Australian Aboriginal is a native of the continent. All nationalities are isolated from others in racial and linguistic terms. The indigenous people are also known as the Australian Bushmen. "Bush" means vast areas with an abundance of shrubs and stunted trees. These territories are typical for some areas of Australia and Africa.
General information
Indigenous people speak Australian. Only some of it is in English. Australian Aborigines inhabit mainly areas that are far outside the cities. They can be found in the Central, Northwestern, Northern and Northeastern parts of the continent. A certain part of the indigenous population lives in cities.
New data
For a long time it was believed that the Tasmanian Aborigines developed separately from other Australian tribes. It was assumed that this went on for at least several thousand years. The results of modern research indicate otherwise. It turned out that the language of the Tasmanian aborigines has many common words with other dialects of the Australian southern tribes. By racethese tribes stand out in a separate group. They are considered the Australian branch of the Australoid race.
Anthropology
On this basis, the natives of Australia, whose photos are presented in the article, belong to one characteristic species. It has certain features. The native of Australia has pronounced features characteristic of the Negroid complex. A feature of the Bushmen is considered to be a fairly massive skull. Also a distinctive feature is the developed tertiary hairline. It is now well established that the Australian Aborigines descended from the same race. However, this does not exclude the possibility of the influence of others. For that period, the spread of mixed marriages was a typical phenomenon. In addition, it should be taken into account that there were several migration waves to this continent. There was a significant time interval between them. It has been established that before the beginning of the period of European colonization, a huge number of Aborigines lived in Australia. To be more precise - over six hundred different tribes. Each of them spoke their own dialect and language.
Australian Aboriginal Life
Bushmen don't have houses or dwellings, they don't have domesticated livestock. Aborigines don't use clothes. They live in separate groups, which can include up to sixty people. Australian Aborigines do not even have an elementary tribal organization. They also lack many of the simple skills that distinguish humans from animals. For example, they are not able to fish, make dishes, sew their own clothes. And so on. Meanwhile, at present, even those tribes that live in the wilds of Africa are able to do this. In the 19th century, relevant research was carried out. Then scientists came to the conclusion that the Australian native is on a certain line between animals and people. This is due to the blatant savagery of their existence. At present, the Aborigine of Australia is the representative of the most backward nationality.
Indigenous population
It is just over four hundred thousand people. Of course, this is outdated data, because the census was conducted about ten years ago. This number includes those natives who live on the territory of the Torres Strait Islands. The indigenous population is about twenty-seven thousand people. The local Aboriginal people are different from other Australian groups. First of all, this is due to cultural characteristics. They have many features in common with the Papuans and Melanesians. Currently, most Australian Aboriginal people live off charitable foundations and government assistance. Their means of life support are almost completely lost. Accordingly, there are no gathering, fishing and hunting activities. At the same time, a certain part of the natives living on the islands of the Torres Strait owns manual agriculture. Traditional religious beliefs are preserved. The following types of natives are distinguished:
- Barrynean.
- Carpentarian.
- Murray.
Development to Europeaninterventions
The exact date of the settlement of Australia has not yet been established. It is assumed that this happened several tens of thousands of years ago. The ancestors of Australians are from Southeast Asia. They managed to overcome about ninety kilometers of water barriers. The Pleistocene continental shelf served as the road. Dingo dogs appeared on the continent. Most likely, this was due to an additional influx of migrants who arrived by sea about five thousand years ago. This is also due to the emergence of the stone industry. Even before the intervention of Europeans, the racial type and culture of the Australian aborigines boasted breakthroughs in evolution.
Colonization period
Europeans arrived here in the 18th century. At that time, the number of Australian Aborigines was approximately two million people. They formed groups. The composition of the Australian population was quite diverse. As a result, there were more than five hundred tribes on the mainland. All of them were distinguished by a complex social organization. Each tribe had its own rituals and myths. Australian Aborigines spoke more than two hundred languages. The period of colonization was accompanied by the targeted destruction of the indigenous population. Australian aborigines were losing their territories. They were forced out into ecologically disadvantaged areas of the mainland. The outbreak of the epidemic contributed to a sharp reduction in their numbers. In 1921, the population density of Australia, the indigenous in particular, was no more than sixty thousand people. Later, government policy changed. Protected reservations began to be created. The authorities organized medical and material assistance. The combination of these actions has greatly contributed to the fact that the population density of Australia has increased.
Follow-up development
There was no such thing as "Australian citizenship" until early 1949. Most of the locals were considered British subjects. An appropriate law was issued, according to which the entire indigenous population became citizens of Australia. Every person born in a given territory after this date was automatically its citizen. In the 90s, the number of Australian Aborigines was about two hundred and fifty thousand people. This is only one and a half percent of the entire population of the mainland.
Aboriginal mythology
Indigenous people in Australia believed that existence was not limited to physical reality. The natives believed that there was a world where their spiritual ancestors lived. They believed that physical reality echoed it. And thus they influence each other mutually. There was a belief that the sky is the place where these two worlds meet. The movement of the Moon and the Sun was influenced by the actions of spiritual ancestors. It was also believed that they could be affected by a living person. A huge role in the mythology of the natives is played by celestial bodies, stars, etc.
Archaeologists and historians have been doing research for a long timefragments containing drawings of Bushmen. Until now, it is not completely clear what exactly the rock paintings depicted. In particular, were they celestial objects or some pictures from everyday life? Aborigines possessed certain information about the sky. It is established that they tried to use celestial bodies to implement the calendar. However, there is no information that he was somehow connected with the lunar phases. It is also known that there were no attempts to use celestial objects for navigation.
