In modern humanity there are three main races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. These are large groups of people who differ in certain physical characteristics, such as facial features, skin, eye and hair color, and hair shape.
Each race is characterized by a unity of origin and formation in a certain territory.
The Caucasian race includes the indigenous populations of Europe, South Asia and North Africa. Caucasians are characterized by a narrow face, a strongly protruding nose, and soft hair. The skin color of northern Caucasians is light, while that of southern Caucasians is predominantly dark.
The Mongoloid race includes the indigenous population of Central and East Asia, Indonesia, and Siberia. Mongoloids are distinguished by a large, flat, wide face, eye shape, coarse straight hair, and dark skin color.
There are two branches of the Negroid race - African and Australian. The Negroid race is characterized by dark skin color, curly hair, dark eyes, a wide and flat nose.
Racial characteristics are hereditary, but at present they do not have significant significance for human life. Apparently, in the distant past, racial characteristics were useful for their owners: the dark skin of blacks and curly hair, creating an air layer around the head, protected the body from the effects of sunlight; the shape of the facial skeleton of the Mongoloids with a more extensive nasal cavity may be useful for warming cold air before it enters the lungs. In terms of mental abilities, i.e., abilities for cognition, creative and general labor activity, all races are the same. Differences in the level of culture are associated not with the biological characteristics of people of different races, but with the social conditions of the development of society.
The reactionary essence of racism. Initially, some scientists confused the level of social development with biological characteristics and tried to find transitional forms among modern peoples that connect humans with animals. These mistakes were used by racists who began to talk about the alleged inferiority of some races and peoples and the superiority of others in order to justify the merciless exploitation and direct destruction of many peoples as a result of colonization, the seizure of foreign lands and the outbreak of wars. When European and American capitalism tried to conquer the African and Asian peoples, the white race was declared superior. Later, when Hitler’s hordes marched across Europe, destroying the captured population in death camps, the so-called Aryan race, to which the Nazis included the German peoples, was declared superior. Racism is a reactionary ideology and policy aimed at justifying the exploitation of man by man.
The inconsistency of racism has been proven by the real science of race - racial studies. Racial studies studies the racial characteristics, origin, formation and history of human races. Evidence from race studies suggests that the differences between races are not sufficient to qualify the races as distinct biological species of humans. Mixing of races - miscegenation - occurred constantly, as a result of which intermediate types arose at the borders of the ranges of representatives of different races, smoothing out the differences between races.
Will races disappear? One of the important conditions for the formation of races is isolation. In Asia, Africa and Europe it still exists to some extent today. Meanwhile, newly settled regions such as North and South America can be compared to a cauldron in which all three racial groups are melted. Although public opinion in many countries does not support interracial marriage, there is little doubt that miscegenation is inevitable and will sooner or later lead to the formation of a hybrid population of people.
Instructions
The Caucasoid race (less commonly called Eurasian or Caucasoid) is distributed in Europe, Western and partly Central Asia, North Africa, northern and central India. Later, Caucasians settled in both Americas, Australia and South Africa.
Today, about 40 percent of the world's population belongs to the Caucasian race. Caucasians have an orthognathic face and hair is usually soft, wavy or straight. The size of the eyes is not a classifying feature, but the brow ridges are quite large. Anthropologists also note a high bridge of the nose, a large nose, small or medium lips, and fairly rapid growth of a beard and mustache. It is noteworthy that the color of hair, skin and eyes is not an indicator of race. The shade can be either light (among northerners) or quite dark (among southerners). The Caucasian race includes Abkhazians, Austrians, Arabs, English, Jews, Spaniards, Germans, Poles, Russians, Tatars, Turks, Croats and about 80 other peoples.
Representatives of the Negroid race settled in Central, East and West Africa. Negroids have curly thick hair, thick lips and a flat nose, wide nostrils, dark skin color, elongated arms and legs. Mustaches and beards grow quite poorly. Eye color - , but the shade depends on genetics. The facial angle is acute, since there is no mental protuberance on the lower jaw. In the last century, Negroids and Australoids were classified as a common equatorial race, but later researchers were able to prove that despite the external similarity and similar conditions of existence, the differences between these races are still significant. One of the opponents of racism, Elizabeth Martinez, proposed calling representatives of the Negroid race Congoids, based on geographic distribution (by analogy with other races), but the term never took root.
"Pygmy" is translated from Greek as "a man the size of a fist." Pygmies or Negrillies are short Negroids. The first mention of pygmies dates back to the third millennium BC. In the 16th-17th centuries, explorers of West Africa called such people “Matimba”. Pygmies were finally identified as a race in the 19th century thanks to the work of the German researcher Georg Schweinfurt and the Russian scientist V.V. Junker. Adult males of the pygmy race usually do not grow above one and a half meters. All representatives of the race are characterized by light brown skin color, curly dark hair, and thin lips. The number of pygmies has not yet been established. According to various sources, from 40,000 to 280,000 people live on the planet. Pygmies belong to underdeveloped peoples. They still live in huts built from dried grass and sticks, hunt (with bows and arrows) and gather, and do not use stone tools.
The Kapoids ("Bushmen" and "Khoisan race") live in South Africa. They are short people with yellow-brown skin and almost childlike features throughout their lives. Characteristic features of the race include coarse curled hair, early-onset wrinkles and the so-called “Hottentot apron” (a saggy fold of skin above the pubis). Bushmen have noticeable fat deposits on the buttocks and curvature of the lumbar spine (lordosis).
Initially, representatives of the race inhabited the territory that is now called Mongolia. The appearance of the Mongoloids testifies to the centuries-old need to survive in desert conditions. Mongoloids have narrow eyes with an additional fold at the inner corner of the eye (epicanthus). This helps protect your eyesight and dust. Representatives of the race are distinguished by thick, black, straight hair. Mongoloids are usually divided into two groups: southern (dark-skinned, short, with a small face and high forehead) and northern (tall, light-skinned, with large features and a low skull vault). Anthropologists believe that this race appeared no more than 12,000 years ago.
Representatives of the Americanoid race settled in North and South America. They have black hair and a nose like an eagle's beak. The eyes are usually black, the slit is larger than that of Mongoloids, but smaller than that of Caucasians. Americanoids are usually tall.
Australoids are often referred to as the Austral race. This is a very ancient race, whose representatives lived in the Kuril Islands, Hawaii, Hindustan and Tasmania. Australoids are divided into Ainu, Melanesian, Polynesian, Veddoid and Australian groups. Indigenous Australians have brown but fairly light skin, a large nose, massive brow ridges, and strong jaws. The hair of this race is long and wavy, and tends to become very coarse from the sun's rays. Melanesians often have spiral hair.
Humanity is a mosaic of races and peoples that inhabit our globe. A representative of each race and each people has a number of differences in comparison with representatives of other population systems.
However, all people, despite their racial and ethnic background, are an integral part of a single whole - earthly humanity.
The concept of “race”, division into races
Race is a system of a population of people who have similar biological characteristics that were formed under the influence of the natural conditions of the territory of their origin. Race is the result of the adaptation of the human body to the natural conditions in which it had to live.
The formation of races took place over many millennia. According to anthropologists, at the moment there are three main races on the planet, including more than ten anthropological types.
Representatives of each race are connected by common areas and genes, which provoke the emergence of physiological differences from representatives of other races.
Caucasian race: signs and settlement
The Caucasoid or Eurasian race is the largest race in the world. Characteristic features of the appearance of a person belonging to the Caucasian race are an oval face, straight or wavy soft hair, wide eyes, and average thickness of lips.
The color of eyes, hair and skin varies depending on the region of the population, but always has light shades. Representatives of the Caucasian race evenly populate the entire planet.
The final settlement across the continents occurred after the end of the century of geographical discoveries. Very often, people of the Caucasian race tried to prove their dominant position over representatives of other races.
Negroid race: signs, origin and settlement
The Negroid race is one of the three big races. Characteristic features of people belonging to the Negroid race are elongated limbs, dark skin rich in melanin, a wide flat nose, large eyes, and curly hair.
Modern scientists believe that the first Negroid man arose around the 40th century BC. in the territory of modern Egypt. The main region of settlement of representatives of the Negroid race is South Africa. Over the past centuries, people of the Negroid race have settled significantly in the West Indies, Brazil, France and the United States.
Unfortunately, representatives of the Negroid race have been oppressed by “white” people for many centuries. They faced such anti-democratic phenomena as slavery and discrimination.
Mongoloid race: signs and settlement
The Mongoloid race is one of the largest world races. The characteristic features of this race are: dark skin color, narrow eyes, small stature, thin lips.
Representatives of the Mongoloid race primarily inhabit the territory of Asia, Indonesia, and the islands of Oceania. Recently, the number of people of this race has begun to increase in all countries of the world, which is caused by an intensifying wave of migration.
Peoples inhabiting the earth
A people is a certain group of people who have a common number of historical characteristics - culture, language, religion, territory. Traditionally, a stable common feature of a people is its language. However, in our time, cases are common when different peoples speak a single language.
For example, the Irish and Scots speak English, although they are not English. Today there are several tens of thousands of peoples in the world, which are systematized into 22 families of peoples. Many peoples that existed before disappeared at this point or were assimilated with other peoples.
Humanity is currently represented by one species Homo sapiens (A reasonable person). However, this species is not uniform. It is polymorphic and consists of three large and many small transitional races - biological groups distinguished by small morphological characteristics. These characteristics include: hair type and color, skin color, eyes, shape of the nose, lips, face and head, proportions of the body and limbs.
Races emerged as a result of the settlement and geographic isolation of the ancestors of modern people in different natural and climatic conditions. Racial characteristics are hereditary. They arose in the distant past under the direct influence of the environment and were adaptive in nature. The following large races are distinguished.
Negroid (Australo-Negroid or Equatorial) The race is characterized by dark skin color, curly and wavy hair, a wide and slightly protruding nose, thick lips and dark eyes. Before the era of colonization, this race was common in Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Caucasoid (Euro-Asian) The race is distinguished by light or dark skin, straight or wavy hair, good development of facial hair in men (beard and mustache), narrow protruding nose, thin lips. Representatives of this race are settled in Europe, North Africa, Western Asia and Northern India.
For Mongoloid (Asian-American) The race is characterized by dark or light skin, straight, often coarse hair, a flattened wide face with strongly prominent cheekbones, and average width of lips and nose. Initially, this race inhabited Southeast, North and Central Asia, North and South America.
Although the large races differ markedly from each other in their complex of external characteristics, they are interconnected by a number of intermediate types that imperceptibly transform into one another.
The biological unity of human races is evidenced by: 1 – the absence of genetic isolation and unlimited possibilities of crossing with the formation of fertile offspring; 2 – equivalence of races in biological and psychological terms; 3 – the presence of transitional races between large races, combining the characteristics of two neighboring ones; 4 – localization of skin patterns such as arcs on the second finger (in apes – on the fifth); All representatives of the races have the same pattern of hair arrangement on the head and other morphophysiological characteristics.
Control questions:
What is the position of man in the animal world?
How is the origin of man from animals proven?
What biological factors contributed to human evolution?
What social factors contributed to the formation Homo sapiens?
What human races are currently distinguished?
What does the biological unity of races prove?
Literature
Abdurakhmanov G.M., Lopatin I.K., Ismailov Sh.I. Fundamentals of zoology and zoogeography. – M., Academa, 2001.
Averintsev S.V. Small workshop on invertebrate zoology. – M., “Soviet Science”, 1947.
Akimushkin I. Animal world. – M., “Young Guard”, 1975 (multi-volume).
Akimushkin I. Animal world. – Birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. – M., “Thought”, 1989.
Aksenova M. Encyclopedia. Biology. – M., Avanta plus, 2002.
Balan P.G. Serebryakov V.V. Zoology. – K., 1997.
Beklemishev V.N. Fundamentals of comparative anatomy of invertebrates. - M., “Science”, 1964.
Biological encyclopedic dictionary. – M., “Soviet Encyclopedia”, 1986.
Birkun A.A., Krivokhizhin S.V. Beasts of the Black Sea. – Simferopol: Tavria, 1996.
Willi K., Dethier V. Biology (Biological principles and processes). - publishing house "Mir", M., 1975.
Vtorov P.P., Drozdov N.N. Key to birds of the USSR fauna. – M., “Enlightenment”, 1980.
Derim-Oglu E.N., Leonov E.A. Educational field practice in vertebrate zoology: Proc. manual for students of biology. specialist. ped. Inst. – M., “Enlightenment”, 1979.
Dogel V.A. Zoology of invertebrates. – M., Higher School, 1975
Life of animals. /ed. V.E. Sokolova, Yu.I. Polyansky and others/ - M., “Enlightenment”, 7 vols., 1985 -1987.
Zgurovskaya L. Crimea. Stories about plants and animals. – Simferopol, “Business Inform”, 1996.
Zlotin A.Z. Insects serve humans. – K., Naukova Dumka, 1986.
Konstantinov V.M., Naumov S.P., Shatalova S.P. Zoology of vertebrates. – M., Academa, 2000.
Kornev A.P. Zoology. – K.: Radyanska school, 2000.
Cornelio M.P. School atlas-identifier of butterflies: Book. for students. M., "Enlightenment", 1986.
Kostin Yu.V., Dulitsky A.I. Birds and animals of Crimea. – Simferopol: Tavria, 1978.
Kochetova N.I., Akimushkina M.I., Dykhnov V.N. Rare invertebrate animals - M., Agropromizdat, 1986.
Kryukova I.V., Luks Yu.A., Privalova A.A., Kostin Yu.V., Dulitsky A.I., Maltsev I.V., Kostin S.Yu. Rare plants and animals of the Crimea. Directory. – Simferopol: Tavria, 1988.
Levushkin S.I., Shilov I.A. General zoology. - M.: Higher School, 1994.
Naumov S.P. Zoology of vertebrates. – M., “Enlightenment”, 1965.
Podgorodetsky P.D. Crimea: Nature. Ref. ed. – Simferopol: Tavria, 1988.
Traytak D.I. Biology. - M.: Education, 1996.
Frank St. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fishes / ed. Moiseeva P.A., Meshkova A.N. / Artia Publishing House, Prague, 1989.
Chervona book of Ukraine. Creature's world. /ed. MM. Shcherbakova / - K., “Ukr..encyclopedia named after.. M.P. Bazhana”, 1994.
Dr. Don Batten and Dr. Karl Wieland
What are "races"?
How did different skin colors come about?
Is it true that black skin is the result of Noah's curse?
According to the Bible, all people living on Earth descended from Noah, his wife, three sons and three daughters-in-law (and even earlier from Adam and Eve - Genesis 1-11). However, today there are groups of people called “races” living on Earth, whose external characteristics vary significantly. Many view this state of affairs as a reason to doubt the truth of biblical history. It is believed that these groups could only have arisen through separate evolution over tens of thousands of years.
The Bible tells us how the descendants of Noah, who spoke the same language and kept together, disobeyed the Divine command « fill the earth» (Genesis 9:1; 11:4). God confused their languages, after which the people split into groups and were scattered throughout the Earth (Genesis 11:8-9). Modern methods of genetics show how, after the separation of people, variations in external characteristics (for example, skin color) could develop in just a few generations. There is compelling evidence that the different groups of people we see in the modern world were not isolated from each other over vast periods of time.
In fact, on Earth "there is only one race"- a race of people, or the human race. The Bible teaches that God « from one blood... produced the entire human race" (Acts 17:26). The Holy Scripture distinguishes people by tribes and nations, and not by skin color or other features of appearance. At the same time, it is quite obvious that there are groups of people who have common characteristics (for example, the notorious skin color) that distinguish them from other groups. We prefer to call them "groups of people" rather than "races" to avoid evolutionary associations. Representatives of any nations can interbreed freely and produce fertile offspring. This proves that the biological differences between the “races” are very small.
In fact, the differences in DNA composition are extremely small. If you take any two people from any corner of the Earth, then the differences in their DNA will normally be 0.2%. Moreover, the so-called “racial characteristics” will amount to only 6% of this difference (that is, only 0.012%); everything else is within the range of “intra-racial” variations.
“This genetic unity means, for example, that a white American who is noticeably different from a black American in phenotype may be closer in tissue composition to him than another black American.”
Fig. 1 Caucasian and Mongoloid eyes differ in the amount of fat layer around the eye, as well as the ligament, which disappears in most non-Asian infants by six months of age.
Anthropologists divide humanity into several main racial groups: Caucasoid (or “white”), Mongoloid (including the Chinese, Eskimos and American Indians), Negroid (black Africans) and Australoid (Australian Aborigines). Almost all evolutionists these days accept that different groups of people could not have had different origins- that is, they could not have evolved from different species of animals. Thus, proponents of evolution agree with creationists that all groups of peoples descended from a single original population of the Earth. Of course, evolutionists believe that groups such as the Australian Aborigines and the Chinese were separated from the rest by tens of thousands of years.
Most people believe that such significant external differences could develop only for a very long time. One of the reasons for this misconception is this: many believe that external differences are inherited from distant ancestors who acquired unique genetic properties that others did not have. This assumption is understandable, but essentially incorrect.
Consider, for example, the issue of skin color. It is easy to assume that if different groups of people have yellow, red, black, white or brown skin, then there are different skin pigments. But since different chemicals imply a different genetic code in the gene pool of each group, a serious question arises: how could such differences develop in a relatively short period of human history?
In fact, we all have only one skin “dye” - melanin. This is a dark brown pigment produced in each of us in special skin cells. If a person does not have melanin (as in albinos - people with a mutational defect that prevents melanin from being produced), then their skin color is very white or slightly pinkish. The cells of “white” Europeans produce little melanin, while those of black-skinned Africans produce a lot; and in between, as is easy to understand, all shades of yellow and brown.
Thus, the only significant factor determining skin color is the amount of melanin produced. In general, no matter what property of a group of people we consider, it will, in fact, be simply a variant comparable to others inherent in other peoples. For example, the Asian eye shape differs from the European one, in particular, in a small ligament that slightly pulls the eyelid down (see Figure 1). All newborns have this ligament, but after six months of age it remains, as a rule, only in Asians. Occasionally, the ligament is preserved in Europeans, giving their eyes an Asian almond-shaped shape, and vice versa, in some Asians it is lost, making their eyes Caucasoid.
What is the role of melanin? It protects the skin from ultraviolet rays of the sun. A person with a small amount of melanin under the strong influence of solar activity is more prone to sunburn and skin cancer. Conversely, if you have too much melanin in your cells and you live in a country where there is not enough sun, your body will have a harder time producing the required amount of vitamin D (which is produced in the skin when exposed to sunlight). A lack of this vitamin can cause bone diseases (for example, rickets) and some types of cancer. Scientists have also discovered that ultraviolet rays destroy folates (folic acid salts), vitamins necessary for strengthening the spine. Melanin helps conserve folate, so people with dark skin are better suited to living in areas with high levels of ultraviolet rays (tropics or high altitudes).
A person is born with a genetically determined ability produce melanin in a certain amount, and this ability is activated in response to sunlight - a tan appears on the skin. But how could such different skin colors arise in a short time? If a representative of a black group of people marries a “white” person, the skin of their descendants ( mulattoes) will be "medium brown" in color. It has long been known that mulatto marriages produce children with a wide variety of skin colors - from completely black to completely white.
Awareness of this fact gives us the key to solving our problem as a whole. But first we need to become familiar with the basic laws of heredity.
Heredity
Each of us carries information about our own body - as detailed as a drawing of a building. This “drawing” determines not only that you are a person and not a head of cabbage, but also what color your eyes are, what the shape of your nose is, and so on. At the moment the sperm and egg merge into a zygote, it already contains all information about the future structure of a person (excluding such unpredictable factors as, say, exercise or diet).
Much of this information is encoded in DNA. DNA is the most effective information storage system, many times superior to any sophisticated computer technology. The information recorded here is copied (and recombined) through the process of reproduction from generation to generation. The term "gene" means a piece of this information containing instructions for the production of, for example, just one enzyme.
For example, there is a gene that carries instructions for the production of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. If this gene is damaged by mutation (a copying error during reproduction), the instructions will be incorrect - and, at best, we will get defective hemoglobin. (Such mistakes can lead to diseases such as sickle cell anemia.) Genes are always paired; Therefore, in the case of hemoglobin, we have two sets of codes (instructions) for its reproduction: one from the mother, the second from the father. The zygote (fertilized egg) receives half of the information from the father's sperm and the other half from the mother's egg.
This device is very useful. If a person inherits a damaged gene from one parent (and this dooms his cells to produce, say, abnormal hemoglobin), then the gene received from the other parent will be normal, and this will give the body the ability to produce normal protein. In the genome of each person there are hundreds of errors inherited from one of the parents, which do not appear, since each of them is “hidden” by the activity of another - a normal gene (see the booklet “Cain’s Wife - Who is She?”).
Color of the skin
We know that skin color is determined by more than one pair of genes. For simplicity, we assume that there are only two such (paired) genes, and they are located on the chromosomes in places A and B. One form of the gene, M, “gives the order” to produce a lot of melanin; another, m, – little melanin. According to location A, there can be paired combinations of MAMA, MAmA and mAmA, which give the skin cells a signal to produce a lot, not very much or little melanin.
Similarly, according to the location of B, there may be combinations of MVMV, MVmB and mBmB, also giving a signal to produce a lot, not very much or little melanin. Thus, people with very dark skin color may have a combination of genes such as MAMAMMV (see Figure 2). Since both the sperm and eggs of such people can contain only MAMB genes (after all, only one gene from positions A and B can enter a sperm or egg), their children will be born only with the same set of genes as their parents.
Consequently, all these children will have very dark skin color. In the same way, light-skinned people with the mAmAmBmB gene combination can only have children with the same gene combination. What combinations can appear in the offspring of mulattoes with dark skin with a combination of MAMAMBmB genes - who are, for example, children from the marriage of people with the MAMAMBMB and mAmAmBmB genes (see Figure 3)? Let's turn to a special scheme - the “Punnet lattice” (see Figure 4). On the left are the genetic combinations possible for a sperm, on the top - for an egg. We select one of the possible combinations for the sperm and consider, going along the line, what results from its combination with each of the possible combinations in the egg.
Each intersection of a row and a column records the combination of genes of the offspring when a given egg is fertilized by a given sperm. For example, when a sperm with the MAmB genes and an egg mAMB fuse, the child will have the MAmAMBmB genotype, like his parents. Overall, the diagram shows that such a marriage can produce children with five levels of melanin content (shades of skin color). If we take into account not two, but three pairs of genes responsible for melanin, we will see that the offspring can have seven levels of its content.
If people with the MAMAMVMV genotype - “completely” black (that is, without genes that reduce melanin levels and lighten the skin at all) marry among themselves and move to places where their children cannot meet lighter-skinned people, then all of them the descendants will also be black - a pure “black line” will be obtained. Likewise, if "white" people (mAmAmBmB) marry only people of the same skin color and live in isolation without dating darker-skinned people, they will end up with a pure "white line" - they will lose the genes needed to produce large amounts of melanin, which provides dark skin color.
Thus, two dark-skinned people can not only produce children of any skin color, but also give rise to different groups of people with a stable skin tone. But how did groups of people with the same dark shade appear? This again is easy to explain. If people with the MAMAmBmB and mАmAMBMB genotypes do not enter into mixed marriages, they will produce only dark-skinned offspring. (You can check this conclusion yourself by constructing a Punnett lattice.) If a representative of one of these lines enters into a mixed marriage, the process will go backwards. In a short period of time, the offspring of such a marriage will demonstrate a full range of skin tones, often within the same family.
If all the people on Earth now freely intermarry, and then for some reason split into groups living separately, then a whole host of new combinations could arise: almond-shaped eyes with black skin, blue eyes and black curly short hair, and so on. Of course, we must remember that genes behave in much more complex ways than in our simplified explanation. Sometimes certain genes are linked. But this does not change the essence. Even today, within one group of people one can see traits usually associated with another group.
Figure 3. Multicolored twins born to mulatto parents are an example of genetic variations in skin color.
For example, you can meet a European with a wide, flat nose, or a Chinese with very pale skin or a completely European eye shape. Most scientists today agree that for modern humanity the term “race” has virtually no biological meaning. And this is a serious argument against the theory of the isolated development of groups of peoples over long periods of time.
What really happened?
We can reconstruct the true history of groups of people using:
- information given to us by the Creator Himself in the Book of Genesis;
- the scientific information stated above;
- some considerations about environmental influences.
God created the first man, Adam, who became the progenitor of all people. 1656 years after the Creation, the Great Flood destroyed all of humanity, with the exception of Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives. The flood radically changed their habitat. The Lord confirmed His commandment to the survivors: to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 9:1). Several centuries later, people decided to disobey God and united to build a huge city and the Tower of Babel - a symbol of rebellion and paganism. From the eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis we know that up to this point people spoke a single language. God disgraced disobedience by confusing the languages of men so that men could not act together against God. The confusion of languages forced them to scatter throughout the Earth, which was the intention of the Creator. Thus, all "groups of people" arose simultaneously, with the confusion of languages during the construction of the Tower of Babel. Noah and his family were probably dark-skinned—they had the genes for both black and white).
This average color is the most universal: it is dark enough to protect against skin cancer, and at the same time light enough to provide the body with vitamin D. Since Adam and Eve had all the factors that determine skin color, they probably also had dark-skinned, brown-eyed, with black or brown hair. In fact, most of the modern world's population has dark skin.
After the Flood and before the construction of Babylon, there was a single language and a single cultural group on Earth. Therefore, there were no obstacles to marriages within this group. This factor stabilized the skin color of the population, cutting off extremes. Of course, from time to time people were born with very light or very dark skin, but they intermarried freely with the rest, and thus the “average color” remained unchanged. The same applies to other characteristics, not just skin color. In circumstances that allow for free interbreeding, obvious external differences do not appear.
For them to manifest themselves, it is necessary to divide the population into isolated groups, eliminating the possibility of crossing between them. This is true for both animal and human populations, as any biologist knows well.
Consequences of Babylon
This is exactly what happened after the Babylonian Pandemonium. When God made people speak different languages, insurmountable barriers arose between them. Now they did not dare to marry those whose language they did not understand. Moreover, groups of people united by a common language had difficulty communicating and, of course, did not trust those who spoke other languages. They were forced to move away from each other and settled in different places. This is how God’s commandment was fulfilled: “Fill the earth.”
It is doubtful that each of the newly formed small groups contained people of the same wide range of skin colors as the original one. Carriers of dark skin genes could predominate in one group, and lighter skin in another. The same applies to other external signs: the shape of the nose, the shape of the eyes, and so on. And since now all marriages took place within one language group, each such trait no longer tended to the average, as it had previously. As people moved away from Babylon, they had to deal with new and unusual climatic conditions.
As an example, consider a group heading to cold regions where the sun shines weaker and less often. Black people there lacked vitamin D, so they got sick more often and had fewer children. Consequently, over time, light-skinned people began to predominate in this group. If several different groups headed north, and members of one of them lacked the genes that provide light skin, that group was doomed to extinction. Natural selection operates on the basis already existing signs, but does not form new ones. Researchers have discovered that, who in our days have already been recognized as full-fledged representatives of the human race, suffered from rickets, which indicates a deficiency of vitamin D in the bones. In fact, it was the signs of rickets, plus evolutionary prejudices, that for a long time forced Neanderthals to be classified as “ape-men.” "
Apparently, this was a group of dark-skinned people who found themselves in a natural environment that was unfavorable for them - due to the set of genes which they initially had. Let us note again that so-called natural selection does not create new skin color, but only selects from already existing combinations. Conversely, a group of fair-skinned people stranded in a hot, sunny region would likely suffer from skin cancer. Thus, in hot climates, dark-skinned people had a better chance of survival. So we see that environmental influences can
(a) influence the genetic balance within one group and
(b) even cause the extinction of entire groups.
This is why we currently see a correspondence between the most common physical characteristics of the population and the environment (for example, northern peoples with pale skin, dark-skinned inhabitants of the equator, and so on).
But this doesn't always happen. The Inuit (Eskimos) have brown skin, although they live where there is little sun. It can be assumed that initially their genotype was something like MAMAmBmB, and therefore their offspring could not be lighter or darker. The Inuit eat mainly fish, which contains a lot of vitamin D. Conversely, the indigenous people of South America living near the equator do not have black skin at all. These examples once again confirm that natural selection does not create new information - if the genetic pool does not allow you to change skin color, natural selection is not able to do this. African pygmies are inhabitants of hot regions, but they are very rarely exposed to the open sun, because they live in shady jungles. And yet their skin is black.
The Pygmies provide a prime example of another factor influencing human racial history: discrimination. People who deviate from the “norm” (for example, a very light-skinned person among blacks) are traditionally treated with hostility. It is difficult for such a person to find a spouse. This state of affairs leads to the disappearance of light skin genes in black people in hot countries and dark skin genes in light skinned people in cold countries. This was the tendency of groups to "purify".
In some cases, consanguineous marriages in a small group can cause the re-emergence of almost extinct characteristics that were "suppressed" by ordinary marriages. There is a tribe in Africa all of whose members have severely deformed feet; this trait appeared in them as a result of consanguineous marriages. If people with hereditary short stature were discriminated against, they were forced to seek refuge in the wilderness and marry only among themselves. Thus, over time, the “race” of pygmies was formed. The fact that the Pygmy tribes, according to observations, do not have their own language, but speak the dialects of neighboring tribes, is strong evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Certain genetic characteristics could prompt groups of people to consciously (or semi-consciously) choose where to settle.
For example, people genetically predisposed to denser subcutaneous fat layers were likely to leave regions that were too hot.
Common memory
The biblical story of the emergence of man is supported not only by biological and genetic evidence. Since all of humanity descended from the family of Noah relatively recently, it would be strange if the tales and legends of different peoples did not contain references to the Great Flood, even if somewhat distorted during oral transmission from generation to generation.
And indeed: in the folklore of most civilizations there is a description of the Flood that destroyed the world. Often these legends contain remarkable “coincidences” with the true biblical story: eight people saved in a boat, a rainbow, a bird sent in search of dry land, and so on.
So what's the result?
The Babylonian dispersion fragmented a single group of people, within which free interbreeding took place, into smaller, isolated groups. This led to the appearance in the resulting groups of special combinations of genes responsible for different physical characteristics.
The dispersion itself must, in a short time, have brought about the appearance of certain differences between some of these groups, commonly called "races." An additional role was played by the selective influence of the environment, which contributed to the recombination of existing genes to achieve exactly those physical characteristics that were required in given natural conditions. But there was and could not be any evolution of genes “from simple to complex,” because the entire set of genes existed. The dominant properties of different groups of people arose as a result of recombinations of an already existing set of created genes, taking into account minor degenerative changes as a result of mutations (random changes that can be inherited).
Originally created genetic information was either combined or degraded, but never increased.
What did false teachings about the origin of races lead to?
All tribes and peoples are descendants of Noah!
The Bible makes it clear that any "newly discovered" tribe certainly goes back to Noah. Therefore, at the very beginning of the tribe's culture, there was a) knowledge of God and b) possession of technology advanced enough to build a vessel the size of an ocean liner. From the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans we can conclude about the main reason for the loss of this knowledge (see Appendix 2) - the conscious renunciation of the ancestors of these people from serving the living God. Therefore, in helping the so-called “backward” peoples, the Gospel must come first, not secular education and technical assistance. In fact, the folklore and beliefs of most “primitive” tribes preserve memories of their ancestors turning away from the living Creator God. Dan Richardson of Child of Peace has shown in his book that a missionary approach that is not blinded by evolutionary prejudices and seeks to restore the lost connection has in many cases brought abundant and blessed fruit. Jesus Christ, who came to reconcile man who rejected his Creator with God, is the only Truth that can bring true freedom to people of any culture, of any color (John 8:32; 14:6).
Annex 1
Is it true that black skin is the result of Ham's curse?
Black (or rather dark brown) skin is just a special combination of hereditary factors. These factors (but not their combination!) were originally present in Adam and Eve. There are no instructions anywhere in the Bible that black skin color is the result of a curse that fell on Ham and his descendants. Moreover, the curse did not apply to Ham himself, but to his son Canaan (Genesis 9:18,25; 10:6). The main thing is that we know that the descendants of Canaan had dark skin (Genesis 10:15-19), not black.
False teachings about Ham and his descendants have been used to justify slavery and other unbiblical racist practices. African peoples are traditionally believed to be descended from the Hamites, as the Cushites (Cush - son of Ham: Genesis 10:6) are believed to have lived in what is now Ethiopia. The Book of Genesis suggests that the dispersion of people across the Earth occurred while maintaining family ties, and it is possible that the descendants of Ham were, on average, somewhat darker than, for example, the family of Japheth. However, everything could have been completely different. Rahab (Rahab), mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, belonged to the Canaanites, descendants of Canaan. Being from the clan of Ham, she married an Israeli - and God approved of this union. Therefore, it didn't matter what "race" she belonged to - all that mattered was that she believed in the true God.
The Moabite Ruth is also mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. She confessed her faith in God even before her marriage to Boaz (Ruth 1:16). God warns us against only one type of marriage: God's children with unbelievers.
Appendix 2
Stone Age people?
Archaeological finds indicate that once upon a time there were people on Earth who lived in caves and used simple stone tools. Such people live on Earth to this day. We know that the entire population of the earth came from Noah and his family. Judging by the book of Genesis, even before the Flood, people had developed technology that made it possible to make musical instruments, engage in agriculture, forge metal tools, build cities, and even build such huge ships as the Ark. After the Babylonian Pandemonium, groups of people - due to mutual hostility caused by the confusion of languages - quickly scattered across the earth in search of refuge.
In some cases, stone tools could be used temporarily until people equipped their homes and found deposits of the metals necessary to make the usual tools. There were other situations when a group of immigrants initially, even before Babylon, did not deal with metal.
Ask members of any modern family: if they had to start life from scratch, how many of them would be able to find an ore deposit, mine it and smelt the metal? It is clear that the Babylonian dispersion was followed by technological and cultural decline. Harsh environmental conditions may also have played a role. The technology and culture of the Australian Aborigines is quite consistent with their way of life and the needs of survival in arid areas.
Let us at least recall the aerodynamic principles, knowledge of which is necessary to create various types of boomerangs (some of them return, others do not). Sometimes we see clear but difficult to explain evidence of decline. For example, when Europeans arrived in Tasmania, the technology of the Aboriginal people there was the most primitive imaginable. They did not fish, make or wear clothes. However, archaeological excavations have shown that the cultural and technological level of previous generations of aborigines was incomparably higher.
Archaeologist Rhys Jones claims that in the distant past they were able to sew elaborate clothing from skins. This is in stark contrast to the situation in the early 1800s, when Aboriginal people simply threw skins over their shoulders. There is evidence that in the past they caught fish and ate it, but stopped doing this long before the arrival of Europeans. From all this we can conclude that technical progress is not natural: sometimes accumulated knowledge and skills disappear without a trace. Followers of animist cults live in constant fear of evil spirits. Many basic and healthy things - washing or eating well - are taboo among them. This once again confirms the truth that the loss of knowledge of God the Creator leads to degradation (Romans 1:18-32).
Here's the Good News
Creation Ministries International is committed to glorifying and honoring God the Creator and affirming the truth that the Bible tells the true story of the origins of the world and man. Part of this story is the bad news of Adam's violation of God's command. This brought death, suffering and separation from God into the world. These results are known to everyone. All of Adam's descendants are afflicted with sin from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:7) and share in Adam's disobedience (sin). They can no longer be in the presence of the Holy God and are doomed to separation from Him. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and that all “shall suffer the punishment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). But there is good news: God did not remain indifferent to our misfortune. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16).
Jesus Christ, the Creator, being sinless, took upon Himself the guilt for the sins of all mankind and their consequences - death and separation from God. He died on the cross, but on the third day he rose again, having conquered death. And now everyone who sincerely believes in Him, repents of their sins and relies not on themselves, but on Christ, can return to God and remain in eternal communion with their Creator. “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”(John 3:18). Marvelous is our Savior and wonderful is salvation in Christ, our Creator!
Links and notes
- Based on variations in mitochondrial DNA, attempts have been made to prove that all modern humans are descended from a single foremother (who lived in a small population approximately 70 to 800 thousand years ago). Recent discoveries in the rate of mutation of mitochondrial DNA have sharply shortened this period to the time frame specified by the Bible. See Lowe, L., and Scherer, S., 1997. Mitochondrial Eye: the plot thickens. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 12 (11):422-423; Wieland, C.,1998. A shrinking date for Eve. CEN Technical Journal, 12(1): 1-3. creationontheweb.com/eve
