Hamites

For the animal, see Hamites (genus).
German 1932 ethnographic map portraying Hamites (in German: "Hamiten") as a subdivision of the Caucasian race ("Kaukasische Rasse"). (Meyers Blitz-Lexikon).
Geographic identifications of Flavius Josephus, c. 100 AD; Japheth's sons shown in red, Ham's sons in blue, Shem's sons in green.

Hamites is the name formerly used for some Northern and Horn of Africa peoples in the context of a now-outdated model of dividing humanity into different races; this was developed originally by Europeans in support of colonialism and slavery.[1][2][3][4] The term was originally borrowed from the Book of Genesis, in which it refers to the descendants of Ham, son of Noah.

The term was originally used in contrast to the other two proposed divisions of mankind based on the story of Noah: Semites and Japhetites. The appellation Hamitic was applied to the Berber, Cushitic, and Egyptian branches of the Afroasiatic language family, which, together with the Semitic branch, was formerly labelled "Hamito-Semitic".[5] Because the three Hamitic branches have not been shown to form an exclusive (monophyletic) phylogenetic unit of their own, separate from other Afroasiatic languages, linguists no longer use the term in this sense. Each of these branches is instead now regarded as an independent subgroup of the larger Afroasiatic family.[6]

Beginning in the late 19th century, scholars generally classified the Hamitic race as a subgroup of the Caucasian race, alongside the Aryan race and the Semitic[7][8] – thus grouping the non-Semitic populations native to North Africa and the Horn of Africa, including the Ancient Egyptians.[4] According to the Hamitic theory, this "Hamitic race" was superior to or more advanced than the "Negroid" populations of Sub-Saharan Africa. In its most extreme form, in the writings of C. G. Seligman, this theory asserted that virtually all significant achievements in African history were the work of "Hamites".

Since the 1960s, the Hamitic hypothesis and Hamitic theory, along with other theories of "race science", have been discredited in science.[9]

  1. ^ For the model of dividing humanity into races, see American Association of Physical Anthropologists (27 March 2019). "AAPA Statement on Race and Racism". American Association of Physical Anthropologists. Retrieved 19 June 2020. Instead, the Western concept of race must be understood as a classification system that emerged from, and in support of, European colonialism, oppression, and discrimination.
  2. ^ For the Hamitic theory, see Benesch, Klaus; Fabre, Geneviève (2004). African Diasporas in the New and Old Worlds: Consciousness and Imagination. Rodopi. p. 269. ISBN 978-90-420-0870-0.
  3. ^ Also specifically for the Hamitic theory: Howe, Stephen (1999). Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes. Verso. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-85984-228-7.
  4. ^ a b Ashley, Montagu (1960). An Introduction to Physical Anthropology – Third Edition. Charles C. Thomas Publisher. p. 456.
  5. ^ Allan, Keith (2013). The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics. OUP Oxford. p. 275. ISBN 978-0199585847. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ^ Everett Welmers, William (1974). African Language Structures. University of California Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0520022102. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ^ Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition, 1885-90, T11, p.476.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sanders was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ehret was invoked but never defined (see the help page).