Archipelago. They
have wandered as far as Madagascar, where the Malagasy (_q.v._)
are Malays crossed with Negro blood. They were formerly warlike
and much given to piracy, but are now the chief trading race
of South-eastern Asia. Their origin is dubious, but Sumatra is
generally regarded as their original home. Of kindred blood are
many so-called Proto-Malay races, such as the Achinese, Javanese,
Sundanese, Dyaks, etc. (_q.v._).
=Malayalim.= See DRAVIDIANS.
=Manchus.= The dominant native race of Manchuria, who
conquered China in the seventeenth century and founded the existing
Chinese dynasty. They are of the Mongol stock of the Northern
Mongolic family. They first appear in history in the thirteenth
century, when a number of nomad Manchu tribes were formed into
a single people. They probably originated in Siberia, where the
Tunguses (_q.v._) represent their primitive stock.
=Mandans.= See SIOUAN.
=Mandaras.= See LAKE CHAD GROUP.
=Mandingans.= The chief race of Sudanese Negroes in the
Western Sudan, with numerous branches between the Upper Niger and
the coast, including Mandé or Mandingoes, Bambaras, Jallonkés,
Kassonkés, Masinas, Sarakolés, Solimas, Susus, etc. Timbuctoo was
formerly the capital of the Mandingan empire, before it fell under
Berber domination. A large proportion of American Negroes are
descended from slaves of Mandingan origin.
=Mangbattu.= Sudanese negroes of Welle group, noted for their
pronounced cannibalism.
=Mangkassara.= Malay natives of Macassar, in Celebes, under
Dutch rule.
=Manipuris.= Natives of Manipur, between Burma and Assam,
mostly wild hillmen of mixed Burmese and Hindu blood, but classed
with the Indo-Chinese stock of the Southern Mongolic family.
=Man-Tses.= Inhabitants of the mountain districts of Sze-chuen
in China, akin to Lolos (_q.v._). _m_
=Manx= or =Manxmen=. Inhabitants of the Isle of Man,
belonging to the Celtic stock of the Aryan family, and the Goidelic
or Q Celt branch of it. There is a strong Scandinavian element in
their blood, from the numerous invasions of the old Norse pirates.
Their customs are also strongly marked by the Scandinavian element.
=Manyuemas.= Warlike Bantu Negroes of the Upper Congo, long
allied with the Arab slave-traders.
=Maoris.= The aborigines of New Zealand, belonging to the tall
brown race of Polynesians (_q.v._), a branch of the Indonesian
family. A brave, generous and warlike people, who are said to have
reached New Zealand from the Pacific islands about a thousand
years ago, they are one of the few native races which promise to
assimilate western civilisation with success.
=Marathis=, or =Mahrattas=. A numerous Indian race of
mixed origin, probably of aboriginal (Dravidian) blood in the main,
with a Hindu element. They inhabit West and Central India, where
they became the dominant power under Sivaji in the seventeenth
century. The English had long and bloody contests with these wild
and warlike mountaineers, who founded several great native states,
some of which (Gwalior and Indore) survive to this day.
=Maronites.= A sturdy, warlike Christian race of mountaineers
in the Lebanon, belonging to the Syrian branch of the Aramæan stock
of the Semitic family. Implacable foes of the Druses, with whom
they are constantly at war.
=Marquesans.= See POLYNESIANS.
=Masais.= A branch of the Eastern Hamites, settled in British
East Africa on the Tana River. A finely-built race, whom only
their chocolate colour and frizzy hair prevent from passing for
Europeans. Extremely warlike and intelligent, they are confirmed
raiders and cattle lifters.
=Mashonas.= Natives of Mashonaland, in South-eastern Rhodesia,
formerly the half-fabulous empire of the Monomotapa, and the home
of a forgotten civilisation, to which the ruins of Zimbabye and
other similar relics bear witness. The Mashonas are Bantu Negroes,
a peaceful, industrious people, who were subjugated about 1838 by
the Matabeles under Umsilikatzi, and are now under British rule.
=Massachusett Indians.= See ALGONQUIAN.
=Massalits.= See WADAI GROUP.
=Matabeles.= A branch of the Zulu race of Bantu Negroes, which
was expelled from Zululand in 1838, and conquered the Mashonas, in
modern Rhodesia, under Umsilikatzi. Like the Zulus, they were proud
and fearless warriors, who were only subjugated with difficulty by
the English in 1893, and revolted unsuccessfully in 1896.
=Matacoans.= A South American Indian race on the Vermejo River
in Argentine.
=Mauri.= See MOORS.
=Maviti.= Bantu Negroes of the Upper Shiré in British South
Central Africa, of Zulu stock, who came as conquerors from the
south.
=Maya-Quiché.= A group of Central American Indian races,
mostly in Yucatan and Guatemala. It includes the Mayas of Yucatan,
Zendals and Zotzils of Chiapas, Quichés, Chols, Pokomans, and
Zutugils of Guatemala, Huastecs and Totonacs of Vera Cruz. Like the
Aztecs, the Mayas possessed an ancient civilisation and system of
picture writing.
=Maypuris.= See ARAWAKS.
=Mbengas.= Indigenous Bantu Negroes of French Equatorial
Africa, about Corisco Bay.
=Melanesians.= The indigenous natives of the Western Pacific
Islands, forming a distinct stock of the Oceanic Negro family of
Ethiopic Man. They are long-skulled, or dolichocephalic, with the
lowest cephalic index of all known races, prognathous, broad-nosed,
of a sooty-black colour, with black frizzy hair, and of low
stature. They are at a low stage of culture, being very savage,
bloodthirsty, and treacherous, mostly cannibals and head-hunters,
with little social organisation. They include the Fijians and the
natives of the New Hebrides, the Solomon, Admiralty, Bismarck,
and Loyalty Islands, New Britain, New Ireland, New Caledonia, and
other islands of the Eastern Pacific. They are closely allied to
the Papuans (_q.v._), under which name some ethnologists prefer to
class the whole body of Melanesians.
=Melanochroi.= A suggested division of Caucasic Man, in which
a pale skin is typically accompanied by dark hair and eyes; it
would thus include the Hamitic and Semitic families, with the
Hellenic, Italic, and Celtic stocks of the Aryan family.
=Mendis.= See TEMNÉ GROUP.
=Mentawey Islanders.= A remnant of the aboriginal Polynesian
race dispossessed by the Malays, off the coast of Sumatra.
=Mestizos.= Cross-breeds between Europeans and Indians, in
Spanish and Portuguese America.
=Mexicans.= See AZTECS and NAHUANS. Also the
modern inhabitants of Mexico, who are of Spanish descent, with a
strong infusion of Indian blood.
=Micmacs.= An Indian race of Nova Scotia, in whom some
ethnologists think that a trace of Norse blood, dating from the
pre-Columbian discovery of America, is perceptible.
=Minæans.= See HIMYARITES.
=Mingrelians.= See GEORGIANS.
=Minh-huongs.= Franco-Annamese half-breeds in Cochin China, an
increasing race who make very valuable colonists.
=Minnetarees.= See SIOUAN.
=Mishmis.= A wild Tibetan hill tribe occupying the
jungle-covered hills through which the Brahmaputra flows, on the
northern border of Assam. Warlike and turbulent.
=Missouri Indians.= See SIOUAN.
=Mixtecs.= An ancient Mexican race, contemporary with the
Toltecs (_q.v._), probably represented by the modern Miztecs of
Oajaca.
=Moabites.= An ancient pastoral race of Semitic origin,
ethnologically cognate with the Israelites, who dwelt on the east
of the Dead Sea, and are now extinct.
=Mœsogoths.= See GOTHS.
=Mohawks.= See IROQUOIAN.
=Mohicans.= One of the most famous and warlike of redskin
races, immortalised by Fenimore Cooper. See ALGONQUIAN.
=Mojos=, or =Moxos=. A yellowish Indian race of Bolivia,
akin to the Chiquitos.
=Mokis.= See SHOSHONEAN.
=Mongolic.= One of the four great divisions of mankind.
Typically characterised by yellowish skin, broad, flat features
with prominent cheek-bones, broad skulls, mesognathous jaws, and
oblique, almond-shaped eyes, with black, lank and coarse hair. The
Manchus are a typical Mongolic race. The Mongolic races are mostly
found in Asia, which is chiefly peopled by their stocks. The name
“Mongolic” has replaced the older “Turanian.”
=Mongols.= A stock of the Northern Mongolic, otherwise known
as Mongolo-Tartar or Ural-Altaic, family, from whom the general
term of Mongolic is derived. The name seems originally to have
meant “brave,” and the Mongols have provided some of the most
fierce and warlike races of history. They originated as scattered
tribes in modern Mongolia. Under Genghiz Khan they were formed
into a confederacy which conquered the whole of Central Asia in
the thirteenth century, thanks to an unlimited supply of hardy and
very mobile horsemen. The existing Mongol tribes, nomad pastors
of Mongolia in Central Asia, are divided into Sharras or Eastern
Kalmuks, or Western Buriats, or Siberian Mongols, and Tunguses,
including Manchus (_q.v._).
=Montenegrins.= A Servian race of civilised mountaineers,
inhabiting the rugged district of Montenegro; the only Balkan race
which preserved independence and Christianity against the Turkish
conquerors. Their history is one of constant warfare with the
Turks, and they have thus preserved the primitive virtues of the
warrior in great perfection.
=Moors.= The ancient Moors, or Mauri, were the inhabitants
of the Roman province of Mauretania, roughly including the modern
Algeria and Morocco. They were probably of mixed descent, partly
Semitic from Arabia, partly Western Hamitic from indigenous
sources. In modern times the name is applied (1) to the invaders
and conquerors of Spain in the Middle Ages, who were mostly of Arab
and Berber stock; (2) to the present inhabitants of Morocco and
the Barbary States, of the same stocks, with a large infusion of
Sudanese Negro blood. The Moors have always been a turbulent and
warlike people, who furnished the most notorious pirates of modern
history, thanks to their commanding position on the great highway
of sea-borne commerce.
=Moquis.= See PUEBLO INDIANS.
=Mordvins.= A branch of the Finns (_q.v._), forming small
communities on the banks of the Volga.
=Mosgus.= See LAKE CHAD GROUP.
=Mossis.= See NIGERIAN GROUP.
=Mpongwes.= A Bantu Negro race on the Gaboon Estuary in French
Equatorial Africa, given to drink and boasting, of little economic
value, though once powerful.
=Mulattos.= Half-breeds between whites and negroes.
=Mundas.= A Kolarian race of Lower Bengal, with possible
traces of Negroid blood.
=Mundrucus.= See TUPI-GUARANI.
=Mundus.= See NILITIC GROUP.
=Mushi-Kongo.= Bantu Negroes of Portuguese West Africa, still
in an absolutely savage state.
=Muskhogean=, or =Appalachian=. A group of North American
Indian tribes, formerly occupying the south-eastern corner of the
present United States, south of Tennessee, and east of Arkansas.
Formerly a powerful confederacy of warlike hunters, they are now
extinct or confined to Indian reservations. The chief tribes are
Alibamus, Apalachis, Chickasaws, Choktaws, Creeks or Muskhogees,
and Seminoles.
=Mycenæans.= The inhabitants of ancient Mycenæ, one of the
chief centres of prehistoric culture in Greece before the Homeric
age. Recent excavations, at Mycenæ itself, at Cnossos in Crete, and
other contemporary sites of government, have thrown light on the
remarkable civilisation which then existed. The Mycenæans, Cretans,
and their kindred peoples were probably a mixed Caucasic race,
with affinities to the later Aryan Achæans and to the aboriginal
Hamitic Pelasgians; but nothing is yet certainly known of their
ethnological place.
=Nagars.= See DARDS.
=Nagas.= Aborigines of the Naga Hills, in South Assam,
semi-savage and formerly accustomed to raid the British provinces;
now under British rule. They are of Tibetan stock.
=Nahuans=, or =Mexican Indians=. The aboriginal
inhabitants of modern Mexico, whose history dates back to the sixth
century. The oldest of the Nahuan races was that of the Toltecs,
who established a civilisation marked by architectural and
artistic monuments still existing, north of the valley of Anahuac.
They were followed by the ruder Chichimecs and the Aztecs (_q.v._).
Other branches of the same race are the Pipils and the Niquirans of
Nicaragua.
=Naimans.= (1) See SHARRAS. (2) A tribe of the Middle
Horde of the Kazaks. See KIRGHIZ.
=Nairs.= A Hindu tribe of Malabar, distinguished by their
peculiar marriage customs. They practise polyandry, and a Nair’s
property descends not to his own but to his sister’s children.
=Namas= or =Namaquas=. A Hottentot tribe of Namaqualand,
the true aborigines and the principal representatives of the
Hottentots (_q.v._). Scattered in small pastoral groups.
=Natchez Indians.= An extinct North American Indian race,
formerly inhabiting the region of the Lower Mississippi.
=Navajos.= See ATHABASCAN.
=Neanderthal Man.= A race of primitive man, represented
only by a skull and a few bones found in a limestone cave of the
Neanderthal in Rhenish Prussia in 1856. The most ape-like race yet
known, and probably the oldest.
=Negritoes.= A branch of Ethiopic Man, found in Central
Africa, and in the Andamans, the Malay Peninsula and the
Philippines, akin to negroes but of smaller stature and more
ape-like. Possibly the primitive stock from which the Negroes
(_q.v._) were developed.
=Negroes.= The most numerous branch of Ethiopic Man, divided
into African (Sudanese, Bantu, and Hottentot-Bushman) and Oceanic
(Papuan, Melanesian, and Australian) sections. American Negroes
are descended from African slaves, mostly of Sudanese origin. See
HAYTIANS.
=Nempés.= See NIGERIAN GROUP.
=Nestorians.= A Syrian race, belonging to the Aramæan stock of
the Semitic family, distinguished by a special form of Christian
belief, who were driven out of the Roman Empire in the fifth
century, and whose descendants now form a special community in
the mountain ranges of Kurdistan. They are poor and illiterate. A
branch of Nestorians is found in Travancore, where they go by the
name of Syrian Christians.
=New Guinea Natives.= See PAPUANS.
=New Zealanders.= (1) Aborigines [see MAORIS]. (2)
White inhabitants of New Zealand, of Anglo-Saxon descent.
=Nez Percés.= A tribe of North American Indians, in British
Columbia and Idaho, part of whom are well advanced in civilisation.
=Niam-Niam.= See AZANDEH.
=Nicaraguans.= White natives of Nicaragua, in Central America,
of Spanish descent, with Indian and negro elements.
=Nicobarese.= Natives of the Nicobar Islands, of Malay blood
mixed with that of the Mongolic aborigines. Formerly given to
piracy.
=Nigerian Group.= A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, all of
allied stocks, inhabiting the Niger Delta, the Oil River, Lower
Benue, and Niger region, including the Niger Bend. Amongst them are
the people of Benin--noted for their vast human sacrifices--the
Abo, Nempé, Nupé, Akasa, Qua, Efik, Okrika, Akpa, Mossi, Sienereh,
and many other tribes.
=Nilitic Group.= Another group of Sudanese Negro tribes,
inhabiting the districts of the White Nile, Sobat, and the northern
slopes of the Nile-Congo divide. They include the Abaka, Abukaya,
Bongo, Shuli, Falanj, Madi, Bari, Nuer, Shilluk, Dinka, Mundu,
Rol, Mittu, Krej, and Fertit tribes. They are mainly hard-working
agriculturists, from whom the British draw material for excellent
soldiery.
=Niquirans.= See NAHUANS.
=Nogais.= A race of Caucasian Tartars (_q.v._) inhabiting the
steppes of the Kuma River; nomadic cattle-breeders.
=Normans.= Natives of Normandy, descended from the Norsemen
(_q.v._) who settled on the French coast under Rolf the Ganger in
the beginning of the tenth century. The history of the Normans, who
conquered England and Sicily, is well known. The modern Normans
still preserve many signs of their Scandinavian ancestry, which
distinguish them from their French or Breton neighbours.
=Norsemen= or =Northmen=. A name given in the Middle
Ages to the piratical emigrants from Denmark, Iceland, Sweden,
and Norway, who descended on the coasts of England, France,
Germany, and Southern Europe. They called themselves Vikings. These
sea-rovers came, in the first instance, for portable plunder, but
in many cases they were tempted by the look of the more fertile
lands of the south to make settlements, among which those of the
Danes in England and Ireland and of the Norwegians in Normandy,
England, and Sicily were the most lasting and important.
=Norwegians.= A branch of the Scandinavian stock of
the Aryan family. They are probably descended from Teutonic
immigrants--perhaps of Gothic race--who entered the Scandinavian
peninsula in prehistoric times, and drove out the aboriginal Lapps
or Finns. Another theory makes Scandinavia the original home of
the Aryans, of whom, on this view, the Norwegians would represent
the primitive stock. Their history begins in the ninth century,
when a Norwegian kingdom was established by Harold Fairhair.
The old Norwegians were extremely warlike and piratical [see
NORSEMEN]. Their modern descendants are a peaceful and
industrious race, the most simple and democratic people of Europe,
who recently threw off the Swedish rule and re-established the
ancient Norwegian kingdom.
=Nsakkaras.= See WELLE GROUP.
=Nuba Group.= A group of Sudanese Negro tribes, occupying
Nubia, Dar-Fur, and Kordofan, in the Egyptian Sudan. They include
the Furs, Nubas, Nile Nubians, Tumalis, Kargos, Kulfans, Kolajis,
and Kunjaras. They are an active and warlike race, in which the
primitive Negro blood has frequently been modified by Semitic
(Arab) and Hamitic influences. They supply many of our Sudanese
regiments.
=Nubians.= Ancient inhabitants of Nubia, probably identical
with Ethiopians (_q.v._), but modified by the infusion of Negro
blood. They established a Nubian kingdom in the Upper Nile basin
about the sixth century.
=Nuers.= See NILITIC GROUP.
=Numidians.= An ancient Hamitic race, inhabiting the district
now known as Algeria. They were fine horsemen, warlike, but
treacherous, and were conquered by Rome B.C. 46. See
BERBERS.
=Nupés.= See NIGERIAN GROUP.
=Nutkas.= A collective name given to the Indian tribes of
Vancouver Island and the adjoining districts of British Columbia.
=Obongos.= A Bushman-like race of pygmy Negritoes discovered
by Du Chaillu on the western coast of equatorial Africa, physically
and mentally degenerate.
=Ojibbeways.= See ALGONQUIAN.
=Okrikas.= See NIGERIAN GROUP.
=Olkhonese.= A tribe of Buriats (_q.v._) inhabiting the
district of Lake Baikal.
=Omaguas.= See TUPI-GUARANI.
=Omahas.= See SIOUAN.
=Onondagas.= See IROQUOIAN.
=Opata-Pima.= A group of Central American Indian races, allied
to the Nahuan group (_q.v._), but of lower mental and physical
type. It includes the Cora, Yuma, Papago, Tarahumara and Tepeguana
tribes.
=Orang-Benua, Orang-Lauts.= See MALAYS.
=Ordos.= See SHARRAS.
=Orochs.= A nomadic tribe of the Siberian Tunguses (_q.v._).
=Osages.= See SIOUAN.
=Oscans.= A primitive Italic race inhabiting Campania, who
were conquered by and amalgamated with the Samnites (_q.v._) in the
fifth century, B.C. Their language was a ruder form of
Latin.
=Osmanlis.= See TURKS.
=Ossets.= An isolated Aryan race inhabiting the Central
Caucasus, and differing in language and customs from their
Caucasian neighbours. They are probably allied to the Iranian
stock, though some suppose them to be descended from Gothic
settlers.
=Ostrogoths.= See GOTHS.
=Ostyaks.= A Ugrian race of Mongolic physical type, allied
to the Samoyedes (_q.v._), inhabiting the Obi basin in Western
Siberia. They are mainly nomads, hunters and reindeer breeders.
They are kind, gentle and honest, and show considerable artistic
power.
=Otoes.= See SIOUAN.
=Otomis.= An Indian race of Mexico, assumed on linguistic
grounds to represent the oldest of American Indian stocks.
=Ottomans.= See TURKS.
=Ovaherero.= See HEREROS.
=Ovampos.= The chief Bantu Negro race of German South-west
Africa, tall and well-proportioned, with regular features--a fine
Negro type. They are industrious agriculturists, given to raiding
and inter-tribal warfare.
=Oworos, Oyos.= See YORUBAS.
=Pampas Indians.= See PUELCHES.
=Pangasinans.= A semi-civilised Malayan race in the Philippine
Islands.
=Papagos.= See OPATA-PIMA.
=Papuans.= The savage aborigines of New Guinea and the
neighbouring islands of the Torres Strait and East Malaysia.
They belong to the Oceanic division of Ethiopic Man, and are
allied to the African Negro, though they stand at a somewhat
higher intellectual level. They are of Negroid physical type,
characterised specially by their mops of frizzy hair; colour,
a sooty brown to black, with projecting jaws, thick lips and
retreating foreheads; nose sometimes flat, but oftener hooked
and of Jewish appearance. The race has probably been modified by
Malayan and Polynesian intermixture. Probably the Melanesians and
the Australian aborigines are closely related to the Papuans. They
are a fierce and treacherous race, hostile to strangers, and given
to cannibalism and head-hunting. They show much agricultural skill,
and in some cases are susceptible of European civilisation.
=Paraguay Indians.= See TUPI-GUARANI.
=Parsees.= Followers of Zoroaster, of Persian descent, who
have settled in India, chiefly near Bombay, where they have become
one of the most thriving sections of the community, owing to their
marked ability for commerce. A small remnant of Parsees, known as
Guebres, is still to be found in Persia itself.
=Parthians.= A warlike people of the ancient world, inhabiting
a district of Northern Persia. They seem to have been of Scythian
(_q.v._) descent, and were noted for their habit of fighting
on horseback and discharging their most fatal arrows whilst in
pretended flight. Under Mithridates (171-138 B.C.), the
Parthians became supreme in Persia, and afterwards warred for long
successfully with the Romans.
=Patagonians= or =Tehuelches=. Natives of the most
southerly region of the American continent, noted for their great
stature, in many cases approaching the gigantic. They are one of
the physically strongest races of the earth, of a yellowish brown
colour, with well-formed and regular features. They are nomadic
tribes of Araucanian (_q.v._) descent, who live by fishing and
hunting; and peacefully disposed to strangers.
=Pathans.= See AFGHANS.
=Payaguas.= A South American Indian race, in the Argentine,
whose wealth of silver ornaments gave a name to the Rio de la Plata.
=Pawnees.= A brave warlike tribe of North American Indians,
akin to the Shoshonean group (_q.v._) and formerly settled in
Nebraska.
=Pechenegs.= An ancient Mongolic race of Turki stock, a branch
of the Kipchaks (_q.v._).
=Pelasgians.= The pre-Aryan inhabitants of Greece, apparently
the aborigines of that country, who were dispossessed by the
Aryan Hellenes. Little or nothing is known of their racial
characteristics and affinities; but the excavations recently made
at Mycenæ, Knossos, etc., show that they had reached a high stage
of civilisation in prehistoric times on the Ægean coast. Probably a
branch of the Western Hamitic family, resembling Berbers (_q.v._)
in physical type. See MYCENÆANS and ETRUSCANS.
=Permians.= A branch of the Finnish race, inhabiting the
district of Perm in Russia, and closely resembling the Karelians
(_q.v._).