imported>Kofi at 14:24, 14 February 2011

2011-02-14T14:24:37Z

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[[File:Malaya_1905.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Negrito group photo (Malaysia, 1905).]]
[[File:Huxley races.png|thumb|300px|[[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]]'s map of racial categories from ''On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind'' ([[1870]]).
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
{{legend|#a14308|1: [[Capoid|Bushmen]]}}
{{legend|#682b05|2: [[Negroid|Negroes]]}}
{{legend|#060606|3: Negritoes}}
{{legend|#ffcccc|4: [[Mediterranean race|Melanochroi]]}}
{{legend|#328a85|5: [[Australoid]]s}}
{{legend|#ff0000|6: [[Nordic race|Xanthochroi]]}}
{{col-2}}
{{legend|#efc417|7: [[Pacific Islander|Polynesians]]}}
{{legend|#c6520a|8: [[Mongoloid|Mongoloids A]]}}
{{legend|#cb780a|8: [[Mongoloid|Mongoloids B]]}}
{{legend|#cb970a|8: [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Mongoloids C]]}}
{{legend|#f9b90d|9: [[Eskimo|Esquimaux]]}}
{{col-end}}
Huxley states: 'It is to the Xanthochroi and Melanochroi, taken together, that the absurd denomination of "[[Caucasian_race|Caucasian]]" is usually applied'.<ref>[[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley, T. H.]] "[http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/GeoDis.html On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind]" (1870) ''Journal of the Ethnological Society of London''</ref>]]

The term '''Negrito''' refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of [[Southeast Asia]].<ref>Snow, Philip. ''The Star Raft: China's Encounter With Africa.'' Cornell Univ. Press, 1989 (ISBN 0801495830)</ref>

Their current populations include 12 [[Andamanese]] tribes of the [[Andaman Islands]], six [[Semang]] tribes of [[Malaysia]], the [[Mani people|Mani]] of [[Thailand]], and the [[Aeta]], [[E Agta|Agta]], [[Ati (tribe)|Ati]], and 30 other tribes of the [[Ethnic groups of the Philippines|Philippines]]. Reports from British traders also speak of negrito tribes on Borneo (Sarawak). (Journal of the Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIX, part 1, 1956)

Negritos share some common physical features with African [[pygmies|pygmy]] populations, including short stature, [[natural afro-hair]] texture, and dark skin; however, their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation. They are the most genetically distant human population from Africans at most loci studied thus far (except for [[MC1R]], which codes for dark skin).

They have also been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early migration out of Africa, or that they are descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans.<ref name=Kashyap>Kashyap VK, Sitalaximi T, Sarkar BN, Trivedi R 2003. [http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/IJHG/IJHG-03-0-000-000-2003-Web/IJHG-03-1-001-067-2003-Abst-PDF/IJHG-03-1-005-011-2003-Kashyap/IJHG-03-1-005-011-2003-Kashyap.pdf Molecular relatedness of the aboriginal groups of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with similar ethnic populations]. ''The International Journal of Human Genetics'', 3: 5-11.</ref>

==Etymology==
The term "Negrito" is the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] [[diminutive]] of ''[[negro]]'', i.e. "little black person", referring to their small stature, and was coined by early European explorers who assumed that the Negritos were recent arrivals from Africa.

Occasionally, some Negritos are referred to as [[Pygmy|pygmies]], bundling them with peoples of similar physical stature in Central Africa, and likewise, the term Negrito was previously occasionally used to refer to African Pygmies.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, 1910–1911: "Second are the large Negrito family, represented in Africa by the dwarf-races of the equatorial forests, the [[Aka (Pygmy tribe)|Akkas]], [[Batwa]]s, [[Wochua]]s and others..." (pg. 851)</ref>

Sometimes the term "[[Negroid]]" will be used when referring to these groups, especially to their superficial physical features, such as their hair texture and skin color.

==Origins==
Being among the least-known of all living human groups, the origins of the Negrito people is a much debated topic. The [[Malay language|Malay]] term for them is ''[[Orang Asli|orang asli]]'', or '' original people''.

They are likely descendants of the [[Indigenous people|indigenous]] populations of the [[Sundaland|Sunda landmass]] and New Guinea, predating the [[Mongoloid]] peoples who later entered Southeast Asia.<ref name="WH_Getting_Here">[http://books.google.com/books?id=HLFzywF8OFsC&pg=PA222&dq=getting+here+the+story+of+human+evolution+william+howells+genetic+cranial+OR+craniometric+OR+craniometrical+andamanese&ei=8L6cR9KzFYnIyASkk7ygCg&sig=zsDfhi-rI7JdyGxCxxFA0iALzuM Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution, William Howells, Compass Press, 1993]</ref>
[[Image:Great Andamanese couple.jpg|right|thumb|220px|[[Great Andamanese]] couple, in an 1876 photograph.]]
Alternatively, some scientists claim they are merely a group of Australo-Melanesians who have undergone [[island dwarfing]] over thousands of years, reducing their food intake in order to cope with limited resources and adapt to a tropical rainforest environment. Anthropologist [[Jared Diamond]] in his bestselling book, ''[[Guns, Germs, and Steel]]'' suggests that the Negritos are possible ancestors of the [[Aboriginal Australians]] and [[Papuans]] of [[New Guinea]].

A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos and [[Pygmy|African pygmies]], especially in the [[Andamanese]] Islanders who have been isolated from incoming waves of Asiatic and Indo-Aryan peoples. No other living human population has experienced such long-lasting isolation from contact with other groups <ref name=Thangaraj2002>{{Citation| first = Kumarasamy | last = Thangaraj| coauthors = et al.| title = Genetic Affinities of the Andaman Islanders, a Vanishing Human Population|url=http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/CB_2002_p1-18.pdf| journal =Current Biology | volume = 13, Number 2| pages = 86–93(8)|date=21 January 2003|year=2002}}</ref>.

These features include short stature, very dark skin, woolly hair, scant body hair and occasional [[steatopygia]]. The claim that Andamanese pygmoids more closely resemble Africans than Asians in their cranial morphology in a 1973 study added some weight to this theory before genetic studies pointed to a closer relationship with Asians.<ref name=Thangaraj2002 />

Other more recent studies have shown closer [[craniometric]] affinities to Egyptians and Europeans than to Sub Saharan populations such as that of African Pygmies. Walter Neves' study of the Lagoa Santa people had the incidental correlation of showing Andamanese as classifying closer to Egyptians and Europeans than any Sub Saharan population.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/51/18309/Fig. 2 |title=Fig. 2 Morphological Affinities |publisher=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |format={{dead link|date=May 2009}} }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |url=http://onedroprule.org/forum/127/nevesfinal.jpg |title=Morphological Afinities, averaging graphs A through D |publisher=onedroprule.org }}</ref>

Multiple studies also show that Negritos from Southeast Asia to New Guinea share a closer cranial affinity with [[Australoid|Australo-Melanesians]].<ref name="WH_Getting_Here"/><ref>{{Citation
|url=http://backintyme.com/admixture/bulbeck01.pdf
|title=Races of Homo sapiens: if not in the southwest Pacific, then nowhere
|author=David Bulbeck
|coauthors= Pathmanathan Raghavan and Daniel Rayner
|journal=World Archaeology
|volume=38
|issue=1
|pages=109–132
year=2006
|publisher=Taylor & Francis
|issn=0043-8243
|doi=10.1080/00438240600564987
|year=2006}}</ref> Further evidence for Asian ancestry is in craniometric markers such as [[sundadonty]], shared by Asian and Negrito populations.

It has been suggested that the craniometric similarities to Asians could merely indicate a level of interbreeding between Negritos and later waves of people arriving from the Asian mainland. This hypothesis is not supported by genetic evidence that has shown the level of isolation populations such as the Andamanese have had.

However, some studies have suggested that each group should be considered separately, as the genetic evidence refutes the notion of a specific shared ancestry between the "Negrito" groups of the Andaman Islands, Malay Peninsula, and Philippines.<ref>{{Citation
|url=http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/msl124v1.pdf
|title=Phylogeography and Ethnogenesis of Aboriginal Southeast Asians
|author=Catherine Hill1
|coauthors=Pedro Soares, Maru Mormina1, Vincent Macaulay, William Meehan, James Blackburn, Douglas Clarke, Joseph Maripa Raja, Patimah Ismail, David Bulbeck, Stephen Oppenheimer, Martin Richards
|publisher=Oxford University Press
|year=2006
|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution}}</ref>

While earlier studies, such as that of WW Howell, allied Andamanese craniometrically with Africans, they did not have recourse to genetic studies.<ref name="WH_Getting_Here"/> Later genetic and craniometric (mentioned earlier) studies have found more genetic affinities with Asians and Polynesians.<ref name=Thangaraj2002 />

A study on [[blood groups]] and proteins in the 1950s suggested that the [[Andamanese]] were more closely related to Oceanic peoples than Africans. Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on polymorphic blood enzymes and antigens, showed they were similar to surrounding Asian populations.<ref name=Thangaraj2002 />
Genetic testing places all the Onge and all but two of the Great Andamanese in the [[mtDNA]] [[Haplogroup M (mtDNA)|Haplogroup M]], found in East Africa, East Asia, and South Asia, suggesting that the Negritos are at least partly descended from a migration originating in eastern Africa as much as 60,000 years ago. This migration is hypothesized to have followed a coastal route through India and into Southeast Asia, which is sometimes referred to as the [[Great Coastal Migration]].

Analysis of mtDNA coding sites indicated that these Andamanese fall into a subgroup of M not previously identified in human populations in Africa and Asia. These findings suggest an early split from the population of African migrants whose descendants would eventually populate the entire habitable world.<ref name=Thangaraj2002 /> [[haplogroup C (Y-DNA)|Haplogroup C]] and [[haplogroup D (Y-DNA)|haplogroup D]] is believed to represent Y-DNA in the migration.<ref>[http://www.eastling.org/paper/YellowBrown-pbs.pdf 走向遠東的兩個現代人種]</ref>

==Historical Distribution==

Negritos may have also possibly lived in [[Taiwan]], where they were called the "Little Black People". Apart from being short-statured, they were also said to be broad-nosed and dark-skinned with curly hair.<ref>{{cite news |title=In honor of the Little Black People|author=Jules Quartly|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=27 November 2004|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/27/2003212815}}</ref> The little black population shrank to the point up to 100 years ago only one small group lived near the Saisiyat tribe.<ref>{{cite news |title=In honor of the Little Black People|author=Jules Quartly|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=27 November 2004|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/27/2003212815}}</ref> A festival celebrated by the [[Saisiyat people|Saisiyat]] gives evidence to their formal habitation of Taiwan. The Saisiyat tribe celebrate the black people in a festival called [[Pas-ta'ai|Ritual of the Little Black People]] (矮靈祭).<ref>{{cite news |title=In honor of the Little Black People|author=Jules Quartly|newspaper=Taipei Times|date=27 November 2004|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/27/2003212815}}</ref>

After the negritos on Taiwan, thousands of years before any Han came to Taiwan in 1600, the Aboriginal Austronesians moved into Taiwan. Estimates of their arrival date from 6,000-1,000 years ago from the [[Malay Archipelago]], although it is controversial. Chinese historians called them "black dwarfs" in the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220 to AD 280) and they were still to be found in China during the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911). There are other stories about them in other aboriginals<ref>[http://www.peopo.org/portal.php?op=viewPost&articleId=3486 一場古老傳說的追索冒險---尋找矮黑人系列（一） - PeoPo 公民新聞]</ref> and some archeological sites are attributed to them.<ref>[http://www.nownews.com/2002/03/30/345-1283100.htm NOWnews【旅遊新聞】探訪台灣矮黑人遺址（1）／只「活」在詩歌傳說中的民族]</ref>

According to James J.Y. Liu, a professor of comparative literature, the Chinese term ''[[Kunlun Nu|Kun-lun]]'' ({{zh|崑崙}}) means Negrito.<ref name=liu>Liu, James J.Y. ''The Chinese Knight Errant''. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967 (ISBN 0-2264-8688-5)</ref><ref>The characters [[Wiktionary:崑|崑]][[Wiktionary:崙|崙]] literally mean the [[Kunlun Mountains]].</ref><ref>[http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!jwnkbhyQGQP7pdfpnrWwkQ--/article?mid=1&prev=2&next=-1 東北亞上古小黑人史跡之追蹤(舜象部族及其後裔之考察)]</ref> There are many stories about them.<ref>[http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2010/03/17/a395891_p.html 【神秘世界】古今中外小矮人真实记录 (上)]</ref><ref>[http://iel.cass.cn/news_show.asp?newsid=3196 小黑人神话──从台湾原住民谈起]</ref><ref>[http://renminbao.com/rmb/articles/2005/4/29/35709.html 考古发现巨人小人不仅仅是传说（多图）]</ref><ref>[http://h1n1china.org/gb/5/10/21/n1093625.htm 《揭开史前文明的面纱》小人国之谜]</ref><ref>[http://www.china001.com/show_hdr.php?xname=PPDDMV0&dname=IIL5H41&xpos=36 山海經之神話系統研究（許瑞誠）]</ref> [[Shanyue|Shandao]], Geji (戈基), [[Jeju-do|Juho]], [[Wa (Japan)|Wa]] and [[Koro-pok-guru]] peoples, are also said to be pygmies.<ref>[http://www.xiaoshuo0.com/html/9344/1541085.htm 赣南“赣巨人”“木客” 识考]</ref><ref>[http://www.govyi.com/paper/n3/lishi/200605/62469_10.shtml 華夏邊緣的維持：羌族歷史記憶]</ref><ref>[http://www.sass.cn/news.asp?NewsID=10045&BigClassid=8&SmallClassID=15&SpecialID=0 三星堆文物中的蚕丛文化因素探析]</ref><ref>[http://www.eywedu.com/Wenshizazhi/wszz2007/wszz20070601-1.html 蚕丛新考]</ref><ref>[http://news3.xinhuanet.com/video/2007-05/11/content_6085376.htm 寻找羌族传说中的“戈基”怪人]</ref><ref>[http://www.yn.xinhuanet.com/travel/2010-07/22/content_20416083.htm 延庆古崖居低矮洞穴：探寻神秘矮人族穴居]</ref> [[Haplogroup D (Y-DNA)]] are found frequently among some peoples living in the same area. In China, stone coffins were used by these peoples.<ref>[http://www.sr0768.com/bbs/simple/index.php?t16103.html 也談番子鬼和山都木客（附圖）與大禹]</ref><ref>[http://www.changdu.gov.cn/pearls/display.php?aid=157l 古老的象雄文明]</ref><ref>[http://gb.cri.cn/3601/2004/08/14/883@266261.htm 西南夷——氐羌、笮人及炯人]</ref><ref>[http://culture.china.com.cn/lishi/2010-09/16/content_20944672_2.htm 泉州蟳埔"小矮人墓群"百年未解之谜引关注(图)]</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Evans, Ivor Hugh Norman. ''The Negritos of Malaya''. Cambridge [Eng.]: University Press, 1937.
* Garvan, John M., and Hermann Hochegger. ''The Negritos of the Philippines''. Wiener Beitrage zur Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik, Bd. 14. Horn: F. Berger, 1964.
* Hurst Gallery. ''Art of the Negritos''. Cambridge, Mass: Hurst Gallery, 1987.
* Khadizan bin Abdullah, and Abdul Razak Yaacob. ''Pasir Lenggi, a Bateq Negrito Resettlement Area in Ulu Kelantan''. Pulau Pinang: Social Anthropology Section, School of Comparative Social Sciences, Universití Sains Malaysia, 1974.
* Schebesta, P., & Schütze, F. (1970). ''The Negritos of Asia''. Human relations area files, 1-2. New Haven, Conn: Human Relations Area Files.

==External links==
*[http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter36/text36.htm The Negrito of Thailand]
*[http://www.filipiniana.net/ArtifactView.do?artifactID=BOOK00000002&page=0&epage=0 Negritos in the Philippines] A detailed book written by an American at the turn of the previous century holistically describing the Negrito culture. Online document processed by [http://www.filipiniana.net Filipiniana.net]
*[http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jwh/16.1/keita.html#FOOT56 Africans and Asians: Historiography and the Long View of Global Interaction]

Negrito - Revision history

imported>Kofi at 14:24, 14 February 2011