Mongoloid /ˈmɒŋ.ɡə.lɔɪd/[1][2] refers to populations that share certain phenotypic traits such as epicanthic fold and other physical traits common in most of Asia (including Central Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia and parts of South Asia and West Asia), the Arctic, the Americas and most of the Pacific Islands. In terms of population, they are the most numerous race – more than one third of the human race.
The word is formed by the base word "Mongol" and the suffix "-oid" which means "resembling", so therefore the term literally means "resembling Mongols". It was introduced by early ethnology primarily to describe various central and east Asian populations, one of the proposed three major races of humanity. Although some forensic anthropologists and other scientists continue to use the term in some contexts (such as criminal justice), the term mongoloid is now considered derogatory by most anthropologists due to its association with disputed typological models of racial classification.[3][4][5][6] Asian proponents of the same or similar concept have used the term East Asian race to refer to people of East Asian descent that only include people from Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, which makes up only a section of the Asian people.[7]
Contents [hide]
1 Populations included
2 Subraces
3 History of the concept
4 Features 4.1 Proto-Mongoloids
4.2 Neoteny
4.3 Cold adaption
5 Genetic research
6 Criticism
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Populations included[edit]
The term "Mongoloid" comes from the Mongol people who caused great terror throughout Eurasia during the Mongol Empire invasions, and the new appearance of the Mongols and paranoia was used throughout the Western world to create a new racial classification. The words "Mongol", "Mongolian", "Mongoloid" were extensively used throughout European history since the 13th century usually in a negative manner. However in the modern sense, "Mongol" refers to the Mongol ethnic group and "Mongolian" refers to something related with the country of Mongolia not necessarily in terms of ethnicity. The first use of the term Mongolian race was by Christoph Meiners in a "binary racial scheme". His "two races" were labeled "Tartar-Caucasians", which comprised Celtic and Slavic groups, and "Mongolians".[8]
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach said he borrowed the term Mongolian from Christoph Meiners to describe the race he designated "second, [which] includes that part of Asia beyond the Ganges and below the river Amoor [Amur], which looks toward the south, together with the islands and the greater part of these countries which is now called Australian".[9]
These drawings depict the Mongoloid race as devised by Thomas Henry Huxley taken from the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1903).
In 1861, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire added the Australian as a secondary race (subrace) of the principal race of Mongolian.[10] In the nineteenth century Georges Cuvier used the term Mongolian again as a racial classification, but additionally included American Indians under the term.[11] Arthur de Gobineau defined the extent of the Mongolian race, "by the yellow the Altaic, Mongol, Finnish and Tartar branches".[12][13] Later, Thomas Huxley used the term Mongoloid and included American Indians as well as Arctic Native Americans.[14] Other nomenclatures were proposed, such as Mesochroi (middle color),[15] but Mongoloid was widely adopted.
In 1940, anthropologist Franz Boas included the American race as part of the Mongoloid race of which he mentioned the Aztecs of Mexico and the Maya of Yucatan.[16] Boas also said that, out of the races of the Old World, the American native had features most similar to the east Asiatic.[16]
In 1983, Douglas J. Futuyma, professor of evolutionary processes at the University of Michigan, said that the inclusion of Native Americans and Pacific Islanders under the Mongoloid race was not recognized by
