Capoid

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Main article: Khoisan

The Capoid race (named after the Cape of Good Hope) is regarded by many as a separate race from the Congoid (formerly called "Negroid") race [1] [2] because of their very different appearance (golden brown rather than sepia colored skin, peppercorn hair rather than wooly hair, and Epicanthic eye folds), and this judgment has been confirmed by genetic analysis. [3]

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[edit] Location of the Capoid race

The Capoid race is now present primarily in Southern Africa, mainly in Namibia, as the Khoi (Hottentot) and San (Bushmen) peoples, and as part of the ancestry of the more populous Xhosa people and others in the region, though the presence of the Khoisan languages Hadza and Sandawe farther north, and possibly fossil evidence, suggest a Capoid presence in East Africa today, as well as formerly in Central Africa which was later pushed back and absorbed by the Bantu expansion in the 1st millennium BC, due to the possession by the Bantus of superior iron weapons, which easily overcame the stone weapons of the Capoids.

[edit] Classification of the Capoid race

The term Capoid implies a judgment that they are sufficiently distinct from Congoids to warrant dividing the Congoid race into two separate races. This was originally made on the basis of visible physical features, but more recently genetic studies have shown the Khoisan to be distinct from all other peoples in some genetic markers; there is also a high level of diversity between different Khoisan groups, indicating the Khoisan separated from the Congoids very long ago. [4]

[edit] Capoid race identified with original Modern Homo Sapiens

Recently, it has been suggested that the first anatomically modern homo sapiens to migrate out of Africa and give rise to modern humans in the rest of the world were similar to the Khoisan. While some genetic markers shared between Khoisan, Ethiopians and non-Africans can be interpreted as supporting this hypothesis, it is anachronistic to identify a modern race with one alive tens of thousands of years ago.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Coon, Carleton S. The Origin of Races (1962)
  2. ^ Moore, Ruth Evolution (Life Nature Library) New York:1962 Time, Inc. Chapter 8: "The Emergence of Modern Homo Sapiens" Page 173--First page of picture section "Man and His Genes": The Capoid race is identified as one of the five major races of mankind, along with the Mongoloid, Negroid, Caucasoid, and Australoid races (pictures of a person typical of each race are shown)
  3. ^ Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; and Piazza Alberto The History and Geography of Human Genes Princeton, New Jersey: 1994 Princeton University Press "Khoisanids" Page 174-177
  4. ^ Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca]]; Menozzi, Paolo; and Piazza Alberto The History and Geography of Human Genes Princeton, New Jersey: 1994 Princeton University Press "Khoisanids" Page 174-177

[edit] External links

  • CAT.INIST Archiv orientální : The Capoid and the Capsian
  • African Affairs EARLY HISTORY, AND WHY IT MATTERS -- WRIGLEY 86 (343): 255
  • AnthroSource Central Issues in Anthropology - 2(2):69 - The Concept of Race in the Latter Part of the 20th Century
  • Racial Reality Anthropology page.