History
In the late nineteenth century, anthropometric studies led to a proposition of racial groups, one of which was termed "Australioid" by Thomas Huxley in an essay 'On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind' (1870), in which he divided humanity into four principal groups (Xanthochroic, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australioid).
Huxley also concluded that the Melanochroi (Peoples of the Mediterranean race) are of a mixture of the Xanthochroi (northern Europeans) and Australioids. Later writers dropped the first "i" in Australioid, establishing Australoid as the standard spelling.
According to Peter Bellwood, "many of the present Southern Mongoloid populations of Indonesia and Malaysia also have a high degree of Australo-Melanesian genetic heritage."
One proponent, R. Ruggles Gates, argued in 1960 that "If the Ainu are partly of Australoid origin it is also clear that they are even more nearly derived from archaic Caucasian ancestry". M.K. Bhasin (2006) suggests that the "Australoids" "differentiat... perhaps from a common type before the separation of the Mongoloids and Caucasoids"
Read more about this topic: Australoid Race
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