Aboriginal of Australia. Australian Aborigines - photo

The aboriginal of Australia is a native of the continent. The entire nationality is isolated from others in a racial and linguistic sense. Indigenous people are also known as Australian Bushmen. "Bush" means vast spaces with an abundance of shrubs and stunted trees. These territories are typical for some areas of Australia and Africa.

General information

Indigenous people speak the Australian language. Only a part of it is in English. The Australian Aborigines inhabit mainly areas that are far beyond the cities. They can be found in the Central, North-Western, North and North-Eastern 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 continued for at least several thousand years. The results of modern research indicate another. It turned out that the language of the Tasmanian aborigines has many common words with other dialects of the Australian southern tribes. By race, these tribes are allocated to a separate group. They are considered an Australian branch of the Australoid race.

Anthropology

On this basis, the aborigines of Australia, the photos of which are presented in the article, refer to one characteristic species. He has certain characteristics. The Australian nationality has pronounced features characteristic of the Negroid complex. A feature of Bushmen is a rather massive skull. Also a distinctive feature is the developed tertiary hairline. It has now been established that the Australian aborigines are descended from one race. However, this does not exclude the possibility of the influence of others. For that period, the spread of mixed marriages was typical. In addition, it should be borne in mind that there were several migration waves on this continent. Between them there was a significant time interval. It was established that before the beginning of the period of European colonization, a large number of Aborigines inhabited Australia. More precisely, more than six hundred different tribes. Each of them spoke in their own language and language.

Life Aboriginal Australia

Bushmen do not have houses or dwellings, they do not have domesticated cattle. Aborigines do not use clothes. They live in separate groups, which can include up to sixty people. The Australian aborigines do not even have an elementary tribal organization. They also lack a lot of simple skills that distinguish people from animals. For example, they are not able to fish, make dishes, sew their own clothes and stuff. Meanwhile, at the present time even tribes that live in the wilds of Africa are able to do this. In the XIX century, relevant studies were conducted. Then scientists came to the conclusion that the aboriginal of Australia is on a certain line between animals and humans. This is due to the blatant savagery of their existence. At present, the aboriginal of Australia is a representative of the most backward nationality.

Number of indigenous people

It is just over four hundred thousand people. Of course, this is obsolete data, because the census was conducted about ten years ago. This number includes those aborigines who live on the territory of the Torres Strait islands. The indigenous population is about twenty-seven thousand people. Local aborigines are different from other Australian groups. First of all, this is due to cultural characteristics. They have many similarities with the Papuans and Melanesians. Currently, most Australian Aborigines live off charity funds and state aid. The methods of life-support are almost completely lost. Accordingly, gatherings, fishing and hunting are absent. At the same time, a certain part of the natives, living on the islands of the Torres Strait, owns manual farming. Traditional religious beliefs persist. The following types of aborigines stand out:

1. The Barrides.
2. The Carpathian.
3. Murray.

Development before the European intervention

The exact date of 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 obstacles. Expensive was the Pleistocene continental shelf. Dingo dogs appeared on the continent . Most likely, this was due to an additional influx of immigrants who arrived by sea about five thousand years ago. The same is due to the appearance of the stone industry. Even before the intervention of Europeans, the racial type and culture of Australian Aborigines boasted breakthroughs in evolution.

The period of colonization

Europeans arrived here in the XVIII century. At that time, the number of Australian Aborigines was about two million people. They were grouped together. The composition of the population of Australia was quite diverse. As a result, there were more than 500 tribes on the mainland. All of them were distinguished by a complex social organization. Each tribe had its own rituals and myths. The Australian aborigines communicated in more than two hundred languages. The colonization period was accompanied by a purposeful destruction of the indigenous population. The Australian aborigines were deprived of their territories. They were pushed into the ecologically unfavorable zones of the continent. The outbreak of the epidemic contributed to a sharp reduction in their numbers. In 1921 the density of the population of Australia, indigenous in particular, was no more than sixty thousand people. Later, the state policy changed. Protected reservations began to be created. The authorities organized medical and material assistance. The totality of these actions has greatly contributed to the fact that the density of the population of Australia has increased.

Subsequent development

Such a notion as "Australian citizenship" did not exist until the beginning of 1949. Most of the local residents were considered British subjects. A relevant law was issued, according to which all indigenous people became citizens of Australia. Everyone who was born in this territory after this date was already its citizen automatically. In the 90 years, the number of Australian Aborigines was about two hundred and fifty thousand people. It is only one and a half percent of the entire population of the continent.

Aboriginal mythology

The indigenous population of Australia believed that being is not limited to physical reality alone. Aborigines believed that there is a world where their spiritual ancestors live. They believed that physical reality echoes it. And thus they exert mutual influence on each other. There was a belief that the sky is the place where both of these 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 Aborigines is played by celestial bodies, stars, etc. Archaeologists and historians for a long time are engaged in the study of fragments containing drawings of Bushmen. Until now, it is not completely clear what the rock paintings were. In particular, were these heavenly objects or some pictures from everyday life? Aborigines owned certain information about the sky. It is established that they tried to use celestial bodies to implement the calendar. Nevertheless, there is no information that it was somehow connected with the lunar phases. It is also known that there were no attempts to use celestial objects for navigation.