"Black" is a term used as a form of ethno-racial classification. Though literally implying dark-skinned, "black" has been used in different ways at different times and places. It is somewhat of a misnomer in various parts of the world. While the extremes of human skin color range from pink to blue-black, the vast majority of people have a skin color which can be best described as some shade of brown. This includes all races and ethnic groups. This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Historical data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940. ... The color brown is produced by mixing complementary colors, such as red and green, orange and blue, or yellow and purple. ... This article is about race as an intraspecies classification. ...

A common element to the various definitions of "black" today, is that the colloquial term refers to a person of African, Aboriginal, Negrito or Dalit descent. Also generally associated to black people are the various expressions of African and African-American cultures, Protestant Christianity (Baptists, Methodism, Pentecostalism), Catholic-Voudun religion, Nation of Islam, social freedom and struggle. World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ... Dalit may have the following meanings. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and socio-political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 with a declared aim of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the Black men and women of America and the rest of the world. ...

Black, when used to characterize people, generally refers to someone of indigenous African, Negrito, or Melanesian descent and/or a person of a dark complexion. Blackness as a social identity is difficult to universally define, as it varies from nation to nation. It is well documented that Equatorial populations of Africa, where modern humans likely originated, are the most genetically diverse in the world. BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... Darkness is the absence of light. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...

Although there is no single black phenotype, black people generally exhibit varying characteristics of Negroid, Veddoid, Capoid, or Australoid phenotypes, with a great range of variations, due to the overall diversities of black people. In some societies, even if one's complexion is as light as the average "white" person, other physical characteristics or family lineage will serve to identify one as black. The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size, eye color, or behavior that varies between individuals. ... Skull of the classic Niggeroid phenotype, exhibiting a pronounced dolichocephalism and both maxillary and alveolar prognathisms Niggeroid is an obsolete term once used in physical anthropology to delineate everyone indigenous to sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa. ... The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings, perhaps more commonly known as Veddas or Veddahs (transliteration of වැද්දා in Sinhalese, IPA væððɑː) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ... Main article: Khoisan One of the five macro-racial groups often recognized by physical anthropologists (along with Negroids, Australoids, Caucasoids and Mongoloids). ... Australoid is a broad racial sub-classification of Australasian peoples having generally dark skin and hair which can be curly, straight, or kinky, defined by the anthropologist Carleton S. Coon. ... The term lineage can refer to several things. ... BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ...

Areas of habitation

While black people are found on every continent, they are known to be indigenous to Africa, Australia, and parts of India. Although originally indigenous to North Africa as well, centuries of intermarriage with Asiatic and Caucasoid peoples have produced populations who exhibit varying degrees of their Black ancestry, but who currently do not refer to themselves as black(maybe because of the social value placed upon "blackness"). This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent. ... BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ...

In the Western Hemisphere, Black people also are found in high concentrations in the urban regions of the United States and the Bible Belt region of the Southern United States, the Caribbean and sizeable portions of Latin America, including Belize, Panama, with Brazil having the highest proportion (and overall number) of Black people in the West (although a significant proportion of Brazilians of considerable African descent do not consider themselves to be Black). The geographical western hemisphere of Earth, highlighted in yellow. ... West Indian also redirects here. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

In Asia, black people inhabit Yemen, some areas of Iraq (especially Basra), much of Nepal (especially Rana Tharu), the Andaman Islands ( Negritos ), the indigenous Dalit population of India (numbering 160 million) and the larger Dravidian population of India (though not all Dravidians consider themselves black, a sizeable proportion phenotypically reflect their African heritage and acknowledge it). There are more recent Afro-Indian groups, such as the small group of 20-30,000 black Siddis in the Gujarat province of India, the Kaffiri of the island of Sri Lanka, and small communities of Sheedis in the coastal districts of the southern province of Sindh and neighboring Baluchistan. World map showing the location of Asia. ... Location of Basra Basra (also spelled BaÅŸrah or Basara; historically sometimes written Busra, Busrah, and the early form Bassorah; Arabic: , Al-Basrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. ... This article or section may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to be clearer or more simplified. ... Dalit may have the following meanings. ...

Thousands of Sheedis also inhabit Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Black people indigenously inhabit the island of Papua, Aboriginals inhabit Australia, and Melanesians inhabit various islands of the Pacific Rim. In addition, there are black-jewish cultures in East India (see Bene Israel), Ethiopia, and Mozambique (see Lemba). Papua is: Another name for New Guinea Papua (Australian territory): A former Australian territory comprising the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea, now the southern part of Papua New Guinea Papua (Indonesian province): An Indonesian province comprising the western half of the island of New Guinea Related Words... Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... The Lemba or Lembaa are a group of people in southern Africa. ...

Origins

Darker skinned humans have existed as the default human type as far back as the human species (homo-sapiens) is known to exist. Whether through evolutionary changes or adaptation, tracking back the statistical patterns in variations in DNA among all known people sampled who are alive on the earth today, scientists have concluded the following: 1) from 1.2 million years ago for a million years, the ancestors of all people alive today may have been as black as today's Africans, BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ...

2) for that period of a million years, human ancestors lived naked without clothing, and 3) the descendants of any people who migrate North from Africa will mutate to become white over time because the evolutionary constraint that keeps Africans' skin black generation after generation decreases generally the further North a people migrates (Rogers 2004). These unchanged humans, through time would remain indistinguishably Black by our own social norms, and their phenotypes would vary, as modern human types vary today. A close-up of human skin. ... Generation (From the Greek γιγνομαι), also known as procreation, is the act of producing offspring. ... The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution, or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size or eye color, that varies between individuals. ...

Black people are believed to have expanded from Africa in two distinct groups, the older Aboriginal Australians and recent Equatorial African types. According to the Out-of-Africa theory of human evolution, prehistoric Africans evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago and are the ancestors of all modern humans. These Africans migrated throughout Africa, eventually moving across the Sinai Peninsula and into various regions, including Europe and beyond. Those who remained retained their distinctive skin color, while over time, the Europeans and many Asians gradually lost their darker skin as an adaption to the colder climates of the northern temperate zones. Others, in India, and across the southern areas of Asia retained their darker complexion, and their phenotypes changed in various ways, becoming the Veddic, Australian, and Negrito peoples. Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 For other uses of the word Sinai, please see: Sinai (disambiguation). ... World map showing Europe Political map Europe is one of the seven continents of Earth which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiographic one, leading to various perspectives about Europes borders. ... The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution, or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size or eye color, that varies between individuals. ... The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ...

Early Neolithic settlement patterns indicate that black people spread out to inhabit much of the Indian Ocean coastline, contributing greatly to the Indian Ocean cultures of the early historical period. The societies of the Indus Valley Civilization, Indonesia, and the Middle East were known to have a strong native-black heritage. Recent archaeological evidence has refuted the notion that blacks, especially black Africans, remained in Africa and generally were not present in Asia. It was once widely believed that the black presence in Asia was mostly the result of slave trading, but modern anthropologists now acknowledge that aboriginal black populations ranged throughout Southeast Asia, and some posit an ancient aboriginal black population in the Far East, as well. Some of these populations, such as the Negritos still remain. An array of Neolithic artefacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae Scotland, Europes most complete Neolithic village. ... The Indus (सिन्‍धु नदी) (known as Sindhu in ancient times) is the principal river of Pakistan. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Far East is an inexact term often used for East Asia and Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of Russia, i. ... The Negritos include the Atis, and at least 5 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ...

As the legacy of both the trans-Atlantic and Arab slave trades, many people of indigenous African descent can be found throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, as well as parts of the Middle East and South Asia. The majority of African slaves in the Americas came from either West Africa or Central Africa, and the slaves in the Arab world came from both East Africa and the Horn of Africa. For the similarly named rock band, see TransAtlantic. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... West Indian also redirects here. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... South Asia or Southern Asia is a southern geopolitical region of the Asian continent comprising territories on and in proximity to the Indian subcontinent & the Iranian Plateau. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Nations of the Horn of Africa. ...

The second group would be the Negrito, Australoid and Melanesian populations. These include some South Asians, a variety of East Indians, and Melanesian populations of the Pacific Ocean. They developed distinctly from the Africans around 100,000 years ago, and while maintaining the darker skin color, exhibited straighter hair on average, and eventually developed into the wider varieties of Asians. The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ... Australoid is a broad racial sub-classification of Australasian peoples having generally dark skin and hair which can be curly, straight, or kinky, defined by the anthropologist Carleton S. Coon. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... Composite satellite image of the Indian subcontinent Map of South Asia. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ...

In the past, scientists had attributed variations of people outside of West Africa to intermixing with Caucasoid or Sinoid people. However, Stephen Monlar, a leading anthropologist, has pointed out that many Nilotic people have narrow noses, but this is not from intermixing with Eurasians, but from environmental adaptations. Adaptations, as well as spontaneous genetic mutations, which are the cause of variations in human phenotypes, have caused Equatorial people to exhibit a variety of phenotypes, some of which resemble the phenotypes of other groups, which sometimes leads to the mistaken assumption that they are ethnically mixed. Typical Caucasoid skull Caucasoid is a racial classification usually used as part of a phenotypal system, also including other classifications such as Australoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and sometimes others such as Capoid. ... A portrait of the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan Taiwanese aborigine dancer. ... Nilotic refers to a number of indigenous East African peoples originating in northeast Africa in the region of the Nile River. ... Eurasia African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is the landmass composed of Europe and Asia. ... In biology, mutations are permanent, sometimes transmissible (if the change is to a germ cell) changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA) of a cell. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Defining characteristics

Throughout the Modern Period, blackness has been determined mostly by three criteria: Skin color, faciocranial phenotype and sometimes hair texture. Relative distance from Europe and proximity to Africa also have been considered as determining factors, but this criterion has been the most contentious and has caused the most confusion and conflict, due to the racist implications and stereotypes that invariably arise. Historical data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940. ... The phenotype of an individual organism is either its total physical appearance and constitution or a specific manifestation of a trait, such as size, eye color, or behavior that varies between individuals. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Hair. ... 1. ...

Depending on one's nationality or the region in which one lives, blackness can be based more on lineage than complexion. Very light-skinned individuals may consider themselves black, and very dark-skinned people may not. Often, the perceptions of society and of the individual will conflict. In Brazil, Mauritania, the U.S., Sudan, Cuba, and parts of India, these issues remain unresolved. The term lineage can refer to several things. ... Complexion describes ones physical appearance. ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ...

Due to the lasting legacy of colonization, the definition of 'black' is often imposed on black people by a non-black government or ruling class. In these situations, the definition will either be embraced or rejected by the people in question, depending on their perceptions of their indigenous black heritage, again often reflecting the sentiments of the surrounding society in which they live. Human relationships within an ethnically diverse society. ...

Varying definitions of the term "black"

The definition of a black person changes from region to region and period to period. Often it is imposed at the convenience of the non-black ruling establishment of that nation or region. In other cases, as in Brazil, the name is synonymous with low social status. The use of the term "black" is divided into four sections. One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ...

Africans living in Africa (excluding those whose ancestors were not originally from Africa, like Afrikaaners). This is applied intrinsically by those south of the Sahara. Along the desert, Tuareg, Berber, and Hausa people retain a sense of racial hegemony, with the darker skinned (and often more numerous) people being ruled and oppressed by the lighter skinned minorities. Relatively speaking, the people of Mauritania, Mali, Chad, most of Sudan and Ethiopia, and a significant minority of Egyptians consider themselves black, but struggle in various ways with disproportionate representation in their government by non-Black Arabs. It should be noted, however, that in many regions of Africa the difference between "Arab" or "African" is based on lifestyle and language rather than a concrete sense of race. For example, in the Darfur region of Western Sudan, both the Sudanese Arab/Baggara Arab peoples are Black in that they are very dark skinned and are of a Negroid phenotype. Nevertheless, the Arabic-speaking, cattle-herding peoples of Darfur are known as African, whereas other farming and/or Nilo-Saharan speakers are not Arab. This terminology has confused many Westerners. World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... For other uses, see Tuareg (disambiguation). ... The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ... The Hausa are a people of northern Nigeria and south-eastern Niger. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... For other senses of this word, see race (disambiguation). ... Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ... Skull of the classic Niggeroid phenotype, exhibiting a pronounced dolichocephalism and both maxillary and alveolar prognathisms Niggeroid is an obsolete term once used in physical anthropology to delineate everyone indigenous to sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ... Map showing the distribution of the Nilo-Saharan languages. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ...

People whose ancestors have lived outside of Africa since historical antiquity. The various Asians, Negroid, Veddoid, and Australoid people fit this category. Blackness has been used to describe Aeta Filipinos, the original inhabitants of Taiwan, large groups of East Indian populations throughout history and various southeast Asians, Papuans, and Melanesians. Their experiences range widely and there is relatively less information regarding their self-perception in relationship to other Black people throughout the world, as they have had little contact with African and black people of the western hemisphere. The term Asian can refer to something or someone from Asia. ... Skull of the classic Niggeroid phenotype, exhibiting a pronounced dolichocephalism and both maxillary and alveolar prognathisms Niggeroid is an obsolete term once used in physical anthropology to delineate everyone indigenous to sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa. ... The Wanniyala-Aetto, or forest beings, perhaps more commonly known as Veddas or Veddahs (transliteration of වැද්දා in Sinhalese, IPA væððɑː) are an indigenous people of Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. ... Australoid is a broad racial sub-classification of Australasian peoples having generally dark skin and hair which can be curly, straight, or kinky, defined by the anthropologist Carleton S. Coon. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... The term Asian can refer to something or someone from Asia. ... Map showing Papua province in Indonesia Papua is a province of Indonesia comprising part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ...

Those who live in Latin America and in some islands of the Caribbean. Their relationship to Spain and Portugal create a distinct heritage. Their self perception is usually tied to their skin color and less to a sense of family heritage. Often those who are lighter-skinned find little issue with being reclassified as non-black, even as other relatives in their family (even siblings) will remain classified as black. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... West Indian also redirects here. ...

Those who live in Haiti, United States, Jamaica and South Africa. These groups share a similar and unique experience of being ruled by English speaking colonizers and were legally separated into two groups, "blacks" and "coloreds"(or mulattos). Finally, these groups share the distinction of associating their blackness more with their descent than literal skin color, partially due to the one drop rule, and also to a moral stand against racism and discrimination. Most Black people of light complexion find it repugnant or illogical to renounce or dilute their black identity due solely to their skin color. Representation of Mulattos during the Latin American colonial period. ... The one-drop theory (or one-drop rule) is the colloquial term for the standard, found throughout the USA, that holds that a person with even one drop of non-white ancestry should be classified as colored, especially for the purposes of laws forbidding inter-racial marriage. ... Historical data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940. ...

Self-identified and imposed blackness

There are two ways that a person can be defined as a black person. There is the impositional method, whereby political and social forces will label a darker-skinned person as black. This has occurred in India, the Western Hemisphere, and throughout Africa. This method has been used to divide ethnic groups as well as to create a caste system of privilege and control in many colonized areas. The second, the intrinsic method, is where a person or group of people independently identify themselves as being black; the Aeta are one group whose first contact with Chinese mainlanders involved no subjugation, so they proudly identified themselves as black. The geographical western hemisphere of Earth, highlighted in yellow. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ... The Aeta are an indigenous people who live in the northern part of the Philippines on the island of Luzon. ...

Family ties, the importance of solidarity against anti-black racism, resistance to colonialism, and opposition to perceived white supremacy or eurocentric philosophies motivate people with varying degrees of Equatorial lineage to identify solely as black. Since the 1940s, with the established viewpoint in the Western world shifting, many groups once considered "black" by colonizing powers—even as recently as a century ago—have now lost that identity in official policies, e.g. national census reports, established anthropological studies, historical and archaeological reports. In the United States, black people of mixed race had, for the most part, reintegrated with the fully black population, but recently, due to a new movement to recognize biracial children of black/white couples, the division of black and biracial people has been re-introduced into America's social identity. BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ... The terms multiracial, biracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestors are not of a single race. ...

As modern communication develops around the world, most of the varieties of black people have become aware of each other, and many self-identified black people (especially in the United States) are working to change the sometimes negative perception of black skin, culture, and heritage in order to increase the political, economic, and social well-being of black people around the world. Since the nuances of black identity have changed outside of the US, this message is received differently by the various groups in the world. Many modern societies attempt to observe no distinctions between human races or identities; others do exactly the opposite. Sometimes, those who have the core characteristics of dark skin and phenotype exclude those who lack it, even though both share ancestors and/or historical experiences. The Caucasus peoples of Abidjan, and Crimea are sometimes called black because, relatively speaking, they are darker and less European in their appearance. The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning to cultivate, generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ... Heritage can refer to: Cultural heritage Cultural traditions Heritage tourism Inheritance Kinship and descent Natural heritage A novel in the BBC Books series See also English Heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... // Latin root meaning The term social is derived from the Latin word socius, which as a noun means an associate, ally, companion, business partner or comrade and in the adjectival form socialis refers to a bond between people (such as marriage) or to their collective or connected existence. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... Abidjan is the largest city and former capital of Côte dIvoire. ... Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Capital Simferopol Largest cities Simferopol, Eupatoria, Kerch, Theodosia, Yalta Official language Ukrainian. ...

20th/21st Century controversies

There is a discontinuity between older, historical descriptions black people and modern scholarly consensus. Many archaic literary accounts, including the Bible, describe black people clearly in Hebrew. However, scholarship took a brief paradigm shift in the late 20th century, with some indicating that Kushites and Ethiopians were in fact not Black, but merely dark-skinned or tanned Caucasians. Due to vague similarity in skull shapes with other Caucasoid types, they instead insist that Kushite described a dark-skinned but non-black person. Frequently, East Africans from as far north as Egypt to as far south as Rwanda are variously recast by modern scholarship as non-black Caucasoids, whose heritage is not truly connected to the greater black populations of Africa. For the son of Rama and Sita from Indian epic of Ramayana, go to Kush (hindu). ... Caucasian is originally a geographical term, meaning relative or pertaining to the Caucasus region of eastern Europe. ... Typical Caucasoid skull Caucasoid is a racial classification usually used as part of a phenotypal system, also including other classifications such as Australoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and sometimes others such as Capoid. ... For the son of Rama and Sita from Indian epic of Ramayana, go to Kush (hindu). ... Caucasoid has many different meanings. ...

There has been a long-held established view in Western culture that black people have not contributed substantially to Ancient Middle Eastern culture, civilization and history. The Middle East, being the cradle of civilization, encompasses parts of Africa and Asia, and borders upon Europe and India. Although the Middle East holds the legacies of over a dozen ancient civilizations, most of the controversy centers around Egypt (but has recently expanded to include India, Greece, and Iran). A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

Egypt, being close to Israel, has the most reliable written record of Biblical events outside of the Bible itself, and is also a reliable source of written history about Black people (and Jewish people prior to the 8th Century B.C.E.). This perspective has helped Black people find clarity on their relationship to Biblical events. Also, Egypt, being so geographically close to people who are unquestionably Black, would have the most reliable record of how black people related within its own civilization. Many of the distinctive Ancient-Egyptian social customs (hair styles, shaving habits, burial practices) and quirks are also found among black people but absent in Semitic and European people of that period and the modern one. Semitic is a linguistic term referring to a subdivision of largely Middle Eastern Afro-Asiatic languages, the Semitic languages, as well as their speakers corresponding cultures, and ethnicities. ... This article is about the continent. ...

By the mid 18th century, Western theologians and intellectuals had concluded that 1) black people had been cursed by God in the Bible to be no more than peripheral slaves, and 2) Black people were incapable of generating a civilization worthy of respect by white historians. Black scholars chose to place emphasis on Egypt in order to decisively refute these erroneous conclusions, in order to end slavery, then to overturn Jim Crow laws, and finally to end the established order of teaching history. Egyptian history presents, at the very least, an abundant first-hand account of the presence of a wide variety of black people in the region, and depending on the perspective one takes, Ancient Egypt was itself a black civilization. The word civilization (or civilisation) has a variety of meanings related to human society. ...

This latter assertion generated a new wave of racialized Afrocentric debate between established scholarly critics of Afrocentric fallacies and Afrocentric scholarly criticism of erroneous assmuptions by Eurocentric scholarship. Despite the fact that 18th century European writers and escavators like Champollion and Lepsius had concluded that the Egyptians were a Black people, Afrocentric critics have faulted poor scholarship on the part of Black scholars for the lowered quality of education in America resulting from on over-emphasis on Afrocentricity (irrespective of the accuracies it has presented). Afrocentrism is an outlook or worldview centered on Africa and the descendants of African peoples, much the way Eurocentrism is centered on Europe and Europeans. ... Afrocentrism is an outlook or worldview centered on Africa and the descendants of African peoples, much the way Eurocentrism is centered on Europe and Europeans. ... This article is about the continent. ... Jean_François Champollion For the comet rendezvous spacecraft, see Champollion (spacecraft). ... Karl Richard Lepsius 1810 - 1884 Karl (or Carl) Richard Lepsius (December 23, 1810–July 10, 1884) was a pioneering Egyptologist and linguist. ...

Until the early 1990s, Black people were portrayed in American media as being mutually exclusive (or excluded) from authentic and legitimate Latino, Jewish, Asian and Middle Eastern culture and history. This was mostly due to commercialized imagery of the people, which followed American demographic trends to portray Latinos, Middle Easterners, and Asians as almost devoid of black characteristics, while America itself was portrayed in foreign media to be equally sanitized of Black habitation (outside of musicians, sportsmen, and criminal elements). Those who are or have been defined as being black have not been asked what black means, but instead have been told what it does not mean, as a method of social exclusion. In how they are defined, blacks, much more than any other group have been excluded from defining themselves officially. Because of this, some of the most awkward controversies arise in historical contexts. The English word Latino derives from the Spanish word latinoamericano (the Portuguese word is also latinoamericano) and refers to inhabitants of Latin America, and their descendents living outside of Latin America. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Asian people. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... A sport consists of a physical activity or skill carried out with a recreational purpose: for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill, or some combination of these. ... BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ... BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ...

Gradually, the connections between black and Asian cultures has created more cultural awareness between the two groups. During the 20th Century, theAfrocentric and Negritude movements had opened the minds of black people to their historical heritage throughout the world. Many black scholars have exposed ancient writings and 19th century observations and republished them. Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese historian, made the most profound impact by presenting a wide variety of information and evidence showing the acute black presence in Egypt and elsewhere. In addition, Ivan Sertima, a noted Africanologist made a strong impact with African presence in Early Asia. Many Asians have participated in the founding of various black movements, including Wallace Fard Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. BLACK is a first-person shooter for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, developed by Criterion Software and published by Electronic Arts. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Asian people. ... Afrocentrism is an outlook or worldview centered on Africa and the descendants of African peoples, much the way Eurocentrism is centered on Europe and Europeans. ... Négritude, a concept developed in the 1930s by a group that included future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor and Francophone poet Aimé Césaire, is the belief that one should identify ones blackness without reference to ones homeland, native language, religion or spatial/geographical location. ... Cheikh Anta Diop (29 December 1923- 7 February 1986) was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and staunch defender of the world view known as Afrocentrism, which places emphasis on the human races African origins and on the study of pre-colonial African culture. ... Wallace Fard Muhammad (1877-1893? – after 1934) was a preacher and founder of the Black-nationalist movement the Nation of Islam (NOI), establishing its first mosque in Detroit. ... The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and socio-political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 with a declared aim of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the Black men and women of America and the rest of the world. ...

Black identity embraced and rejected

Over time, the term black has come to refer to those who identify themselves as black by virtue of their family's shared cultural heritage with Equatorial Africa, slavery, and oppression based on their Equatorial lineage and skin color. Black has also been a term imposed by lighter-skinned people on various darker-skinned people to take advantage of and exclude them. Many times, this label of blackness has been embraced by the oppressed for the sake of moral solidarity against the oppressors. The Jewish diaspora also, through their shared religious history, maintain a similar commonality of identity that universally transcends any other differences, although black Jews are experiencing the same amount of prejudice in Israel and often are looked at with less legitimacy than whiter Jews strictly due to their skin color. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... It has been suggested that Chattel slavery be merged into this article or section. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ...

Despite this, many non-Blacks work to de-emphasize the blackness of non-African blacks by contrasting their differences from African blacks. Often, the word black' or the idea of being "truly black" becomes synonymous with being a "West African oriented person". In Kerala, for example, many Jews who are dark skinned identified themselves as being black and were considered such by the "white" Jews that lived among them. However, the recent white established view is that these Cochin Jews are black but not as black as a Negro or a black African. Nevertheless, the "white" Jews of Cochin had engaged in the same racial prejudice and slavery and exclusionary principles against the black Jews of Cochin over the centuries of their inhabitation there. Negro means black in the Spanish, Portuguese and ancient Italian languages, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. ... Cochin may refer to: Cochin China Kingdom of Kochi, a former princely state of India, merged with Travancore to form the State of Kerala Cochin city, the former name of the city of Kochi, in Kerala Hôpital Cochin, a famous hospital in Paris, France Cochin font, from the Adobe...

The white Jews limited the educational and liturgal access of black Cochin Jews, and due to the establishments from the European regions, they were able to consolidate power based on their skin color. Only recently has there been an interest in disassociating blackness from these Jews due to lighter-skinned Jews (and Europeans) generally find disdain in harmonizing blackness, especially African blackness with their culture and heritage.

Criticisms of the term

Most criticisms against the term are based on either a Eurocentric fear of its inclusion of others in the world outside of Africa and North America, or the use of hypodescent rules to try to classify anyone as black, due to the theory that somewhere down the line, everyone has a black ancestor no matter how far back in time one goes, even to the earliest prehistoric human days. Many progressive African scholars reject the label as it John Henrick Clarke, as it limits the geo-political reality of a people and removes them from their historical legacy. Indians are from India, Chinese from China, but "black" is a shallow description which reveals nothing about the persons place in human historical culture. Malcolm X was vocal on the move away from "Negro" and "Black" and pushed for African American as a respectable label for Africans in America. Eurocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Hypodescent is the practice of determining the lineage of a child of mixed race ancestry by assigning the child the race of his or her more socially subordinate parent. ... Malcolm X, (May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), born Malcolm Little, also known as Detroit Red, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and Omowale, was a Muslim Minister and National Spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

Many scholars criticize the hypodescent rule. Although others theorise that their motives for doing so are often to limit any social movement towards economic self-determination among black diaspora. The One Drop Rule, now villified by many Eurocentric scholars (especially when applied to ancient cultures by Afrocentric scholars), had been established by white politicans generations ago, to prevent racial mixing. This one drop rule, which white American, Australian, and, to a lesser extent, other colonies had established for the sake of upholding white society's perceptions of purity with its own identity, became the de facto social experience for black people across the United States. Hypodescent is the practice of determining the lineage of a child of mixed race ancestry by assigning the child the race of his or her more socially subordinate parent. ... Who is a white American? The definition of a white American has differed from time to time throughout U.S. history. ...

For the sake of moral solidarity against the presumed immoral oppression, this rule was embraced by black people in America, especially in a Christian context, and the effect has become a permanent aspect of black identity. Once black literature and intellectual expression experienced a boom in the beginning of the 20th century, the hypodescent rule is said to have become a new threat to European colonial ambitions, and to white racial-social controls. Hypodescent is the practice of determining the lineage of a child of mixed race ancestry by assigning the child the race of his or her more socially subordinate parent. ...

As time passed, so the theory goes, and Jim Crow laws of racial segregation were outlawed in the 1960s, some educated whites felt more and more that the significance of the one drop rule should also be de-emphasized due to the changing times. Their fear, it is claimed, was that the outcome of maintaining the hypodescent rule would cause every interracial union with a black person to lower the longterm population of whites in America, and Europe, whose population rates are flat for the projected future.

It is also claimed that the U.S. Census multiracial category was rejected as an outright attempt by the federal government of the United States to divide black people into subgroups similarily like Haiti and South Africa, where "colored" would be replaced with "bi-racial". Many Afrocentric movements reinforced the importance of the hypodescent effect within the borders of the United States for this reason, but reject applying the rule to others elsewhere, due to the ambigious identity of many mixed groups (Latinos, Arabs, some Asians). Some contend that this has been part of a generalized plan by white academics, feeling the need to remove the monolithic perspective of black identity in America and fearing a spread of black identity across the world through the media, especially in hip hop culture and Afrocentricism, to continually undermine the hypodescent rule. Afrocentrism is an outlook or worldview centered on Africa and the descendants of African peoples, much the way Eurocentrism is centered on Europe and Europeans. ... Latino refers to people living in the US of Latin American nationality and their US-born descendants. ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... The term Asian can refer to something or someone from Asia. ...

The Classical Negro vis-a-vis Afrocentricism

Much of the commentary about the blackness (or lack thereof) of a society or civilizaion revolves around the ideology that the most legitimate kind of black person should come from West Africa and have very specific negroid features. This "Classical Negro" argument for legitimacy is rooted in a Eurocentric philosophy that nebulously defines a person's blackness solely in contrast to their difference from an idolized variety of the Northeastern European. Skull of the classic Niggeroid phenotype, exhibiting a pronounced dolichocephalism and both maxillary and alveolar prognathisms Niggeroid is an obsolete term once used in physical anthropology to delineate everyone indigenous to sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa. ...

This European look, blonde hair, very aqualine nose, thin lips, round eyes of blue, angular features and a pronounced chin, has been the status quo standard that has created such a psychological impact upon the world, because it was forced upon so many as a social means of respectability, it became a subconscious standard for which most other cultures have tried to emulate. Eurocentric scholars, most notably those supporting a variety of Social Darwinism, tend to create a polar view of humanity, with the stereotypical view of the West African, large lips, black kinky hair, very wide nose, rounded features and an overbite, in opposition to the European idealized look. Eurocentrism is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing emphasis on European (and, generally, Western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of those of other cultures. ... West African refers to: West Africa An airline: West African Airlines [1] This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

This polarized propaganda in all of its varieties has been designed to support the Eurocentric view that all other groups in the world have contributed to the development of society and civilization proportional to their proximity to the Northeastern European type. Since the West African is viewed as the opposite of the idealized European type, the West African is considered the least contributive to world history. West African refers to: West Africa An airline: West African Airlines [1] This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The actual motivation of this view is based on residual prejudice against those of West African origin (Mainly African-Americans) who have been most effective in speaking out against Eurocentricism and white prejudice. Due to the influence of West African and African American intellectuals in the 20th Century, the white established racial views were under threat of being disassembled by the virtue of the ubiquitous one-drop rule, and by the fact that many ancient civilizations that were spoken of in the Bible, and respected in European society, had been discovered to be of substantial black and/or black African origin.

Most notably, the Egyptian society was viewed as a black society by Jean-François Champollion in his book "L'Egypte" in the mid 19 Century, and many black intellectuals had expounded on this observation. As time passed, more and more civilizations within Africa were discovered with indications that they colonized some areas of Asia and interacted with other ancient civilizations as equals. This realistic possibility became an educational threat to the perceived moral sensitivies of the white European caste systems throughout the world, as colonization was morally justified by Europeans based on their perceived civilized or technological experience. Jean-François Champollion For the Champollion comet rendezvous spacecraft, see Champollion (spacecraft). ...

These revelations, once discovered by black intellectuals, began a cascade effect in the 20th century of re-evaluating world cultures from an Afrocentric perspective. Eurocentric scholars responded by noting that West African societies, which the majority of American blacks are descended from, have not been a part of any intercontinental civilization and contributed very little towards any artistic, social or philosophical acheievement. Therefore, the "classical negro" became synonymous with "truly black" and used as a lightning rod against redefining Asian and ancient civilizations as "black".

Unfortunately many Afrocentric scholars, following this same faulty logic, tend to respond by finding any possible trace of West African heritage in any civilization. Both sides ignore the variations in West Africans and their very complex histories. Because of this, the issue deterioriates into a moral tug of war between Eurocentric scholarly view that stands morally against hypo-descent, and the Afrocentric view, that morally emphasizes the founding and continual contributions of black Africans to Ancient Egyptian, and other societies, cultures and history. Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ...

Both views resort to diffusionism and the nebulousity of blackness to either include or exclude Ancient Egypt (and most East Indian, Asian, and East African cultures), by resorting to an extreme stereotype of the West African as the legitimate standard to determine "how" black a civilization or group of people are. In Ivan Sertima's defense of his thesis that black African people came to the West before Christopher Columbus, "Reply to my critics", he laid out 10 myths that he responds to, with the second addressing these misconceptions about West Africans and Egyptians, noting that the critics supporting the classical negro as a West African standard are ignorant of the variations of features of "pure blooded" West Africans. The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Asian people. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | Eastern Africa ... For information about the film director, see Chris Columbus. ... In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ...

In addition, it is clear that these critics do not apply the same standards of facial phenotype upon Europeans. A European with a large nose, curly hair, or tanned skin would not be considered "less" European, white, or Caucasoid than any other, but instead be considered another type of European. In the same manner, it is understood that Africans have a variety of features, none owing to a European, Arab or non-Black progenitor. This article is about the continent. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor. ...

Renouncing blackness

Those who wish to be identified by either their national origin alone, or by a color term other than black are often considered "sellouts" by those who embrace their own black identity. It is often feared that these "sellouts" wish to socialize primarily with the colonizing elite and hide their own black heritage.

In the West, this is usually the root cause of recent divisions within Latino culture that are manifesting themselves politically (most notably in Cuba). Some may choose to suppress or renounce their black heritage for economic reasons, but the social effects are almost always the lowest common denominator: acceptance into the dominating elite earns respect and prestige and a feeling of meaningful accomplishment. By passing into white identity, those who renounce their blackness often feel that they are achieving a self-respect and dignity not possible within a black identity. The novel 'Black No More' by George Schuyler exposes this underlying motivation, and is still considered an up-to-date commentary on the issue, and it also tackles the larger issue of recognizing race as a social construct and not a biological reality. George S. Schuyler photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1941 George S. Schuyler (1895-1977), an African American writer known for his conservative views, was born in 1895 in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.. In 1912, Schuyler dropped out of school to join the US Army and soon rose to...

Some black individuals and some cultures of black African origin may take great effort to renounce their identity as well as to renounce or play down their own African ancestry while emphasizing the other heritage or cultural background present in their society. Latinozation and Arabization are the two most potent forces of de-Africanization, due to the lingering effects of colonization and racism imposed on their cultures by the colonial rulers of the past few centuries. The colonizing elite of Latin America, North Africa, and East Africa had universally applied the skin-color caste-system throughout their dominions, which emphasized the supposed virtues of the lighter-skinned peoples, and generated a shame of darker-skinned identity. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ...

The ruling elite of the Middle East also encouraged this social policy, although to a lesser degree, and had been known as far back as the 8th century for enslaving black Africans. The Zanj Rebellion of Iraq (869 - 883) was an early slave insurrection that led to the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate. These rebellions had been caused by inhumane treatment of black African slaves sent to Iraq to drain salt marshes. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ...

Over the centuries, lighter-skinned people were taught by the ruling powers to view themselves as one step above their darker-skinned countrymen. The policy to marginalize and exclude black people from equal and mutual respect, educational opportunity, and self-reliance became nearly a subconscious social policy throughout European-dominated societies. Because of this, throughout the modern era, black people, whether self-identified or not, are on average economically marginalized or at the lower rungs of the political and socio-economic structures of the countries they reside in. Although this is changing at a more rapid pace, black self-identity is constantly being re-evaluated in light of the economic impact it can have on one's well being. This article is about the continent. ...

Non-black perspectives

The term black is often used in the West to denote race for people of predominantly Sub-saharan African ancestry. The anthropological term for these peoples, now considered somewhat archaic, is Negroid; 'Africoid' is increasingly used instead. The U.S. Census racial definitions of white, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American use "original" to describe the ancestry. The black racial definition group omits the word 'original'. This exclusion of black people from recognition of an original heritage has kept the foundation of defining black people nebulous, and keeps the door open to misunderstandings and manipulation of black identity. White is a color, (more accurately it contains all the colors of the visible spectrum and is sometimes described as an achromatic color—black is the absence of color) that has high brightness but zero hue. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Asian people. ... A Pacific Islander or Pacific Person (plural: Pacific People) is a term used in several places, such as New Zealand and the United States, to describe people of a certain heritage. ... Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, Amerindians, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ...

In the U.S., for example, a black person was defined by non-black white policymakers as one who had any visibly substantial black ancestry (whether familial or phenotypic), and virtually all of Africa, Egypt included, had been defined as black. Other peoples were classified as black in European-colonized countries. Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia. ...

Although once considered black or at least substantially black, the Philippines, Australia, India, Central America, Samoa, part of Italy and the Horn of Africa have now been removed, by the faulty reasoning of the same ruling establishments: that their proximity to West Africa is the primary factor in determining how black they should be considered. Map of Central America Central America is a central region of the Americas. ... Nations of the Horn of Africa. ...

Therefore a very dark-skinned Filipino, or an East Indian who may or may not be of African descent, is considered "less black" than an African American or an African whose skin color is lighter in complexion. Because of the vocal and social strength of African Americans, their identity has become a dominant standard outside of Africa, to which all other cultures outside of Africa are compared. This invariably causes problems in other cultures whose experiences are no less valid, yet whose relationship to the West African culture is not as strong, and whose cultures are not as polarized. African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan and West Africa. ... West African refers to: West Africa An airline: West African Airlines [1] This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Many people think that a completely different, diluted use of the term is appropriate for other peoples who happen to have a dark skin, such as Indigenous Australians, New Guineans, Tamils, other darker peoples of the Indian subcontinent, some southeast Asians (namely of mixed or full Negrito descent) and various South Pacific Islanders and others. In Russia the name chornyye (чёрные, blacks) applies mostly not to Africans, but to people from the Caucasus, who are indeed dark skinned, contrary to what one might think given the use of the term Caucasian in the United States. Indigenous Australians are the first inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands, continuing their presence during European settlement. ... Tamil New Year Ethnic problems In India After independence, Tamilians felt they and their dravidian race were ignored by the North Indians. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... Look up Caucasian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Caucasian was originally a geographical term, meaning relative or pertaining to the Caucasus region (Caucasia) of central Eurasia. ...

In many countries, there is still a strong (though weakening) social stigma against those persons identifying themselves as part of more than one perceived racial category. Hence, it may be truer to say that people who perceive themselves or are perceived by others as a member of a black cultural group often are called black. As noted above, this perception can be imposed by others or intrinsic and celebrated by those who perceive themselves to be black.

In the United States the term Negro (from negro, Spanish and Portuguese for 'black') was widely used until the 1960s, and remains a constituent part of the names of several Afro/African American organizations. Another term given currency at the time was coloured. However, following the black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the terms Negro and coloured usually were deemed derogatory and inappropriate. By contrast, "black" (which some considered a pejorative when 'Negro' was in widespread use) has gained increasing acceptance worldwide. In the United States, it is often used interchangeably with African-American, a newer term preferred by many leaders and commentators. In Canada this is also used, as well as black Canadian. Many Canadians of Afro-Caribbean origin strongly object to "African-Canadian" as obscuring their own culture and history, which partially accounts for the term's less prevalent use in Canada. Some people find the term black offensive when used as a noun (a black) as opposed to an adjective (a black person). Negro means black in the Spanish, Portuguese and ancient Italian languages, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. ... The term Black Canadian refers to black Canadian citizens whose ancestors were indigenous to sub-saharan Africa; for the most part they have recent origins in the Caribbean, but others trace their lineage through the United States, Latin America, Africa and elsewhere. ...

In the United Kingdom, the term black Briton is sometimes used but it is more common to use an adjectival rather than a noun term and write about black British people. Occasionally, the term is loosely used to include British people of south Asian descent; additionally, the Arab based bank BCCI was perceived by many black British as a "black bank". See also: British Afro-Caribbean community. Very rarely the term has been used (e.g. in local government) to include all potential sufferers of racial prejudice — even white Irish immigrants — though this is seen by some as an example of political correctness.

In South Africa, the term blacks is used for the general black population, but since the country consists of different ethnic groups, they are often called by their ethnic names, e.g. Zulus, Xhosas, Basutos etc. In the Netherlands, something similar is often done, by naming blacks after their country of origin, e.g. Somaliër, Senegalese, Nigerian, Antillian or Surinamer, though it should be noted that the latter two can also refer to whites from the Netherlands Antilles or Surinam. The Antilles now generally refers to the islands of the Caribbean except the Bahamas. ...

Footnotes

See also

• African diaspora
• Black Consciousness Movement and Steve Biko
• Colored people in the United States
• Coloured people of South Africa
• Creole peoples
• Race
• Race and Intelligence
• Racial segregation
• Negrito
• Negro
• Nilotic
• White (people)
• Negroid

The African diaspora or Afro diaspora is the diaspora created by the movements and culture of Africans and their descendants throughout the world, to places such as the Americas, (including the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America) Europe and Asia . ... The Black Consciousness Movement was a movement which called for non-violent black resistance to the Apartheid government in South Africa. ... Stephen Biko Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a noted nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s. ... Colored and Colored People (or Colored Folk in the plural sense) are North American terms that were commonly used to describe people of African ancestry. ... In the South African and Namibian context, the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense, Kleurlinge or Bruine Afrikaners) refers to a rather heterogeneous group of people of mixed Khoisan, white European descent, Malay, Malagasy, Black (Bantu), and South Indian ancestry, especially in the Western Cape. ... The term Creole and its relatives in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. ... For other senses of this word, see race (disambiguation). ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... The Rex Theatre for Colored People, Leland, Mississippi, June 1937 This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. ... The Negritos include the Ati, the Aeta and at least 4 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, and 12 Andamanese tribes of the Andaman Islands. ... Negro means black in the Spanish, Portuguese and ancient Italian languages, being derived from the Latin word niger of the same meaning. ... Nilotic refers to a number of indigenous East African peoples originating in northeast Africa in the region of the Nile River. ... White (also White people, White race or Whites) is a term used for a certain ethnic group or racial classification of people. ... Skull of the classic Niggeroid phenotype, exhibiting a pronounced dolichocephalism and both maxillary and alveolar prognathisms Niggeroid is an obsolete term once used in physical anthropology to delineate everyone indigenous to sub-Saharan and West Africa and portions of North Africa. ...

Groups

• African American
• Afro-Brazilian
• Afro-Cuban
• Afro-Ecuadorian
• Afro-German
• Afro-Irish
• Afro-Latin American
• Afro-Mexican
• Afro-Peruvian
• Afro-Trinidadian
• African American culture
• African American music
• Black British
• African Caribbean
• Black Canadian
• Siddi
• Dalit
• Black People

An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Afro-Brazilian is the term used to racially categorise Brazilian citizens of some or full Black African origin. ... The term Afro-Cuban refers to descendants of African slaves in Cuba, and to cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community. ... The Afro-Ecuadorian culture is found in the northwest coastal region of Ecuador. ... Afro-Germans (in German Afro-Deutsche) are defined as the Black African community and diaspora in Germany. ... // Irish usage In Ireland, the term Black Irish or Afro-Irish now principally refers to Irish people with black African heritage. ... An Afro-Latin American is a person from Latin America who has black ancestry. ... Afro-Mexican is one of the terms used to identify black Mexicans of African descent. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Afro-Trinidadian refers to people of African descent who are citizens or nationals of Trinidad and Tobago. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... African American music (also called black music, formerly known as race music) is an umbrella term given to a range of musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large ethnic minority of the population of the United States. ... Black British, also referred to as English Black is a term usually used to refer to black people in Britain, who come from a wide variety of African and Caribbean nations. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... The term Black Canadian refers to black Canadian citizens whose ancestors were indigenous to sub-saharan Africa; for the most part they have recent origins in the Caribbean, but others trace their lineage through the United States, Latin America, Africa and elsewhere. ... Not to be confused with the Hindu term Siddhi (though sometimes spelt in the same way). ... Dalit may have the following meanings. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

• African Code
• Ligali
• PBS Africans in America series
• National Geographic pictures of the Rana Tharu of Nepal
• Sheedi people of India and Pakistan
• Siddi people of India
• Black Iraqis and African heritage in an Islamic State.
• India's Lost Africans BBC News of African oriented people in east India and Pakistan
• Gullah culture of South Carolina.
• [1]Marcello Malpighi's findings on the origin of Black skin