Philological Proofs of the Original Unity and Recent Origin of the Human Race

by Arthur James Johnes

By what road did the first Colonists of Europe reach their final destination? Adelung has inferred that Europe was peopled exclusively from the Steppes of Northern Asia. But for this opinion, it does not seem that any valid reason can be assigned. If we assume Central Asia to have been the focus of migration, it will be observed that there are three routes by which the forefathers of the European nations may have arrived in their final abodes, viz. 1, The Steppes of Northern Asia; 2, Asia Minor and the Hellespont; and 3, The Isthmus of Suez, the North of Africa, and the Straits of Gibraltar. For concluding that either of these three routes was used, to the exclusion of the other two, it would not be easy to point out any strong argument based on Geographical grounds. Now if the third was employed at all it may be inferred that some of the European nations may be even more nearly allied to those of Africa than they are to the Asiatic populations. To this conclusion, however, a formidable objection occurs in the strikingly contrasted Physiology of Africa and Europe, for—even though it should be conceded that these opposite features do not serve to prove an aboriginal difference of race—the question still arises whether they do not, nevertheless, furnish evidence that the nations of these two continents are more remotely related than any other branches of the Human Family; whether they do not point to the inference that the inhabitants of the South and West of Asia—who certainly occupy an intermediate place Physiologically—must not also be regarded as forming a connecting link between those of Europe and Africa in a Genealogical and Historical sense? To these inquiries it will be obvious that the facts just adverted to furnish a very distinct answer, for from those facts it directly follows—not only that climate and other existing causes are sufficient to account for the different Physical peculiarities of the inhabitants of Africa and Europe—but it also follows from the same evidence, that a [pg xxxi] period of time far short of that during which the European and African nations are known to have occupied their present abodes, would have sufficed to superinduce the opposite characteristics they now display! Perhaps it may be inferred, though probably the subject does not admit of a precise conclusion on this head, that in a suitable climate the lapse of 500 or 600 years might be more than adequate to engraft on the physiognomy of Southern Asia all the distinctive peculiarities of the Negro. That these peculiarities had been fully developed in an early era of the History of the World, is manifest from the Egyptian Paintings, in many of which we have individuals of this ill-fated race very vividly depicted, appearing sometimes as tributaries, and on other occasions as captives, leashed together like hounds!

Infirm health, and final extirpation, have often attended colonies from the North of Europe settled in tropical climes, incidents that seem to have had great weight with Dr. Prichard himself, as constituting an objection to his views. To this objection, however—independent of the numerous facts of an opposite nature—the following consideration, I conceive, suggests a satisfactory answer. Nature may have provided for gradual transitions of climate such as must have been encountered by a population progressively diffused over the Globe; and that she has done so appears to be distinctly established. But it does not follow that she has made any provision for abrupt changes. These are probably a violation of her dictates, and may have the same tendency to produce disease and death as we know to be incident to sudden and extensive variations of temperature in the same climate and country.

The foregoing deductions will be found to have a highly interesting application in relation to the origin of two ancient European races, the Basques and the Celts. If Physiological grounds are dismissed from our consideration, it will probably [pg xxxii] be found that the balance of evidence is in favour of the conclusion that these races have sprung, not from Asiatic colonists, but from emigrants from the coasts of the continent of Africa!

This conclusion is strongly favoured by the geographical position in which we find these races placed at the dawn of History. In the earliest ages the Celts and Basques were in possession of all the most western countries of Europe. The Spanish Peninsula, the South of France, and the North of Italy, were divided between them; the remainder of France, the whole of Belgium, Switzerland, and the British Isles, were held by the Celts, while of Sicily and Italy the Basques appear to have been the first inhabitants. (See Dr. Prichard's Works.) Now in connexion with these facts two considerations deserve to be noticed, which, by a reference to the map will be seen to acquire especial force. 1. It will be observed that the original regions of the Celts and Basques are more closely contiguous to Africa than the Eastern countries of Europe are; both Spain, and Sicily (which may be considered a part of Italy,) approaching at certain points very closely to the African coast. 2. If we assume Central Asia to have been the original focus of migration—it will be evident—that nomade septs issuing thence through the Syro-Phœnician countries, and along the North of Africa—would have found a shorter route to the Italian and to the Spanish Peninsulas—than those emigrants who may be supposed to have passed over the Hellespont, or through Northern Asia! Further it may be added, that the regions originally held by the Basques and Celts are precisely those which would have been occupied by the descendants of Colonists who had arrived in Europe from the South-west of Africa if opposed—as we may infer them to have been—by rival Septs impeding their progress towards the East. To the East of the Basque and Celtic regions we find the rest of Europe possessed by [pg xxxiii] the Teutons or Germans, the Finns, the Sclavonians, and the Greeks, nations all located in countries closely contiguous to Asia, to the inhabitants of which continent the evidence of language indisputably proves them all to have been closely related.[17] That these nations were also the primitive inhabitants of the territories which they still occupy has been pointed out by Dr. Prichard.

The conclusion above suggested appears to be supported by the evidence of history. With respect to the Basques, or Iberians, Dr. Prichard has referred to the testimony of classical authorities, which distinctly confirms the opinion that they were an African race. But with regard to the Celts, the same learned writer assumes that they must originally have come from the East. It is remarkable, however, that this conclusion is directly at variance with the current opinions of the Ancients, to which he has referred in the following passage:

“The earlier history of the Celtic people is a subject of great interest, but of difficult investigation. Were they the aborigines of Gaul or Germany? According to all the testimony of history, or rather of ancient tradition collected by the writers of the Roman Empire, the migrations of the Gauls were always from West to East; the Celtic nations in Germany as well as in Italy and in the East, were supposed to have been colonies from Gaul, and the Celtæ have been considered as the immemorial inhabitants of Western Europe!” (Ethnography of the Celtic Race, in Prichard on Man.)

In assuming that the Celts migrated to Europe direct from Asia, Dr. Prichard's views were very naturally influenced by the valuable evidence he has himself adduced of [pg xxxiv] the connexion of the Celtic dialects with the Sanscrit, &c. This evidence, however, has been shown (see p. [19]) to be quite consistent with the conclusion suggested above, viz. that the Celts may have sprung from emigrants who penetrated into Spain from the opposite coast of Africa.

The interesting researches of Humboldt, which have served by the evidence of local names to show that the language of the ancient Iberians was the same as the Basque, have also established, by means of the same evidence, that the Peninsula of Spain, at the time of its subjugation by the Romans, was divided in a very irregular manner between Basque and Celtic tribes. “The Celts,” observes Dr. Prichard, “possessed a considerable part of Spain, comprehending not only the central provinces, but also extensive territories in both of the western corners of the Peninsula, where a population either wholly or partly of Celtic descent remained at the period of the Roman Conquest.” The remainder of Spain was held by Basques or by Celt-Iberian tribes, a mixture of both races.

This singular intermingling of the Basques and Celts in the Spanish Peninsula has been a source of many conflicting opinions among the learned, on the question which of these two races were the first inhabitants, and which were the invaders of Spain? The enigma, I conceive, will be most satisfactorily solved by the rejection of the opinion that that country was in the first instance wholly occupied by either! Both may have arrived almost simultaneously, too weak in numbers wholly to engross the new territory on which they thus entered. Each may have thrown out into the most distant provinces weak colonies, consisting of a few nomade families, which afterwards became the foci of powerful Septs. This explanation completely harmonises with the instructive facts which have been developed relative to the North American Indian Tribes, who are still in the “hunter state,” as [pg xxxv] the first colonists of Europe must have been. The languages of a great portion of the North American Indian Tribes have been shown to consist of mere dialects of a few Parent Tongues. But the Septs thus proved to be nearly related are not always contiguous, but often separated by tribes speaking dialects of a different class, a necessary consequence of the roving habits and the imperfect occupation of territory incident to the “hunter state.” An interesting example of the influence of the causes which lead to these results occurs in Mr. Catlin's allusion to a North American Indian Tribe, the Assinneboins, of whom he says: “The Assinneboins are a part of the Dahcotas, or Sioux, undoubtedly; for their personal appearance, as well as their language, is very similar.

“At what time, or in what manner, these two parts of a nation got strayed away from each other is a mystery; yet such cases have often occurred, of which I shall say more in future. Large parties who are straying off in pursuit of game, or in the occupation of war, are oftentimes intercepted by their enemy, and being prevented from returning, are run off to a distant region, where they take up their residence and establish themselves as a nation.” (Catlin on the North American Indians, p. 53.)