The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840).^[1] Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (May 11, 1752 - January 22, 1840) was a German physiologist and anthropologist. ...

In his 1775 doctoral dissertation titled De generi humani varietate nativa (On the Natural Varieties of Mankind), Blumenbach outlined four main human races by skin color, namely Caucasian (white), Ethiopian (black), American (red), and Mongolian (yellow). This article is about the thesis in dialectics and academia. ... It has been suggested that Caucasoid race be merged into this article or section. ...

By 1795, Blumenbach added another race called 'Malay' which he considered to be a subcategory of both the Ethiopian and Mongoloid races. The Malay race were those of a "brown color, from olive and a clear mahogany to the darkest clove or chestnut brown." Blumenbach expanded the term "Malay" to include the inhabitants of the Marianas, the Philippines, the Malukus, Sundas, as well as Pacific Islands such as Tahitians. He considered a Tahitian skull he had received to be the missing link; showing the transition between the "primary" race, the Caucasians, and the "degenerate" race, the Negroids. The Mariana Islands (also the Marianas; up to the early 20th century sometimes called Islas de los Ladrones meaning Islands of Thieves) are a group of islands made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the western Pacific Ocean. ... The Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas, Moluccan Islands or simply Maluku) are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Malay Archipelago. ... The Sunda Islands are a group of islands in west part of the Indonesian Archipelago. ... The Pacific Ocean has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 islands; the exact number is unknown. ... Map of French Polynesia Map of Tahiti and Moorea Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean at . ...

Blumenbach writes:

Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full, rather wide, as it were diffuse, end thick; mouth large. upper jaw somewhat prominent with the parts of the face when seen in profile, sufficiently prominent and distinct from each other. This last variety includes the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, together with the inhabitants of the Marianne, the Philippine, the Molucca and the Sunda Islands, and of the Malayan peninsula.

I wish to call it the Malay, because the majority of the men of this variety, especially those who inhabit the Indian islands close to the Malacca peninsula, as well as the Sandwich, the Society, and the Friendly Islanders, and also the Malambi of Madagascar down to the inhabitants of Easter Island, use the Malay idiom.^[2]

Since Blumenbach, many anthropologists have rejected his theory of five races, citing the enormous complexity of classifying races. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Race. ...

The term Malay is often used as a form of racial self-identification. For example, in the Philippines, many Filipinos consider the term "Malay" to refer to the indigenous population of the country as well as the population of neighboring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. This misconception is due in part to American anthropologists H. Otley Beyer who proposed that the Filipinos were actually Malays who migrated from Malaysia and Indonesia. This idea was in turn propagated by Filipino historians and is still taught in schools. However, the prevalent consensus among contemporary anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists actually proposes the reverse; namely that the Malays of Malaysia and Indonesia originally migrated south from the Philippines during the prehistoric period. Among these are scholars in the field of Austronesian studies such as Peter Bellwood, Robert Blust, Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, and Lawrence Reid. Henry Otley Beyer (July 13, 1883-1966) was an American anthropologist, who spent most of his adult life in the Philippines teaching Filipinos and other scholars about Philippine indigenous culture. ... Andrew Pawley is Head of the Department of Linguistics at the Australia National University, Australia. ...

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