The Book of History (Vol. 1 of 18) / A History of All Nations from the Earliest Times to the Present

by Various

A

AN attempt is made in these pages to compile a dictionary of the main existing races of the world, arranged in alphabetical order. The accompanying Ethnological Chart on [page 352], will enable the reader to see at a glance the relationship of the various main divisions, families, and stocks under which these races are distributed. The Dictionary and the Chart, if used in conjunction, will thus supply information about any race named in the list, and will tell the inquirer to what branch of the human race it belongs. It is obviously impossible to make the Dictionary inclusive of every tiny and out-of-the-way tribe of Africa or South America, but all important races are included. If the reader wants to know something about the Abyssinians, he will look them up in the Dictionary, and find that they are partly Semitic Himyarites, partly Hamitic Gallas, etc. The Chart will then show him that the Hamitic and Semitic families belong to the great Caucasic Division of mankind, that the Himyarites are one of the main stocks of the Semitic family, and that the Gallas belong to the Eastern branch of the Hamitic family. The student should familiarise himself with the names and places of the families and chief stocks of mankind, as given in the Chart, and so greatly facilitate the task of reference. The intention of both Chart and Dictionary is, of course, to serve as a kind of index to the History proper, which must be consulted for further information. As far as can be discovered, no previous attempt has been made to summarise the conclusions of modern ethnology in this convenient form. The illustrations depict some of the most interesting races.

Ababua. A tribe of Sudanese negroes in Central Africa. See [WELLE GROUP].

Abaka. See [NILITIC GROUP].

Abkhasians. A Western Caucasian tribe occupying the Black Sea coast from Pitzunta to Mingrelia, akin to [CIRCASSIANS] (q.v.).

Abo, or Ibo. See [NIGERIAN GROUP].

Abors. An Assamese tribe in the Brahmaputra Valley, belonging to the Tibetan branch of the Southern Mongolic family. Wild jungle-dwellers.

Absarakas. See [SIOUAN].

Abukaya. A negro tribe in the Sudan. See [NILITIC GROUP].

Abunda. A settled and fairly civilised race of Bantu Negroes, occupying the seaboard and inland districts of Portuguese West Africa, south of Ambriz.