ETHNOLOGY

ETHNOLOGY, a science which treats of the human race as grouped in tribes or nations, but limits itself to tracing the origin and
distribution of races, and investigating the physical and mental peculiarities and differences exhibited by men over all parts of the globe;

It is a specialized discipline within the larger field of anthropology. Within this discipline, the identifying characteristics of a particular cultural or ethnic group are studied in detail, with an eye toward understanding how each of those elements shape the internal function of that group. Often, the study will also encompass understanding how a particular segment of the human family uses their unique characteristics to relate with other ethnic and cultural groups.

There are several areas of interest that compose any serious ethnology research. For any racial, ethnic, or cultural group, the focus is on the components that give the group its own unique flavor. This includes elements like the origins of the community, the distribution of its members, and the internal social structure that has evolved over time. In order to fully appreciate these factors, it is also necessary to grasp the roles that religion, language, economics, and technology play in the formation of the group’s identity.

The chief problem of the science is to decide between the monogenous and polygenous theories of the origin of the race, and
investigation inclines to favour the former view. The polygenous argument, based on the diversity of languages, has been discarded, as, if valid, necessitating about a thousand different origins, while the monogenous position is strengthened by the ascertained facts that the different racial groups are fruitful amongst themselves, and present points of mental and physical similarity which accord well with this theory.

Ethnologists now divide the human race into three main groups: the Ethiopian or negro, the Mongolic or yellow, and the Caucasic or white.