Famous peoples of the world. Peoples of Russia

According to various estimates, about 5 thousand live all over the globe. various peoples. Most of of them are not numerous. An ethnic group can be distinguished not only by the number of representatives, but also by language.

Population of Africa

Africa is home to a huge number of ethnic groups. Compared to the Dark Continent, the peoples of other countries of the world are not so diverse. For example, in Nigeria their number reaches 250. The most numerous Nigerian tribes are the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo.

In total, about 50 different nationalities live in Africa. 24 of these peoples make up about 86% of the total population of the Dark Continent. Moreover, each of the nationalities speaks its own language. And only Arabic is an exception. Almost a fifth of Africans speak this language.

Colonial past

Africa is a continent that until recently was ruled by the peoples of other countries of the world. The colonial past is everywhere here. For many centuries, European colonialists plundered property local residents, exploited them for their own benefit. The collapse of this system began only in the post-World War II era. The total population of the Black Continent is about 250 million people. Compared to the peoples of other countries in the world, population growth is occurring very quickly here.

Classification of African peoples

It is customary to divide into categories according to language. A huge number can be united into large related groups - families. Such a language family will include those languages ​​that have common roots. In total, there are several large language groups on the Dark Continent. These are Bantu, Semitic-Hamitic, Mande, Nilotic. For example, in northern Africa there are peoples who communicate in Semitic-Hamitic languages. This category includes the Cushitic and Berber subgroups. In the central part of the continent and in the south live representatives of peoples who speak Bantu languages.

Only in the VII-XI centuries. Arabs appeared in Africa. The peoples who inhabited the territory of the Sahara and the Maghreb in ancient times were called Libyans by ancient historians. Before these territories were conquered by the Arabs, they spoke the languages ​​of the Berber group. The Arabs of the tribes called Hilal and Sulaim, who moved here in the 11th century, seriously influenced lifestyle local Berbers. The natives converted to Islam and began farming like the Arabs. Became widespread nomadic image life. Rarely are the peoples of other countries of the world assimilated to the same extent as the Arabs and Berbers at the present time. Now it is almost impossible to draw a clear boundary between them. Moreover, the process of mixing these two ethnic groups has occurred most intensively in the last half century.

Comparative age of the Slavic ethnic group and other peoples

According to some reports, the state Kievan Rus arose in the 6th century AD. e. Other scholars believe that the Slavic state arose on the territory of an ancient trade route called “from the Varangians to the Greeks” in 862, when the principality of the famous Russian dynasty began. Many nations like to lengthen their history. However, there are also those whose “age” is beyond doubt - moreover, they are much older than the Slavic ethnic group. The ancient peoples of other countries of the world, except Russia, are Armenians, Jews, Assyrians, Basques, and Khoisans.

Armenians - the civilization of King Hayk

The Armenian ethnos is considered the youngest among other ancient peoples. However, there is much that is unexplored in the history of the Armenians. Until the very late XIX centuries, historians believed that the Armenian ethnic group originates from King Hayk, whose personality is covered in legends. Hayk was the first to decide to outline the borders of the new state in the vicinity of Mount Ararat. It was believed that it was from the name of King Hayk that the self-name of the Armenians - “hai” - came from.

Currently, another version of the origin of the Armenians is accepted. Scientists believe that their ancestors - the Mushki and the Urumeans - settled local territories back in the 12th century BC. e., even before the Hittite state was formed. The peoples of other countries of the world with whom the Armenians lived next door were the Urartians and the Luwians. Some scholars believe that the origins of the Armenian people must be sought among the evidence of the Hurrian kingdom, which was called Arme-Shubiya.

Jews

Jews are another people whose history goes back centuries. There are no fewer mysteries in the past of the Jews than in the history of the emergence of the Armenians. For a long time it was believed that the concept of this people is not ethnic, but rather religious. There were fierce debates between scientists about who they really were - one of the religious heresies, a separated social stratum, or, perhaps, an independent people. According to the main source of the Jewish religion - the Old Testament - Jews are descendants of Abraham, a native of the Mesopotamian city of Ur.

Together with his father, Abraham moved to the “promised land” - Canaan. Subsequently, he captured the lands of tribes living nearby, who, according to legend, were descendants of Noah. Scientists believe that the Jewish people originate from the 2nd millennium BC. e. - that’s when they formed in independent group from Semitic-speaking tribes. The closest “relatives” of the Jews in language are the tribes of the Amorites and Phoenicians.

Modern version of the origin of the Jews

Not so long ago, thanks to the development of science, new views on the origin of the Jewish people appeared. Scientists conducted a genetic analysis of three large groups of Jewish people. Ashkenazim (living in America and Europe), Mizrahim (inhabitants of the Middle East and northern Africa), and Sephardim (living in the Iberian Peninsula) were studied. It turned out that all these ethnic groups have similar genetics. This confirms their origin from a common source. The conclusion that scientists made is that the ancestors of the Jews originally lived in Mesopotamia. The division occurred during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.

And other countries in the world have many misconceptions about Jews. One of the most common is that the main religious book of the Jews is the Old Testament. In fact, the holy book for them is the Talmud. The Jewish religion has many branches - it is Orthodox, Reform, Conservative. However, all believers use the Talmud as their main book.

Jewish origins are attributed to Christopher Columbus. Several documents testify to this. The navigator himself also repeatedly mentioned that he belongs to the Jewish people. So that the people of other countries of the world and descendants could learn about his voyages, Columbus kept a diary of his voyages. It is noteworthy that in the first lines he mentions the history of the expulsion of Jews from Spain. Also, some scholars believe that the signature in Columbus’s will was made in Hebrew.

Assyrian people

What other ancient peoples existed in other countries of the world? The list continues with the Assyrians: this people is perhaps even more ancient than the Jews. They presumably arose in the 4th-2nd millennium BC. Jews were descended from Western Semitic peoples. The Assyrians were representatives of the northern Semites. Modern representatives The Assyrian ethnic group consider themselves descendants of an ancient civilization. Some scientists agree with this point of view. Others believe that the ancestors of modern Assyrians are the Arameans.

Chinese

There are also peoples of other countries of the world, except Russia, who differ in both age and the number of their representatives. One such ethnic group is the Chinese. They call themselves "Han people". The Chinese make up about 19% of the total world population. The beginning of the Han civilization is considered to be the 5th-3rd millennium BC. The first settlements were built in the valley. The formation of the Chinese ethnic group was significantly influenced by the peoples of other countries of the world. Their list mainly consists of representatives of the Mongoloid race: these are Tibetans, Indonesians, Thais. They are all quite different in their culture. However, today the Chinese are the direct descendants of the great Han civilization.

Basque

The Basques are an example of peoples from other countries of the world who do not belong to the Indo-European linguistic environment. The great settlement of peoples began in the 4th millennium BC. Currently, the languages ​​of the Indo-European group are the means of communication for almost all Europeans. The exception is the Basques - their origin does not coincide with the peoples of other countries of the world. List, except Russia and European countries, with which scientists compared such a people as the Basques, is enormous. However, the researchers came to the conclusion: the Basques are an ancient people whose language is not related to any language of the Indo-European group. Presumably they became a separate ethnic group about 16 thousand years ago, during the Paleolithic.

Khoisan people

But the Basques are not the last ancient people other countries of the world. The list, in addition to Russia (or, more precisely, Slavic tribes), Jews, Assyrians, Chinese and Basques can be supplemented by Khoisan peoples. Scientists estimate that the Khoisan people appeared about 100 thousand years ago. This large ethnic group belongs to African peoples speaking unusual “clicking” languages. The Khoisan people include the Bushmen and the Hottentots.

The researchers concluded that the Khoisans first separated from the common tree of peoples about 100 thousand years ago. In other words, this happened even before people settled from the Dark Continent throughout the globe. 43 thousand years ago, the Khoisan people underwent another change - they were divided into northern and southern tribes. Some of the Khoisan tribes have retained their origins. Others mixed with neighboring Bantu tribes. Genetic DNA analysis of the Khoisan people shows that they are significantly different from other peoples. They were found to have genes that are responsible for high physical endurance and vulnerability to sunlight.

The concept “people” has several meanings. It is understood as the population of a country (for example, the people of India, the people of Switzerland, the people of France, etc.), workers, just a group, a crowd of people (in the expression: there are a lot of people on the street, etc.) and, finally , what scientists call the term “ethnos”, “ethnic community”. An ethnos (people) is defined as a historically established stable collection of people in a certain territory who have common relatively stable characteristics of language, culture and psyche, as well as an awareness of their unity and difference from all other similar entities.

There are several thousand peoples living in the world. They differ from each other in their numbers, level social development, language and culture, racial appearance.

The tribal leader dances. New Guinea.



Swazi woman in festive clothes. Swaziland.



The art of Tunisian carpet weavers is known all over the world.



Children's holiday in Hanoi.



thumb|Mongolian woman in national costume.



Norwegian schoolchildren.



Girls from the island of Nauru.



Large Indian market in the city of Toluca. Mexico.



frame|right|Belarusian folk holiday.



frame|right|Sugar cane harvesting in Cuba.



Modern races peace.



frame|center|Representatives of the main races.



Tajik girl harvesting cotton.



Residents of Yakutia are accustomed to severe frosts.

Fluctuations in the numbers of different ethnic groups are quite significant. Thus, the number of the largest nations exceeds 100 million people. These are Chinese, Hindustani, US Americans, Bengalis, Russians, Brazilians, Japanese. Tiny endangered ethnic groups (more precisely, fragments of ethnic groups) today do not number even 10 people. These include ouma, eba, bina in Papua New Guinea and others. No less significant are the differences between ethnic groups in terms of the level of socio-economic development: peoples who are actually still at the primitive stage coexist with peoples who are highly developed in public relations. Linguistic and cultural differences are also very large. Every nation speaks special language, although it happens that the same language is used by several ethnic groups or, conversely, one ethnic group speaks several languages. At the same time, many languages ​​are related to each other, and the degree of this relationship varies. The range of similarities and differences in the culture of different peoples is also significant.

The principles for classifying the peoples of the world are different. In ethnography, the ethnolinguistic classification is most often used, grouping all peoples based on linguistic kinship. This classification also helps with historical research, since it gives a genetic interpretation of the existing similarities between peoples. According to the ethnolinguistic classification, the peoples of the world are divided into the following families: Indo-European, Afroasiatic (Semitic-Hamitic), Kartvelian, Ural (Ural-Yukaghir), Dravidian, Altai, Eskimo-Aleutian, Chukchi-Kamchatka, North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Miao-Yao, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Paratai, Na-Dene, North Amerindian, Central Amerindian, Chibcha-Paes, Zhe-Pano-Caribbean, Andean, Equatorial-Tucanoan, Australian, Andamanese, Niger-Kordofanian, Nilo-Saharan, Khoisan, and also several Papuan. Along with the peoples united by the listed families, there are also ethnic groups that occupy an isolated position linguistically. These are the Basques, Burishi, Kets, Nivkhs, Ainu, etc.

The largest of the families is Indo-European, uniting 45% of the population globe. The peoples of this family live in most of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, overseas Europe, Iran and Afghanistan, in northern and central regions South Asia. They also predominate today in America and Australia. (All peoples included in one or another family are named in the appendix to the article.

The Kartvelian family is small (0.1% of the world population). This includes Georgians living in Transcaucasia and ethnic communities close to them. The peoples of the Ural (Ural-Yukaghir) family (0.5% of the world's population) live in the Trans-Urals, in the far north of Siberia, in the Volga region, in the north of the European part of Russia, in the Baltic states, Finland, and the north of Scandinavia and Hungary. The Dravidian family (4% of the world's population) is concentrated mainly in South Asia. The peoples of the Altai family (6% of the world's population) form a number of geographically unconnected areas from Balkan Peninsula to the Russian Far East. Many scientists consider its groups to be genetically unrelated and place them in several different families.

The small Eskimo-Aleut family, whose range mainly covers the extreme north of North America and Greenland, unites, as the name suggests, Eskimos and Aleuts. The small peoples of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family (Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens) live in the extreme northeast of our country.

The peoples of the Afroasiatic family (5% of the world's population) are settled in South-West Asia and North Africa. The Afroasiatic family includes the Semitic, Berber, Cushitic and Chadian groups.

The North Caucasian family is relatively small in number (0.1% of the world population). It includes two groups - Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan.

The Sino-Tibetan family (23% of the world's population) is second in number only to the Indo-European (it includes the Chinese, the most numerous people on the ground).

The peoples of the Miao-Yao family (0.2% of the world's population) live in China, as well as in Vietnam and some other countries of the South- East Asia. The two most significant ethnic communities are the Miao and Yao, which is where the family's name comes from. Some researchers consider the Miao-Yao a group within the Sino-Tibetan family, others as a group within the Austroasiatic family.

The peoples of the Austroasiatic family (2% of the world's population) live mostly in Southeast Asia, as well as in adjacent areas of South and East Asia.

The Austronesian family (5% of the world's population) unites peoples living over a vast area from Madagascar to the Hawaiian Islands and Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.

The Paratai family (1.5% of the world's population belongs to it) is concentrated in the countries of Southeast Asia and neighboring areas of China. It does not always stand out as an independent unit. Some scientists consider it a group of the Sino-Tibetan family, others - combine the Paratai and Austronesian families.

The Indian peoples of America are linguistically divided into families Na-Dene, North Amerindian, Central Amerindian, Chibcha-Paes (South Central and North South America), also Pano-Caribbean, Andean, Equatorial-Tucanoan. Of these families, the most significant is the Andean family (0.4% of the world's population), which includes the largest Indian people, the Quechua.

The Australian family, as its name suggests, is centered in Australia. It unites the very small indigenous peoples of this continent.

The Andaman family consists of several very small ethnic groups of the Adaman Islands (Ongyo and others).

On New Guinea and the adjacent islands (the New Guinea region surpasses any other region of the globe in terms of the complexity of its ethnic structure) live Papuan peoples, linguistically united into ten families: Trans-New Guinea, West Papuan, Sepik-Rama, Torricelli, East Papuan, East Chendrawasih Chendravasih Bay, kvomtari, arai, amto-musian. Only the first five families are significant, of which the Trans-New Guinean family stands out (the peoples included in its composition form 0.1% of the world's population).

The peoples of sub-Saharan Africa form three families: Niger-Kordofanian (6% of the world's population), Nilo-Saharan (0.6%) and Khoisan. The Nilo-Saharan family as a whole is localized to the north of the Niger-Kordofan family; small peoples of the Khoisan family (Hottentots, Bushmen, etc.) live on the southern periphery of Africa and in Tanzania.

A number of peoples of the world occupy a linguistically isolated position. Two linguistically distinct peoples - the Nivkhs and the Kets (both very small in number) - live in the Asian part of our country. In the far north of South Asia, in the Karakoram Mountains, live a small Burishi people, whose language also occupies an isolated position. In Europe, the isolated language is spoken by Basques living in the Pyrenees, on either side of the border between Spain and France. Isolated languages ​​are also spoken by the Ainu (Hokkaido Island, Japan). Finally, a large group of peoples speaking isolated languages ​​lives in New Guinea (Borumeso, Varenbori, Pauwi, etc.), but perhaps the classification of the languages ​​of the New Guinean peoples as isolated is not the result of true genetic isolation, but a consequence of their still poor study.

Some researchers are trying to identify more distant linguistic relationships, identifying macro-families in addition to families. So, for example, the Indo-European, Kartvelian, Dravidian, Ural-Yukaghir, Altai, Eskimo-Aleutian, and sometimes Afrasian families are combined into the Nostratic macrofamily; all Indian families (except Na-Dene) are included in the Amerindian macrofamily.

In addition to the ethnolinguistic classification, there is also an areal classification, when peoples are grouped into large regions called historical-cultural or historical-ethnographic regions. Within these areas, over a long period of time historical development a certain cultural community has developed.

The peoples of the world are also divided into three main races: Caucasoid (or Caucasoid), Mongoloid and Negroid. The eastern range of Negroids is often considered as a special Australoid large race. Some foreign scientists identify a larger number of basic human races, for example, Americanoids, Lapanoids, Malayan race, etc. (see map).

As a result of the mixing of various large races, the so-called contact races were formed, of which there are quite a lot today. Thus, from the mixing of the eastern branch of northern Caucasoids and northern Mongoloids, the Ural (Ural-Laponoid) racial group arose. The mixed group includes those that arose from the first centuries new era in the vast steppe space between the Urals and the Yenisei, the South Siberian group, in which Mongoloid features predominate. In the Middle Ages, in the more southern regions, mixed Central Asian groups were formed, dominated in most cases by the Caucasoid element. In the east and southeast of Asia there was a contact zone between Mongoloids and Australoids, where in different time a number of mixed forms arose, for example the South Asian group with a preponderance of Mongoloid features.

APPLICATION

INDIAN FAMILIES

NADEN FAMILY Athabascan (Navajo, Apache and others), Tlingit, Haida NORTH AMERINDIAN FAMILY Maya, Qeqchi, Quiché, Kaqchikel, Algonquin, Sioux and others CENTRAL AMERINDIAN FAMILY Aztec, Shoshone, Otomi, Mixtec, Zapotec and others CHIBCHA-PAES Mi FAMILY hermitage, paes and others ANDEAN FAMILY Quechua, Aymara, Araucanas and others EQUATORIAL-TUCANO FAMILY Arawak, Tupi, Tucano and others JE-PANO-CARIBBEAN FAMILY Caribbean, Pano, zhe and others

Connected with their resettlement during the era of colonial conquests. Negroids in North and South America appeared during the era slave system when they were brought here to work on the plantations.

It is wrong to think that the entire population of the world belongs to these races. They constitute only 70% of the total world population, and the other 30% are racial groups resulting from the mixing of these four races. Racial mixing was especially intense in North and South America. As a result of marriages between representatives of different races, groups such as mulattoes, mestizo and sambo arose. Descendants from marriages of Caucasians with Indians belonging to Mongoloid race, are called mestizos. Mulattos arose when Caucasians mixed with Negroids brought from Africa. As a result of marriages of Negroids with Indians (Mongoloids), sambo groups were formed.

Within races, smaller groups are distinguished: tribes, nationalities, nations. IN modern world There are 3-4 thousand different peoples. The number of each of them is different. For example, the Chinese, of whom there are already more than 1.1 billion, and the Vedda tribe, whose number is less than 1000 people. The bulk of the world's population is still made up of large nations.

As a rule, the community of each ethnic group is characterized by a combination of a large number of characteristics, the main of which are territory, features of life, culture, and language. The classification of different peoples by language is based on the principle of their kinship. Languages ​​are united into language families, and they, in turn, are divided into language groups. The most widespread of all language families is Indo-European. About half of all peoples in the world speak languages ​​of this family. Of the languages ​​of the Indo-European family, the most common are English (425 million people), Hindi (350 million people), Spanish (340 million people), Russian (290 million people), Bengali (185 million people), Portuguese (175 million people), German (120 million people), French (129 million people).

The second significant language family is the Sino-Tibetan family, whose main language is Chinese (over 1 billion people). The Chinese language has several main dialects, the differences between which are so great that when speaking, residents of the northern and southern provinces have difficulty understanding each other. To explain, they use a single written language, which has 50 thousand characters. Each Chinese character is pronounced in a specific musical tone. Depending on the tone, many words pronounced using the same sounds can have completely different meanings.

The widespread use of Chinese and Russian languages ​​is explained by the significant territory of these states. But why are English and Spanish so common? Their wide distribution, sharply exceeding the population of the island itself, is explained by the colonial past of the countries of Asia, Africa and. Thus, the official language of some is still English language, and almost everyone (except ) speaks Spanish.

National criteria underlie the division of humanity into states. If national borders coincide with state borders, then a single-national state is created. This is about half. In them, the main nationality is over 90%. This is many states Latin America. Sometimes a state is created by two nations. This , . Along with all these countries, there are many states that are multinational. This , . Up to a hundred peoples live in such countries, and very often such a state has a federal structure.

In many multinational states there are problems of interethnic relations, which are very acute in many regions of the world and from time to time give rise to hot spots on our planet, which often leads to serious consequences in economic and social life.

In the modern world, there are still manifestations of nationalism, which is characterized by the idea of ​​​​the national superiority of any people. Racial and national discrimination has not been completely eliminated. Thus, for many years, conflicts in Canada between English-Canadians who occupy key positions in economics, and by French-Canadians who feel their social and economic disadvantage and advocate the creation of an independent state; For several years, the Middle Eastern hotbed of tension associated with the Arab confrontation and which gave rise to the problem of Palestinian refugees has not subsided. There are also “hot spots” in Europe: the Turkish-Greek conflict in Russia, which actually led to the division of this country. There are also “hot spots” associated with national conflicts in the republics of the former USSR.

The most acute national conflicts occur in Russia, where the policy of discrimination was elevated to the rank of state policy until the early 90s.

At the end of the 80s, interethnic relations became very complicated and in Eastern Europe. These include, in particular:

a) the desire of the Polish national minority (this is approximately 260 thousand people, or 8% of the country’s population) to create their own autonomy;

e) the collapse of Yugoslavia.

It is quite obvious that without solving these and other similar problems it is difficult to develop normal relations between countries.

Largest language families in the world

For me, as for many, it is no secret that the largest number of people live in China. However, I got to thinking: are the Chinese the largest people? Perhaps the country is multinational, and the share of Chinese is modest and inferior to neighboring Hindustani?

Largest nations of the world

Large nations are those that number more than 1 million people. Today there are just over 300 known such peoples. If you put them together, you get about 96% of the total population of the planet. I won’t talk about everything, but I’ll name the top five by number:

1. Chinese (1,294 million, concentrated in East Asia).
2. Hindustani (1,041 million, concentrated in South Asia).
3. Bengalis (288 million, concentrated in South Asia).
4. Americans (USA) (217 million, concentrated in Anglo-America (USA)).
5. Brazilians (175 million, concentrated in Latin America).

Chinese (Han)

It is worth clarifying that we are talking about the Han people. By “Chinese” we most often mean all the peoples of China. So it is the Han who are the leaders in numbers in the world. In fact, almost every fifth person on the planet is a member of the Han people. In their native China they account for 92%. This ethnic group also dominates in the Republic of China (98%), Hong Kong (95%), Macau (92%), Singapore (76.8%), and Taiwan (98%). In general, 81% of Huaqiao live in Asia. The remaining representatives of the nationality are located in North America(14.51%), in Europe (2.6%), in Oceania (1.5%) and even in Africa, specifically in South Africa (0.3%).

Hindustani

The Chinese are from China, and where are the Hindustanis from? From Hindustan? I have not heard of such a country. In fact, this nationality is Hindi-speaking Indians. This is the largest population of India. The people settled in Asia quite compactly: India, Pakistan, Nepal.

Bengalis

The same question with the Bengalis as with the Hindustanis: where are they from? The people make up the main population of Indian states such as Tripura and West Bengal, in the Ganges delta, as well as Bangladesh. Representatives of Bengalis live in Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Singapore, Pakistan, USA, UK and other countries.

Despite all the attempts of historians and ethnographers to create a clear picture of the development of some peoples, there are still many secrets and blank spots in the history of the origin of many nations and nationalities. Our review contains the most mysterious peoples of our planet - some of them have sunk into oblivion, while others live and develop today.

1. Russians

As everyone knows, Russians are the most mysterious people on the ground. Moreover, there is a scientific basis for this. Scientists still cannot come to a consensus about the origin of this people and answer the question of when Russians became Russians. There is also debate about where this word comes from. Russian ancestors are sought among the Normans, Scythians, Sarmatians, Vends and even the South Siberian Usuns.

2. Maya

Nobody knows where these people came from or where they disappeared to. Some scientists believe that the Mayans are related to the legendary Atlanteans, others suggest that their ancestors were the Egyptians.

The Mayans created effective system Agriculture and had deep knowledge of astronomy. Their calendar was used by other peoples of Central America. The Mayans used a hieroglyphic writing system that has only been partially deciphered. Their civilization was very advanced when the conquistadors arrived. Now it seems that the Mayans came from nowhere and disappeared into nowhere.

3. Laplanders or Sami

The people, which Russians also call Lapps, are at least 5,000 years old. Scientists are still arguing about their origin. Some believe that the Laplanders are Mongoloids, others insist on the version that the Sami are Paleo-Europeans. Their language is believed to belong to the Finno-Ugric group of languages, but there are ten dialects of the Sami language that are different enough to be called independent. Sometimes the Laplanders themselves have difficulty understanding each other.

4. Prussians

The very origin of the Prussians is a mystery. They were first mentioned in the 9th century in the records of an anonymous trader, and then in Polish and German chronicles. Linguists have found analogues in various Indo-European languages ​​and believe that the word “Prussians” can be traced back to the Sanskrit word “purusha” (man). Not much is known about the Prussian language, since the last native speaker died in 1677. The history of Prussianism and the Kingdom of Prussia began in the 17th century, but these people had little in common with the original Baltic Prussians.

5. Cossacks

Scientists do not know where the Cossacks originally came from. Their homeland may be in the North Caucasus or on the Sea of ​​Azov or in the west of Turkestan... Their ancestry may go back to the Scythians, Alans, Circassians, Khazars or Goths. Each version has its supporters and its own arguments. The Cossacks today represent a multi-ethnic community, but they constantly emphasize that they are a separate nation.

6. Parsis

Parsis - an ethno-confessional group of followers of Zoroastrianism Iranian origin in South Asia. Today their number is less than 130 thousand people. The Parsis have their own temples and so-called “towers of silence” for burying the dead (the corpses that are laid out on the roofs of these towers are pecked by vultures). They are often compared to the Jews, who were also forced to leave their homeland, and who still carefully preserve the traditions of their cults.

7. Hutsuls

The question of what the word “Hutsul” means is still unclear. Some scientists believe that the etymology of the word is related to the Moldovan “gots” or “gutz” (“bandit”), others believe that the name comes from the word “kochul” (“shepherd”). Hutsuls are most often called Ukrainian highlanders, who still practice the traditions of molfarism (witchcraft) and who greatly honor their sorcerers.

8. Hittites

The Hittite state was very influential on the geopolitical map of the ancient world. These people were the first to create a constitution and use chariots. However, not much is known about them. The chronology of the Hittites is known only from the sources of their neighbors, but there is not a single mention of why or where they disappeared. The German scientist Johann Lehmann wrote in his book that the Hittites went north and assimilated with the Germanic tribes. But this is only one of the versions.

9. Sumerians

This is one of the most mysterious peoples in ancient world. Nothing is known about their origins or the origin of their language. The large number of homonyms suggests that it was a polytonic language (like modern Chinese), that is, the meaning of what was said often depended on tone. The Sumerians were very advanced - they were the first in the Middle East to use the wheel, to create an irrigation system and a unique writing system. The Sumerians also developed mathematics and astronomy at an impressive level.

10. Etruscans

They entered history quite unexpectedly and that is how they disappeared. Archaeologists believe that the Etruscans lived in the north-west of the Apennine Peninsula, where they created a fairly developed civilization. The Etruscans founded the first Italian cities. Theoretically, they could move to the east and become the founders of the Slavic ethnic group (their language has much in common with the Slavic ones).

11. Armenians

The origin of the Armenians is also a mystery. There are many versions. Some scientists believe that Armenians descended from the people ancient state Urartu, but in the genetic code of the Armenians there is a component not only of the Urartians, but also of the Hurrians and Libyans, not to mention the proto-Armenians. There are also Greek versions of their origin. Most scientists, however, adhere to the mixed-migration hypothesis of Armenian ethnogenesis.

12. Gypsies

According to linguistic and genetic studies, the ancestors of the Roma left Indian territory in numbers that did not exceed 1,000 people. Today there are about 10 million Roma people worldwide. In the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that Gypsies were Egyptians. They were called the "tribe of the pharaoh" for a very specific reason: the Europeans were amazed by the gypsy tradition of embalming their dead and burying with them in crypts everything that might be needed in another life. This gypsy tradition is still alive.

13. Jews

This is one of the most mysterious peoples and many secrets are connected with Jews. At the end of the 8th century BC. five-sixths (10 out of 12 of all ethnic groups that form the race) of Jews disappeared. Where they went is a mystery to this day.

For connoisseurs female beauty will definitely like it.

14. Guanches

The Guanches are the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. It is unknown how they appeared on the island of Tenerife - they did not have ships and the Guanches knew nothing about navigation. Their anthropological type does not correspond to the latitude where they lived. Also, many disputes are caused by the presence of rectangular pyramids in Tenerife - they are similar to the Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico. Nobody knows when or why they were erected.

15. Khazars

Everything that people know about the Khazars today was taken from the records of their neighboring peoples. And practically nothing remained of the Khazars themselves. Their appearance was sudden and unexpected, just like their disappearance.

16. Basque

The age, origin and language of the Basques are a mystery modern history. The Basque language, Euskara, is believed to be the only remnant of a Proto-Indo-European language that does not belong to any language group existing today. According to a 2012 National Geographic study, all Basques have a set of genes that is largely different from other peoples living around them.

17. Chaldeans

The Chaldeans lived at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st thousand years BC in the territory of Southern and Central Mesopotamia. In 626-538 BC. The Chaldean dynasty ruled Babylon, founding the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The Chaldeans are still associated today with magic and astrology. IN Ancient Greece and Rome, the priests and Babylonian astrologers were called Chaldeans. They predicted the future of Alexander the Great and his successors.

18. Sarmatians

Herodotus once called the Sarmatians “lizards with human heads.” M. Lomonosov believed that they were the ancestors of the Slavs, and the Polish nobles considered themselves their direct descendants. The Sarmatians left behind many secrets. For example, this people had a tradition of artificial deformation of the skull, which allowed people to give themselves an ovoid head shape.

19. Kalash

Small people, living in the north of Pakistan, in the Hindu Kush mountains, are notable for the fact that their skin color is whiter than that of other Asian peoples. The debate about Kalash has been subsiding for centuries. The people themselves insist on their connection with Alexander the Great. Their language is phonologically atypical for the area and has the basic structure of Sanskrit. Despite attempts at Islamization, many adhere to polytheism.

20. Philistines

Modern concept"Philistines" comes from the name of the area "Philistia". The Philistines are the most mysterious people mentioned in the Bible. Only they and the Hittites knew the technology of steel production and it was they who laid the foundation for the Iron Age. According to the Bible, the Philistines came from the island of Caphtor (Crete). The Cretan origin of the Philistines is confirmed by Egyptian manuscripts and archaeological finds. It is unknown where they disappeared to, but it is most likely that the Philistines were assimilated into the Eastern Mediterranean peoples.