Mankind is a single species, an inbreeding population that descended from the same source.

Within it
are groups with distinctive physical and biological characteristics, living in different climates around the
world. As man occupied different environments and adapted to I, they became characterized by
variations in their physical characteristics.

Race can be defined as “a portion of the human population, who members have in common, a physical
or biological characteristic that differentiates him from other groups.”

Physically, race is differentiated based 7 physical characteristics:

1) Height
i. The shortest men can be found among the Pygmies of Africa, while the tallest men hail from
Sudan and Nigeria
ii. Even though some races do show significant differences in height, this criteria is flawed due to 2
reason:
-More than 1 racial groups overlap within the same height range
-There can be significant differences in height within the same racial group. Eg. in less
developing countries or the poorer areas in a country, a lack of nourishment can lead to stunted
height well below the racial average.
iii. On average, worldwise, human height ranges from 4.3 – 6.6
iv. On average, worldwise, women have a height of 5.2 and men have a height 5.6

2) Shape of the head

i. The shape (width and length) of the head is often of a particular type characteristic with the
same racial groups, but varying among the groups.
ii. Measred using the Cephalic Index (aka Cranial Index):
is the ratio of the maximum width (bi-parietal diameter or BPD, side to side) of the head of an
organism multiplied by 100 divided by its maximum length (occipito-frontal diameter or OFD,
front to back).
Cephalic index = BPD/OFD X 100

Cephalic Scientific Name Common Name

Index

< 75 Dolicho-cephalic 'long-headed'

75 to 80 Mesati-cephalic 'medium-headed'

> 80 Brachy-cephalic 'short-headed'

 iii. Korea, Japan, Norway people, African negroes are said to be long-headed.
while Russians and Mongoloids are said to be short-headed.
iv. Even though it’s a quantitative index, it is still not scientifically sound

3) Shape of the Nose:

i. Anthropologists believe that the shape and size of the nose are hereditary and therefor can be
used to find racial differences.

ii. For eg, in general Africans have a wide set, flat nose, while most Europeans have a narrower
and uplifted nose.
Jews usually have a nose shape peculiar to them (sth that has been caricaturized widely to
express anti-Semitic and racist sentiments): the Aquiline nose or a hooked nose with a convex
nasal bridge and a downward turn of nose tip.

iii. Measured using the nasal index = width of nose/length of nose X 100

iv. The smallest craniological nasal index can be found in Inuit of Arctic North America, the coldest
inhabited regions of Earth. In Europe, very low nasal indices are common in three different
groups: firstly some (but not all) Northwest Europeans, Gracile Mediterranean people, as well as
groups of the Dinaric Alps.
Largest index can be found in North West India (e.g. in Sikh), as well as parts of North Africa and
East Somalia.

v. Some scientists believe that there’s a relationship between nose shape and the environment:

In dry climates, noses often (not always) tend to be narrower.

E.g. from Arabia to West Asia, as well as North and East Africa.
This may be because narrow noses have a better dust-filtering function, and the risk of
dehydration of the nasal mucosa is lower.

An even more significant pattern is the high frequency of narrow noses in cold climate. It has
been suggested that longer, narrower noses can better heat and moisten inhaled air in cold
climate (Thomson's Nose Rule).
4)Shape of the Lips

5) Hair Type and Colour:

i. Anthropologists consider this a very important characteristic.

ii. The Andre Walker Hair Typing System is the most widely used system to classify hair. According
to this system there are four types of hair: straight, wavy, curly, kinky.

iii. Mongoloids often express straight and loose hair types.

Caucasians express wavy or S shaped hair.
Curly and kinky hair types with tight hair coils are characteristic of Negroids.

iv. Most humans show dark brown to black hair colour. However a large variety can be seen among
Caucasoids: golden, red, all shades of brown, black

6) Skin Colour

i. The reason for the wide variation in skin colour is due the presence of the pigment, melanin,
under the skin: the more melanin present in the skin, the darker the skin will appear.

ii. Caucasoids have the least amount of melanin. SO they have the least pigmented, almost white,
skin. (doesn’t tan, but burns)
Mongoloids have some melanin, leading to a yellow skintone. (strong tanning, no burning)
Negroids have the most, leading to dark brown to black skin tone. (no tanning, no burning)
 iii. Is a product of environment and hereditary:

a) Environment: There is a direct correlation between the geographic distribution of ultraviolet

radiation (UVR) and the distribution of indigenous skin pigmentation around the world. Areas
that receive higher amounts of UVR, generally located closer to the equator, tend to have
darker-skinned populations. Areas that are far from the tropics and closer to the poles have
lower intensity of UVR, which is reflected in lighter-skinned populations.

b) Hereditary: The genes responsible for skin colour (MC1R, KITLG, SLC24A5 etc
iv. ) pass down from generation to generation. These genes dictate how much meanin can be
produced in the body. It has been noticed that the Negroid populace of North America has
slowly transformed from ebony black-skined individuals to brown-skinned individuals. Whereas
the Negroid populace of Africa shows no such change. It is hypothesized that this is because the
members of the former race have mated with the non-Negroid populace of the region, thereby
‘diluting’ the intensity of the pigment genomes in future generations.

7) Eye Colour and Shape

i. Anthropologists noticed that Mongoloids have a very distinctive eye shape: a) their upper eyelid
folds somewhat (epicanthic fold) and droops onto the eye b) the corner of the eye protrudes
sharply outward and upward

ii. Even though most humans have brown to black eye colours, Caucasians show a variety: Green,
Blue and even violet (Elizabeth Taylor)! Therefor it is often possible to distinguish a person as
Caucasoid based on their eye colour.

8) Blood Groups

i. There are 4 main blood groups A B AB and O

ii. In Europe, A and O predominates. As well as among the New Americans (who were
descendants of the Europeans)
iii. Among Asians, A B and O are important.
iv. Among Australians, A and O are important.
v. Among Negroids, O predominate.