Anthropological Background of Bangladesh

Major races of Bangladesh:

1. Negrito
2. Proto ‐ Australoids or Austrics
3. Mongoloids
4. Mediterranean (ভূমধয্সাগরীয়) or Dravidian
5. Western Brachycephals (বর মাথা িবিশ )
6. Nordic Aryans (নীল েচাখ o েসানািল চূল িবিশ জামর্ ান বংশভুত)

1. Negrito:
The Negritos or the Brachycephalic (broad headed) from Africa were the earliest people to have come to this
subcontinent. They have survived in their original habitat in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Jarawas, Onges,
Sentinelese and the Great Andamanese are some of the examples.
Characteristics:
• Skin color: Chocolate to jet black
• Hair: Woolly or frizzy
• Nose: Fleshy, flat and wide
• Ears: Small
• Lips: Bulbous
• Jaw(েচায়াল) : Heavy

2. Proto ‐ Australoids or Austrics:

These groups were the next to come to this subcontinent after the Negritos. They are believed to have arrived in
India some 5000 years ago. They are people with wavy hair lavishly distributed all over their brown bodies, long
headed with low foreheads and prominent eye ridges, noses with low and broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and
teeth and small chins(থু তুিন) . The Austrics of India represent a race of medium height, dark complexion with long
heads and rather flat noses but otherwise of regular features.
The Austrics laid the foundation of Indian civilization. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from
sugarcane. Now these people are found in some parts of India, Myanmar and the islands of South East Asia. Their
languages have survived in the Central and Eastern India.
Characteristics:
• Skin colour: Black
• Hair: Wavy hair
• long Headed
• Arms & legs: long and spindly

3. Mongoloid:
These people are found in the North eastern part of India in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya,
Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Tripura. They are also found in Northern parts of West Bengal, Sikkim, and Ladakh.
Generally they are people with yellow complexion, oblique (বাঁকােনা) eyes, high cheekbones, sparse (পাতলা) hair and
medium height.
Characteristics:
• Skin colour: Brownish to yellow
• Hair: Black and straight
• Nose: Flat
 4. Mediterranean or Dravidian:
They have been believed to come before the Aryans. They have different sub‐groups like the Paleo‐Mediterranean,
the true Mediterranean, and the Oriental Mediterranean. They appear to be people of the same stock as the
peoples of Asia Minor and Crete and pre‐ Hellenic Aegean's of Greece. They are reputed to have built up the city
civilization of the Indus valley, whose remains have been found at Mohenjo‐ daro and Harappa and other Indus
cities.

5. Western Brachycephals:
These include the Alpinoids, Dinarics and Armenoids. The Parsis and Kodavas also fall in this category. They are the
broad headed people living mainly on the western side of the country such as the Ganga Valley and the delta, parts
of Kashmir, Kathiawar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

6. Nordics or the Indo‐Aryans:

This group was the last one to immigrate to India. They came to India somewhere between 2000 and 1500 B.C. They
are now mainly found in the northern and central part of India.

●Who were the original inhabitants of Bangladesh?●

Proto‐Australoid or Veddid were the original inhabitants of Bangladesh.

• Skin: Black
• Nose: Wide
• Size of the skull: Long and round
• Stature(ucতা): Short and middle
According to Risley, the Bengali people have the following physical characteristics
• Skull: round, long
• Nose: wide
• Stature: middle or short
• Skin: black, brownish
Outline of Human Racial Classification:
SUB‐SAHARAN AFRICA GROUP:
• I. Capoid or Khoisanid Subspecies of southern Africa
• A. Khoid Hottentot race
• B. Sanid Bushmen race
• II. Congoid Subspecies of sub‐Saharan Africa
• A. Central Congoid race Geographic center and origin in the Congo river basin
• 1. Palaecongoid subrace the Congo river basin: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo,
Angola
• 2. Sudanid subrace western Africa: Niger, Mali, Senegal, Guinea
• 3. Nilotid subrace southern Sudan; the ancient Nubians were of this subrace
• 4. Kafrid or Bantid subrace east and south Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Natal
• B. Bambutid race African Pygmies
• C. Aethiopid race Ethiopia, Somalia; hybridized with Caucasoids

"OUT‐OF‐AFRICA" GROUP
• I. Australoid Subspecies
• A. Veddoid race remnant Australoid population in central and southern India
• B. Negritos remnants in Malaysia and the Philippines
• C. Melanesian race New Guinea, Papua, Solomon Islands
• D. Australian‐Tasmanian race Australian Aborigines
• II. Mongoloid Subspecies
Northern Mongoloid racial group
• 1. Northeast Asian race various subraces in northern China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan
• 2. Ainuid race remnants of aboriginal population in northern Japan
• 3. Tungid race Mongolia and Siberia, Eskimos
• 4. Amerindian race American Indians; various subraces
•
Southern Mongoloid racial group
• 1. Southeast Asian race various subraces in southern China, Indochina, Thailand, Myanmar
Burma , Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the last four partly hybridized with
Australoids
• 2. Micronesian‐Polynesian race predominantly Southern Mongoloid partly hybridized with
Australoids
• III. Caucasoid or Europid Subspecies
• A. Dravidic race India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Ceylon ; ancient stabilized Indic‐Veddoid
Australoid blend
• B. Turanid race partially hybridized with Mongoloids; predominant element in Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; common in Hungary and Turkey
• C. Indic or Nordindid race Pakistan and northern India
• D. Irano‐Afghan race predominant in Iran and Afghanistan, primary element in Iraq, common
25% in Turkey
• E. Armenid race predominant element in Armenia and Azerbaijan, common in Syria, Lebanon
and northern Iraq, primary element among the Ashkenazic Jews
•
Mediterranid racial group
• Ladogan race named after Lake Ladoga; indigenous to Russia; includes Lappish subrace of
arctic Europe
• Dinaric race predominant in western Balkans Dinaric Mountains and northern Italy,
important in the Czech Republic, eastern and southern Switzerland, western Austria and
eastern Ukraine. Its distribution in Europe, and that of its derived Dinaricized Mediterranean
type, may be associated with the expansion of the Neolithic Anatolian farmers beginning circa
6,500 B.C.
• Alpine race predominant element in Luxembourg, primary in Bavaria and the Czech Republic
Bohemia , important in France, Hungary, eastern and southern Switzerland
• Nordish or Northern European racial group various subraces in the British Isles, Scandinavia,
the Netherlands and Belgium; predominant element in Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Finland
and the Baltic States; majority in Austria and Russia; important in France, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia and Hungary; outlined in detail in The Nordish Race

Mediterranid racial group

• 1. Orientalid or Arabid subrace predominant in Arabia, major element from Egypt to Syria,
primary in northern Sudan, important in Iraq, predominant element among the Oriental Jews
• 2. South Mediterranean or Saharid subrace predominant in Algeria and Libya, important in
Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt, primary element among the Sephardic Jews, common element
circa 20‐25% in Spain, Sicily and southern Italy, minor element circa 5% in Greece
• 3. East Mediterranean or Pontid subrace Black Sea coast of Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria;
Aegean coasts of Greece and Turkey
• 4. Dinaricized Mediterraneans Residual mixed types resulting from the blending of
Mediterranids with Dinarics, Alpines or Armenids; not a unified type, has much regional
variation; predominant element over 60% in Sicily and southern Italy, principal element in
Turkey 35% , important element in western Syria, Lebanon and central Italy, common in
northern Italy. The ancient Cappadocian Mediterranean subrace of Anatolia was dinaricized
perhaps as early as the Neolitihic and is a major contributor to this type in modern Turkey.
• 5. West Mediterranean or Iberid subrace Spain, Portugal, Corsica, Sardinia, and coastal areas
of Morocco and Tunisia; the Atlanto‐Mediterranean peoples who expanded over much of the
Atlantic coastal regions of Europe during the Mesolithic period were a branch of this subrace