Indian Ethnicity: Mongoloids


Figure 1.--The photo shows a mother washing her child in a village of Nagaland state, north-eastern India which borders Burma. Here the Mongoloid ethnicity is common. Away form the northern and eastern border areas Mongoloid peoples are rare.

Mongoloid is the standard term for mostly Asian (East Asia, Southeast Asia, North Asia) populations. They are also shared with Native Americans. The phenotypic traits are epicanthic eye fold and shovel-shaped incisor teeth. The word is formed by the base word 'Mongol' and the suffix 'oid' used with some other racial terms meaning 'resembling'. The Asian Sub-continent and the Near-East/Middle East are the two Asian areas where Mongoloid peoples do not predominate. This is because the original humans that migrated out of Africa into the Near East and Asia did not have the Mongoloid characteristcs which were developed by the people who migrated east. The populations that migrated south into the Sub-continent (Dravids and Aryans) did not have these destinguishing characteristics. Many modern scholars do not like to use racial terms like Mongoloid, but the basic pattern described here has been confirmed by modern DNA studies. China is located very near India. One might have thought that there would have been substantial population exchnges. The Mongoloid population in India,however, is very limiited, substatially less than 5 percent of the total populaton. Very few are of Chinese/Mongoloid etnicity. And the Indian population in China is virtually non-existent. The reason is obvious--geogrraphy. The towering Himilayas have served as a barrier to the migration between East Asia and South Asia. There are, however, some Mongoloid peoples in India. The Mongols (Mouguls) who invaded India (16th century) also invaded from the east. They did not have a major impact ethnically. While they conquered large areas, their numbers were small compared to the vast Indian population. And the Mouguls in any case while nomimally Mongol drew most of their support from Turkic and Persian people who did not have the pronounced Mongolid features. Most of the Mongoloid people are of Tibetian (in the north) and Burmese (in the east) origins. Notice that the Mongoloid features of these people are generally not as pronounced as the Han Chinese. Anthropologists also describe Tibeto-Burman language families.

Burmese

Burma or Myanmar borders eastern India. And unlike Tibet there are no towering Himalayan mountains searating them. There was lightly populated jungle once away from the coast. Actually interchanges between the two peoples were remarkably limited until the arrival of the British (18th century). Both Burma and India were colonizd, but they were separate colonies. This facilitated interchanges, although connections between the colonies except along the coast. Here actually we have two groups--Indian Burmese and Burmese Indians. Indian Burmese despite the long common border and lengthy period of joint colonial rule are a relatively recent phemonenon, at least in signoficant numbers. he Burmese community in India is a mix of refugees, immigrants and expatriates from Burma as well as Indian citizens of Burmese ancestry. Actually most Indian Burmese, especilly the rfugees, are actually not ethnic Burmese, nostly from the Chin ethnic minority group, with smaller Kachin, Rakhine, and Bamar populations as well. Burma since independence has been emersed in political and armed conflict between a repressive military government, political opposition, and ethnic groups. The result was the displacement of over 3.5 million Burmese. India as a neighboring country has camps with some 0.1 million Burmese refugees. Chin refugees have been pouring into India for decades, fleeing the chilling human rights abuses committed by the Burmese Army. These abuses became serious and systematic after the 1988 uprising in Burma and as result the number of refugees increased. A well established Chin community thar fled earlier has helped the more recent refugees adjust to living in India. Burmese Indians are people of Indian origin who live in Burma. Indians have lived in Burma for centuries, Burmese Indians today are ancestors of Indians who migrated to Burma during the British Raj of the 19th and early-20th century. Colonial Burma and India were separated by the British just before World war II (1937). During theRaj, apparently because Indian society was more advanced, the ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy of colonial Burma. They served as colonial soldiers, civil servants, merchants and moneylenders. This lead to illwill and eventually rioting (1930s) which led to the separation of the two colonies. With the Japanese World War II conquest (1942), not only was theur popular animosity, but the Japanese saw the Indians as potentil security threats. The result was a mass exodus during the Japanese occupation. After post-War indeoendence, the Burmese Givernment forcibly expelled ethnic Burmese which left the remaining Indians a very small part of the population with a minor role in Burmese society.

Mouguls

The Mongols referred to as the Mouguls invaded India (16th century). This was long after the great Mongol invasions centuries earlier. They invaded from the east driving their support from Turkic and Persian peoples who had settled in the Near East. The Mouguls in any case while nomimally Mongol were actually Turlic/Persian people who did not have the pronounced Mongolid features. They did not have a major impact ethnically. While their armies conquered large areas, their numbers were small compared to the vast Indian population.

Tibetians

Tibet is a huge country in area, but aelatively small population because it is so mounaneous. This and the toweing Himalayas explains why Tibetians have had such a limited demographic impact on India with its huge population. India is separated from Tibet by the Himalayas. And here e have Nepal and Bhutan. In between these two Himalayan kingdoms is a narrow gap. It is occupied by a sliver of West Bengal (an odly shaped state) does touch on Tibet. The major city there is Darjeeling. In this area there is a mix of peoples, inclusing Indian, Nepalese, Buanesem and Tibetians. In Indian terms, the numbers ar fairly small. The largest numbers pf Tibetians in India came after the Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet and the flood of fugees fleeing the Chinese Communist rule. There was no way that traditional elements in China could resist or flee Maoist rule. Tibetan resistance to Chinese Communist rule was possible to a degree because of the vast, rugged landscape. Fighting brokeout, but the small Tibetian population and lack of arms meant that it was one sied. Some 0.1 million Tibetians seeking to preserve their way of life, joined in a mass exodus over the Himalayas to India (March-April 1959). Many of the rfugees died on the difficult trek through the snow-filled passes of the Himalaya. And more were to die in India which was unprepared for the refugees. They died of heat, disease, malnutrition, and as one historin describes it, 'the shock of losing a whole way of life'. Conditions were trrible before international assistance could be organized.








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Created: 9:45 PM 6/20/2012
Last updated: 11:45 AM 6/10/2017