# Australo-Melanesian

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Outdated grouping of human beings

**Australo-Melanesians** (also known as **Australasians** or the **Australomelanesoid**, **Australoid** or **Australioid race**) is an outdated [historical grouping](/source/Historical_race_concepts) of various people indigenous to [Melanesia](/source/Melanesia) and [Australia](/source/Australia). Controversially, some groups found in parts of [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia) and [South Asia](/source/South_Asia) were also sometimes included.

While most authors included [Papuans](/source/Indigenous_people_of_New_Guinea), [Aboriginal Australians](/source/Aboriginal_Australians) and [Melanesians](/source/Melanesians) (mainly from [Fiji](/source/Fiji), [New Caledonia](/source/New_Caledonia), [Solomon Islands](/source/Solomon_Islands), and [Vanuatu](/source/Vanuatu)), there was controversy about the inclusion of the various Southeast Asian populations grouped as "[Negrito](/source/Negrito)", or a number of [dark-skinned](/source/Dark_skin) tribal populations of the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent).[1][2]

The concept of dividing humankind into three, four or five races (often called [Caucasoid](/source/Caucasoid), [Mongoloid](/source/Mongoloid), [Negroid](/source/Negroid), and Australoid) was introduced in the 18th century and further developed by Western scholars in the context of "[racist ideologies](/source/Racism)"[3] during the age of [colonialism](/source/Colonialism).[3] With the rise of modern [genetics](/source/Genetics), the concept of distinct human races in a biological sense has become obsolete. In 2019, the [American Association of Biological Anthropologists](/source/American_Association_of_Biological_Anthropologists) stated: "The belief in “races” as natural aspects of human biology, and the structures of inequality (racism) that emerge from such beliefs, are among the most damaging elements in the human experience both today and in the past."[3]

## Terminological history

The term "Australoid" was coined in ethnology in the mid 19th century, describing tribes or populations "of the type of native Australians".[4] The term "Australioid race" was introduced by [Thomas Huxley](/source/Thomas_Huxley) in 1870 to refer to certain peoples indigenous to [South](/source/South_Asia) and [Southeast Asia](/source/Southeast_Asia) and [Oceania](/source/Oceania).[5] In [physical anthropology](/source/Physical_anthropology), *Australoid* is used for morphological features characteristic of Aboriginal Australians by [Daniel John Cunningham](/source/Daniel_John_Cunningham) in his *Text-book of Anatomy* (1902). An *Australioid* (*sic*, with an additional *-i-*) racial group was first proposed by [Thomas Huxley](/source/Thomas_Huxley) in an essay *On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind* (1870), in which he divided humanity into four principal groups (Xanthochroic, [Mongoloid](/source/Mongoloid), [Negroid](/source/Negroid), and Australioid).[6] His original model included the native inhabitants of [Deccan](/source/Deccan) in [India](/source/India) under the Australoid category, specifically "in a well-marked form" among the hill tribes of the Deccan Plateau. Huxley further classified the [Melanochroi](/source/Mediterranean_race) (Peoples of the [Mediterranean race](/source/Mediterranean_race)) as a mixture of the [Xanthochroi](/source/Nordic_race) (northern Europeans) and Australioids.[7]

Huxley (1870) described Australioids as [dolichocephalic](/source/Dolichocephalic); their hair as usually silky, black and wavy or curly, with large, heavy jaws and [prognathism](/source/Prognathism), with skin the color of chocolate and irises which are dark brown or black.[8]

The term "Proto-Australoid" was used by [Roland Burrage Dixon](/source/Roland_Burrage_Dixon) in his *Racial History of Man* (1923). In *The Origin of Races* (1962), [Carleton Coon](/source/Carleton_S._Coon) expounded his system of five races (Australoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Congoid and Capoid) with separate origins. Based on such evidence as claiming Australoids had the largest, megadont teeth, this group was assessed by Coon as being the most archaic and therefore the most primitive and backward. Coon's methods and conclusions were later discredited and show either a "poor understanding of human cultural history and [evolution](/source/Evolution) or his use of [ethnology](/source/Ethnology) for a racialist agenda."[9]

Terms associated with outdated notions of racial types, such as those ending in "-oid" have come to be seen as potentially offensive[10] and related to [scientific racism](/source/Scientific_racism).[9][11]

## Controversies

*[Meyers Konversations-Lexikon](/source/Meyers_Konversations-Lexikon)*(1885–1890) [ethnographic](/source/Ethnography) map

Caucasoid: Aryan Semitic Hamitic Negroid: African Negro Khoikhoi Melanesian Negrito Australoid Uncertain: Dravida & Sinhalese Mongoloid: North Mongol Chinese & Indochinese Korean & Japanese Tibetan & Burmese Malay Polynesian Maori Micronesian Eskimo / Inuit American

The populations grouped as "[Negrito](/source/Negrito)", such as the [Andamanese](/source/Andamanese_peoples) (from the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean), the [Semang](/source/Semang) and [Batek](/source/Batek_people) peoples (from Malaysia), the [Maniq people](/source/Maniq_people) (from Thailand), the [Aeta people](/source/Aeta_people), the [Ati people](/source/Ati_people), and certain other [ethnic groups in the Philippines](/source/Ethnic_groups_in_the_Philippines), the [Vedda people](/source/Vedda) of Sri Lanka and a number of [dark-skinned](/source/Dark_skin) tribal populations in the interior of the [Indian subcontinent](/source/Indian_subcontinent) (some [Dravidian-speaking](/source/Dravidian_languages) tribes and [Austroasiatic-speaking](/source/Austroasiatic_languages) [Munda peoples](/source/Munda_peoples)) were also suggested by some to belong to the Australo-Melanesian group,[1][12] but there were controversies about this inclusion.[13]

The inclusion of Indian tribes in the group was not well-defined, and was closely related to the question of the original [peopling of India](/source/Peopling_of_India), and the possible shared ancestry between Indian, Andamanese, and [Sahulian](/source/Australia_(continent)) populations of the Upper Paleolithic.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

The suggested Australo-Melanesian ancestry of the original South Asian populations has long remained an open question. It was embraced by Indian anthropologists as emphasising the deep antiquity of Indian prehistory. Australo-Melanesian hunter-gatherer and fisherman tribes of the interior of India were identified with the [Nishada Kingdom](/source/Nishada_Kingdom) described in the [Mahabharata](/source/Mahabharata). [Panchanan Mitra](/source/Panchanan_Mitra) (1923) following Vincenzo Giuffrida-Ruggeri (1913) recognises a Pre-Dravidian *Australo-Veddaic* stratum in India.[14]

Alternatively, the [Dravidians](/source/Dravidians) themselves have been claimed as originally of Australo-Melanesian stock,[15] a view held by [Biraja Sankar Guha](/source/Biraja_Sankar_Guha) among others.[16]

South Indian tribes specifically described as having Australo-Melanesian affinities include the [Oraon](/source/Oraon_people), [Munda](/source/Munda_people), [Santal](/source/Santal), [Bhil](/source/Bhil), [Gondi](/source/Gondi_people), the [Kadars](/source/Tribals_in_Kerala) of Kerala, the [Kurumba](/source/Kuruba) and [Irula](/source/Irula_people) of the [Nilgiris](/source/Nilgiris), the [Paniyans](/source/Paniya_people) of Malabar, the [Uralis](/source/Urali_Gounder), [Kannikars](/source/Tribals_in_Kerala), [Muthuvan](/source/Muthuvan) and [Chenchus](/source/Chenchu_people).[17]

In 1953, the Australoid race were believed to be part of the "Archaic Caucasoid race", along with [Ainus](/source/Ainus), Dravidians and [Veddas](/source/Vedda).[18]

## Criticism based on modern genetics

See also: [Genetic studies on Indigenous Australians](/source/Genetic_studies_on_Indigenous_Australians) and [Race and genetics](/source/Race_and_genetics)

After discussing various criteria used in biology to define subspecies or races, [Alan R. Templeton](/source/Alan_R._Templeton) concludes in 2016: "[T]he answer to the question whether races exist in humans is clear and unambiguous: no."[19]: 360[20]

The Pan-Asian genome project concluded that Negrito populations in Malaysia and the Negrito populations in the Philippines were more closely related to non-Negrito local populations, rather than to each other, highlighting the non-existence of a distinct Australo-Melanesian grouping.[21]

## See also

- [Austronesian peoples](/source/Austronesian_peoples)

- [Orang Asli](/source/Orang_Asli)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-p._26_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-p._26_1-1) Pullaiah, T; Krishnamurthy, KV; Bahadur, Bir (2017). [*Ethnobotany of India, Volume 5: The Indo-Gangetic Region and Central India*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ErE0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PP26). CRC Press. p. 26. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781351741316](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781351741316). names the tribes of Chota Nagpur, the Baiga, Gond, Bhil, Santal and Oroan tribes; counted as of partial Australoid and partial [Mongoloid](/source/Mongoloid) ancestry are certain Munda-speaking groups (Munda, Bonda, Gadaba, Santals) and certain Dravidian-speaking groups (Maria, Muria, Gond, Oroan).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Kulatilake_2-0)** Kulatilake, Samanti. ["Cranial Morphology of the Vedda people - the indigenes of Sri Lanka"](https://www.academia.edu/9637404). {{[cite journal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_journal)}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#missing_periodical))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-AAPARace_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-AAPARace_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-AAPARace_3-2) American Association of Physical Anthropologists (27 March 2019). ["AAPA Statement on Race and Racism"](https://physanth.org/about/position-statements/aapa-statement-race-and-racism-2019/). *American Association of Physical Anthropologists*. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** J.R. Logan (ed.), *The Journal of the Indian archipelago and eastern Asia* (1859), [p. 68](https://books.google.com/books?id=iW0EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA68).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Pearson, Roger (1985). [*Anthropological Glossary*](https://books.google.com/books?id=HjANAAAAYAAJ). Krieger Publishing Company. pp. 20, 128, 267. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780898745108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780898745108). Retrieved 2 February 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Huxley, Thomas On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind. 1870. August 14, 2006](http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/GeoDis.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Huxley, Thomas. On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind. 1870. 14 August 2006. [\[1\]](http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/GeoDis.html)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-aleph0.clarku.edu_8-0)** [Huxley, T. H.](/source/Thomas_Henry_Huxley) "[On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind](http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/GeoDis.html)" (1870) *Journal of the Ethnological Society of London*

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Fluehr-Lobban2011_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Fluehr-Lobban2011_9-1) Fluehr-Lobban, C. (2005). [*Race and racism : an Introduction*](https://books.google.com/books?id=3lq3XDz39pIC&pg=PA132). Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 131–133. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780759107953](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780759107953).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Black2011_10-0)** Black, Sue; Ferguson, Eilidh (2011). [*Forensic Anthropology: 2000 to 2010*](https://books.google.com/books?id=306ruTniZmcC&pg=PA127). Taylor and Francis Group. p. 127. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781439845899](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781439845899). Retrieved 3 July 2018. "There are considered to be four basic ancestry groups into which an individual can be placed by physical appearance, not accounting for admixture: the sub-Saharan African group ("Negroid"), the European group ("Caucasoid"), the Central Asian group ("Mongoloid"), and the Australasian group ("Australoid"). The rather outdated names of all but one of these groups were originally derived from geography"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-oxford_11-0)** ["Ask Oxford – Definition of Australoid"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180627202220/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/australoid). [Oxford Dictionary of English](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_English). 2018. Archived from [the original](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/australoid) on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Coon_1939_425–431_12-0)** [Coon, Carleton Stevens](/source/Carleton_S._Coon) (1939). [*The Races of Europe*](https://archive.org/details/racesofeurope031695mbp). [New York](/source/New_York_City): [The Macmillan Company](/source/The_Macmillan_Company). pp. [425](https://archive.org/details/racesofeurope031695mbp/page/n554)–431.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Laubenfels, David J. de (1968). ["Australoids, Negroids, and Negroes: A Suggested Explanation for Their Disjunct Distributions"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561818). *Annals of the Association of American Geographers*. **58** (1): 42–50. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2561818](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2561818). Australoids, Negroids (Negrito), and Negroes display perplexing disjunct distributions for which there is no historical explanation. Australoids and Negroids alternate with one another in areas from Africa to Australia but maintain their racial distinctions throughout. A careful examination of their distributions, plus examination of their cultures, shows a striking ecological correlation with Negroids always in the rainforests and Australoids clinging to the open country.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** P. Mitra, *Prehistoric India* (1923), p. 48.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Sarat Chandra Roy (Ral Bahadur) (2000). [*Man in India*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wPhEAQAAIAAJ). Vol. 80. A. K. Bose. p. 59. Retrieved 21 May 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** R. R. Bhattacharya et al. (eds., *Anthropology of B.S. Guha: a centenary tribute* (1996), p. 50.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Mhaiske, Vinod M., Patil, Vinayak K., Narkhede, S. S., *Forest Tribology And Anthropology* (2016), [p. 5](https://books.google.com/books?id=sbs4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5). Bhuban Mohan Das, *The Peoples of Assam* (1987), [p. 78](https://books.google.com/books?id=wcIOc0YaxGEC&pg=PA78).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Beals, Ralph L.; Hoijer, Harry (1953). *An Introduction to Anthropology*. New York: The Macmillan Company.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Templeton2016_19-0)** Templeton, A. (2016). "Evolution and Notions of Human Race". In Losos, J.; Lenski, R. (eds.). [*How Evolution Shapes Our Lives: Essays on Biology and Society*](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7h0s6j.26). Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press. pp. 346–361. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/j.ctv7h0s6j.26](https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctv7h0s6j.26). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4008-8138-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4008-8138-3). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [j.ctv7h0s6j.26](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7h0s6j.26).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** That this view reflects the consensus among American anthropologists is stated in: Wagner, Jennifer K.; Yu, Joon-Ho; Ifekwunigwe, Jayne O.; Harrell, Tanya M.; Bamshad, Michael J.; Royal, Charmaine D. (February 2017). ["Anthropologists' views on race, ancestry, and genetics"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5299519). *American Journal of Physical Anthropology*. **162** (2): 318–327. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1002/ajpa.23120](https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fajpa.23120). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0002-9483](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0002-9483). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [5299519](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5299519). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [27874171](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27874171). See also: [American Association of Physical Anthropologists](/source/American_Association_of_Physical_Anthropologists) (27 March 2019). ["AAPA Statement on Race and Racism"](https://physanth.org/about/position-statements/aapa-statement-race-and-racism-2019/). *American Association of Physical Anthropologists*. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Stoneking, Mark; Delfin, Frederick (23 February 2010). ["The Human Genetic History of East Asia: Weaving a Complex Tapestry"](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cub.2009.11.052). *Current Biology*. **20** (4): R188–R193. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2010CBio...20.R188S](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010CBio...20.R188S). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.052](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cub.2009.11.052). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0960-9822](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0960-9822). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [20178766](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20178766). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [18777315](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:18777315).

v t e Obsolete definitions of race Racism Scientific racism Pseudoscience Color terminology Black Bronze Brown Olive Red White Concepts Australoid Caucasoid Alpine Arabid Armenoid Aryan Atlantid Caspian Dinaric East Baltic Ethiopid Hamites Indid Iranid Mediterranean Nordic Semites Turanid Malay Mongoloid Proto-Mongoloid Sinodonty and Sundadonty Negroid Negrito Sociological in India Passing Racial discrimination Racism Racial stereotypes Colorism Master race Nazism and race Racial hygiene Whiteness studies Négritude Writers Louis Agassiz John Baker Erwin Baur John Beddoe Robert Bennett Bean François Bernier Renato Biasutti Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Franz Boas Daniel Garrison Brinton Paul Broca Alice Mossie Brues Halfdan Bryn Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Charles Caldwell Petrus Camper Samuel A. Cartwright Houston Stewart Chamberlain Sonia Mary Cole Carleton S. Coon Georges Cuvier Jan Czekanowski Charles Davenport Joseph Deniker Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt Anténor Firmin Eugen Fischer Francis Galton Stanley Marion Garn Reginald Ruggles Gates George Gliddon Arthur de Gobineau Madison Grant John Grattan Hans F. K. Günther Ernst Haeckel Frederick Ludwig Hoffman Earnest Hooton Julian Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley Calvin Ira Kephart Robert Knox Robert E. Kuttner Georges Vacher de Lapouge Fritz Lenz Carl Linnaeus Cesare Lombroso Bertil Lundman Felix von Luschan Dominick McCausland John Mitchell Ashley Montagu Lewis H. Morgan Samuel George Morton Josiah C. Nott Karl Pearson Roger Pearson Oscar Peschel Isaac La Peyrère Charles Pickering Ludwig Hermann Plate Alfred Ploetz James Cowles Prichard Otto Reche Gustaf Retzius William Z. Ripley Alfred Rosenberg Benjamin Rush Henric Sanielevici Heinrich Schmidt Ilse Schwidetzky Charles Gabriel Seligman Giuseppe Sergi Samuel Stanhope Smith Herbert Spencer Morris Steggerda Lothrop Stoddard William Graham Sumner Thomas Griffith Taylor Paul Topinard John H. Van Evrie Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer Alexander Winchell Ludwig Woltmann Publications An Essay upon the Causes of the Different Colours of People in Different Climates (1744) The Outline of History of Mankind (1785) Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question (1849) An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1855) The Races of Europe (Ripley, 1899) The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (1899) Race Life of the Aryan Peoples (1907) Heredity in Relation to Eugenics (1911) Castes in India (1916) The Passing of the Great Race (1916) The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy (1920) The Myth of the Twentieth Century (1930) Annihilation of Caste (1936) An Investigation of Global Policy with the Yamato Race as Nucleus (1943) The Race Question (1950) Related Ethnogenesis Eugenics Great chain of being History of anthropometry Miscegenation Monogenism Multiracial Polygenism Pre-Adamite Pre-modern conceptions of whiteness

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Australo-Melanesian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australo-Melanesian) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australo-Melanesian?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.