The largest nations of the world in their faces (39 photos). The smallest peoples of the world From different peoples of countries on earth

Despite the efforts of historians and ethnographers, the history of these peoples still keeps its mysteries.

1. Russians

Yes, Russians are one of the most mysterious peoples. Scientists still cannot come to a consensus either about when Russians became “Russians” or about where this word actually came from. The question of the origin of the people remains controversial. The ancestors of the Russians included the Normans, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the Wends, and even the South Siberian Usun people.

We do not know the origins of the Maya people, nor where they disappeared to. Some scientists trace the roots of the Mayans to the legendary Atlanteans, others believe that their ancestors were the Egyptians. The Mayans created an effective farming system and had deep knowledge of astronomy. The calendar developed by the Mayans was also used by other peoples of Central America. They used a hieroglyphic writing system, partially deciphered. The Mayan civilization was very developed, but by the time the conquistadors arrived it was in deep decline, and the Mayans themselves seemed to have disappeared into history.

3. Laplanders

Laplanders are also called Sami and Lapps. The age of this ethnic group is at least 5000 years. Scientists are still arguing about who the Laplanders are and where they came from. Some consider this people to be Mongoloid, others argue that the Laplanders are Paleo-Europeans. The Sami language is classified as a Finno-Ugric language, but the Laplanders have 10 dialects of the Sami language, which are so different from each other that they can be called independent. This even makes it difficult for some Laplanders to communicate with others.

4. Prussians

The very origin of the Prussian name is shrouded in mystery. The first time it is found only in the 9th century in the form Brusi in a draft by an anonymous merchant, and later in Polish and German chronicles. Linguists find analogies for it in many Indo-European languages ​​and believe that it goes back to the Sanskrit purusa - “man”. There is also no sufficient information preserved about the language of the Prussians. Its last bearer died in 1677, and the plague of 1709-1711 exterminated the last Prussians in Prussia itself. Already in the 17th century, instead of Prussian history, the history of “Prussianism” and the kingdom of Prussia began, the local population of which had little in common with the Baltic name of the Prussians.

5. Cossacks

The question of where the Cossacks came from still remains unresolved. Their homeland is found in the North Caucasus, the Azov region, and Western Turkestan. The ancestry of the Cossacks is traced back to the Scythians, Alans, Circassians, Khazars, Goths, and Brodniks. Supporters of all versions have their own arguments. Today the Cossacks are a multi-ethnic community, but they themselves like to insist that the Cossacks are separate people.

6. Parsis

Parsis are an ethno-religious group of followers of Zoroastrianism in South Asia, of Iranian origin. Its number now amounts to less than 130 thousand people. Parsis have their own temples and so-called “towers of silence”, where, in order not to desecrate the sacred elements (earth, fire, water), they bury the dead (the corpses are pecked by vultures). Parsis are often compared to Jews; they were also forced to leave their homeland and are meticulous in matters of religious observance. The Iran League in India at the beginning of the 20th century promoted the return of Parsis to their homeland, reminiscent of the Zionism of the Jews.

7. Hutsuls

There is still debate about the meaning of the word “hutsul”. Some scientists believe that the etymology of the word goes back to the Moldavian “gots” or “guts”, which means “robber”, others - to the word “kochul”, which means “shepherd”. The Hutsuls are also called “Ukrainian highlanders.” Among them, the traditions of witchcraft are still strong. Hutsul sorcerers are called molfars. They can be white or black. Molfars enjoy unquestioned authority.

8. Hittites

The Hittite Power was one of the most influential forces on the geopolitical map Ancient world. The first constitution appeared here, the Hittites were the first to use war chariots and revered the double-headed eagle, but information about the Hittites is still fragmentary. In their “tables of the courageous deeds” of the kings there are many notes “for the next year,” but the year of the report is unknown. We know the chronology of the Hittite state from the sources of its neighbors. Remains open question: where did the Hittites disappear? Johann Lehmann in his book “Hittites. People of a Thousand Gods” gives a version that the Hittites went north, where they assimilated with the Germanic tribes. But this is just a version.

9. Sumerians

The Sumerians are the most interesting and still one of the most mysterious peoples of the Ancient World. We don't know where they came from or what language family their language belonged to. A large number of homonyms suggests that it was tonal (like, for example, modern Chinese), which means that the meaning of what was said often depended on intonation. The Sumerians were one of the most advanced peoples of their time, they were the first in the entire Middle East to use the wheel, create an irrigation system, invent a unique writing system, and the Sumerians’ knowledge of mathematics and astronomy is still amazing.

Ancient people the Etruscans suddenly arose in human history, but also suddenly dissolved in it. According to archaeologists, the Etruscans inhabited the northwestern part of the Apennine Peninsula and created a fairly developed civilization there. It was the Etruscans who founded the first cities in Italy. Historians also believe that Roman numerals can also be called Etruscan. It is unknown where the Etruscans disappeared to. According to one version, they moved to the east and became the founders of the Slavic ethnic group. Some scientists argue that the Etruscan language is very close in structure to the Slavic ones.

The origin of the Armenians remains a mystery. There are many versions. Some scholars correlate Armenians with the people ancient state Urartu, but genetic component Urartu is present in genetic code Armenians as well as the genetic component of the same Hurrians and Luwians, not to mention the proto-Armenians. There are Greek versions of the origin of the Armenians, as well as the so-called “Hayasian hypotheses”, in which Hayas, the territory east of the Hittite kingdom, becomes the original homeland of the Armenians. Scientists have never given a final answer to the question of the origin of the Armenians and most often adhere to the migration-mixed hypothesis of Armenian ethnogenesis.

According to linguistic and genetic research, the ancestors of the Gypsies left the territory of India in numbers not exceeding 1000 people. Today there are about 10 million Roma in the world. In the Middle Ages, Gypsies in Europe were considered Egyptians. The word Gitanes itself is a derivative of the Egyptian. Tarot cards, considered the last surviving remnant of the cult of the Egyptian god Thoth, were brought to Europe by the gypsies. It was not for nothing that they were called “Pharaoh’s tribe.” It was also amazing for Europeans that the gypsies embalmed their dead and buried them in crypts, where they placed everything necessary for life after death. These funeral traditions are still alive among the gypsies today.

Jews are one of the most mysterious living peoples. For a long time it was believed that the very concept of “Jews” was cultural rather than ethnic. That is, that “Jews” were created by Judaism, and not vice versa. There are still fierce discussions in science about what the Jews originally were - a people, a social class or a religious denomination.

There are many mysteries in the history of the Jewish people. At the end of the 8th century BC, five-sixths of Jews disappeared completely - 10 out of 12 ethnic groups. Where did they disappear to? big question. There is a version that from the Scythians and Cimmerians, as descendants of 10 tribes, come the Finns, Swiss, Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, Welsh, French, Belgians, Dutch, Danes, Irish and Welsh, that is, almost everyone European peoples. The question of the origin of the Ashkenazim and their closeness to Middle Eastern Jews also remains debatable.

Guanches are the natives of Tenerife. The mystery of how they ended up in the Canary Islands has not yet been solved, since they did not have a fleet and did not have seafaring skills. Their anthropological type did not correspond to the latitudes where they lived. The rectangular pyramids on the island of Tenerife, similar to the Mayan and Aztec pyramids in Mexico, are also controversial. Neither the time of their construction nor the purpose for which they were erected is known.

Neighboring peoples wrote a lot about the Khazars, but they themselves left virtually no information about themselves. Just as suddenly the Khazars appeared on the historical stage, just as suddenly they left it. Historians still do not have sufficient archaeological data about what Khazaria was like, nor an understanding of what language the Khazars spoke. It is also unknown where they eventually disappeared. There are many versions. There is no clarity.

The age, origin and language of the Basques is one of the main mysteries modern history. The Basque language, Euskara, is considered the only relict pre-Indo-European language that does not belong to any currently existing language family. When it comes to genetics, according to a 2012 study by the National Geographic Society, all Basques contain a set of genes that significantly distinguishes them from other peoples around them.

The Chaldeans are a Semitic-Aramaic people who lived at the end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. in the territory of Southern and Central Mesopotamia. In 626-538 BC. Babylon was ruled by the Chaldean dynasty, which founded the Neo-Babylonian kingdom. The Chaldeans were a people who are still associated with magic and astrology. IN Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome Chaldeans were the name given to priests and fortune-tellers of Babylonian origin. The Chaldeans made predictions to Alexander the Great and his successors Antigonus and Seleucus.

Sarmatians are one of the most mysterious peoples in world history. Herodotus called them “lizard-headed,” Lomonosov believed that the Slavs descended from the Sarmatians, and the Polish gentry called themselves their direct descendants. The Sarmatians left a lot of mysteries. They probably had a matriarchy. Some scientists trace the roots of the Russian kokoshnik to the Sarmatians. Among them, the custom of artificial deformation of the skull was widespread, thanks to which a person’s head took on the shape of an elongated egg.

The Kalash are a small people living in the north of Pakistan in the Hindu Kush mountains. They are probably the most famous "white" people in Asia. Disputes about the origins of the Kalash continue today. The Kalash themselves are sure that they are the descendants of Macedonian himself. The Kalash language is called phonologically atypical; it has retained the basic composition of Sanskrit. Despite attempts at Islamization, many Kalash retain polytheism.

The modern name "Palestine" comes from "Philistia". The Philistines are the most mysterious people mentioned in the Bible. In the Middle East, only they and the Hittites mastered the technology of steel smelting, marking the beginning of the Iron Age. The Bible says that these people originate from the island of Caphtor (Crete), although some historians correlate the Philistines with the Pelasgians. Both Egyptian manuscripts and archaeological finds testify to the Cretan origins of the Philistines. It is still not clear where the Philistines disappeared to. Most likely, they were assimilated by the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Modern science is not yet able to answer the question of what is the exact number of peoples on Earth and how many of them are nations, nationalities and other types of ethnic groups. Most often, ethnographers define total quantity There are between 2200 and 2400 peoples on the planet.
Only 24 of them have a population exceeding 50 million people. And out of twenty-four, nine represent India.

The largest people on Earth are the Chinese (self-name - Han), who currently number 1 billion 310 million people. This represents 19% of the total population of our planet.
Chinese actor and director Jackie Chan

In second place among the largest nations on Earth are the Arabs, who currently number about 350 million people.
Arab actor Omar Sharif

In third place among the largest nations on Earth are the Hindustanis, but they can be called united people only conditionally. Hindustani are a group of ethnic groups in India who are united by the unity of the language - Hindi. Currently, more than 330 million people speak Western and Eastern dialects of Hindi.
Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, Hindustani by nationality

The fourth largest population among the nations of the Earth is occupied by Americans (314 million people). Americans are a group of national groups of different origins who are citizens of the United States and bearers of American culture, and as a result, claim to be called a single people.
US President Barack Obama with his family

In fifth place among the largest peoples on the planet are the Bengalis - the main population of the state of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India. The total number of Bengalis in the world is more than 250 million (about 150 million in Bangladesh and about 100 million in India).
Indian writer and poet Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali by nationality

In sixth place among the largest nations on Earth are the Brazilians (193 million people) - a nation that was formed in the same way as the American nation - by mixing different ethnic groups.
Brazilian fashion model Camila Alves

The seventh largest people on Earth are Russians, of whom there are about 150 million people in the world, of which 116 million live in Russia, 8.3 million in Ukraine, 3.8 million in Kazakhstan. Russians are the largest people in Europe.
19th-century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy

Miss World 2008 Ksenia Sukhinova

The eighth largest people on the planet are Mexicans, of whom there are 147 million people in the world, of which 112 million people. live in Mexico and 32 million in the USA.
Mexican Ximena Navarrete - Miss Universe 2010

The ninth largest people in the world are the Japanese (130 million people).
Japanese actress Kyoko Fukada

Punjabis close the top ten largest nations on Earth. There are 120 million Punjabis in the world, of which 76 million are lives in Pakistan and 29 million in India.
Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, Punjabi by nationality

There are 11 nations in the world, numbering more than 100 million people. These peoples, in addition to the above, also include the Biharis, who mainly live in the Indian state of Bihar. There are 105 million Biharis in the world.
Indian actress Sonakshi Sinha of Bihari origin

The 12th largest people in the world are the Javanese (85 million people), the indigenous population of the island of Java in Indonesia.
Javanka Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia

The 13th largest people on the planet are Koreans. There are 81 million Koreans in the world, of which 50 million live in South Korea and 24 million in North Korea.
South Korean actors Song Seung Heon (left) and Song Hye Kyo

The 14th largest people in the world - the Marathas (80 million people) - are the main population of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Indian actress Madhuri Dixit is from the Maratha people.

The 15th largest people on Earth are the Tamils, of whom there are 77 million people in the world, of which 63 million live in India.
Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand (Tamil by nationality), current world chess champion.

There are approximately the same number of Vietnamese (Viets) in the world as there are Tamils ​​(77 million people).
Truong Tri Truc Diem (born 1987) - singer, actress, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Represented Vietnam twice international competitions beauty: in 2007 she took part in the Miss Earth contest, and in 2011 in the Miss International contest.

Another large nation is the Germans. There are 75 million Germans in Germany. If we also count people of German origin, we get a more impressive figure - 150 million people. For example, in the United States, 60 million people have German ancestry, making them the largest ethnic group among Americans.
German actress Diane Kruger

The Telugu people, the main population of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, also number at least 75 million.
Indian spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, Telugu by nationality.

About 70 million people are Thai - the main population of Thailand.
Thai Piyaporn Deejin, Miss Thailand 2008

About 65 million people are Turks.
Tuba Büyüküstün is a Turkish actress.

Also, at least 65 million people are Gujaratis - the main population of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi, Gujarati by nationality

One of the largest peoples in Europe and the world is the French (64 million people).
Catherine Deneuve - French actress

Another European nation, one of the largest nations in the world, is the Italians. 60 million Italians live in Italy
Claudia Cardinale - Italian actress

About 60 million people are Sindhis. 53.5 million Sindhis live in Pakistan and about 6 million Sindhis live in India.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto is a Sindhi.

For me, as for many, it is no secret that the largest number of people live in China. However, I got to thinking: are the Chinese the largest people? Perhaps the country is multinational, and the share of Chinese is modest and inferior to neighboring Hindustani?

Largest nations of the world

Large nations are those that number more than 1 million people. Today there are just over 300 known such peoples. If you put them together, you get about 96% of the total population of the planet. I won’t talk about everything, but I’ll name the top five by number:

1. Chinese (1,294 million, concentrated in East Asia).
2. Hindustani (1,041 million, concentrated in South Asia).
3. Bengalis (288 million, concentrated in South Asia).
4. Americans (USA) (217 million, concentrated in Anglo-America (USA)).
5. Brazilians (175 million, concentrated in Latin America).

Chinese (Han)

It is worth clarifying that we are talking about the Han people. By “Chinese” we most often mean all the peoples of China. So it is the Han who are the leaders in numbers in the world. In fact, almost every fifth person on the planet is a member of the Han people. In their native China they account for 92%. This ethnic group also dominates in the Republic of China (98%), Hong Kong (95%), Macau (92%), Singapore (76.8%), and Taiwan (98%). In general, 81% of Huaqiao live in Asia. The remaining representatives of the nationality are located in North America(14.51%), in Europe (2.6%), in Oceania (1.5%) and even in Africa, specifically in South Africa (0.3%).

Hindustani

The Chinese are from China, and where are the Hindustanis from? From Hindustan? I have not heard of such a country. In fact, this nationality is Hindi-speaking Indians. This is the largest population of India. The people settled in Asia quite compactly: India, Pakistan, Nepal.

Bengalis

The same question with the Bengalis as with the Hindustanis: where are they from? The people make up the main population of Indian states such as Tripura and West Bengal, in the Ganges delta, as well as Bangladesh. Representatives of Bengalis live in Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Singapore, Pakistan, USA, UK and other countries.

Only on the territory of Russia live 65 small peoples, and the number of some of them does not exceed a thousand people. There are hundreds of similar peoples on Earth, and each carefully preserves its customs, language and culture.

Our top ten today includes the most small peoples peace.

10. Ginukh people

This small people lives on the territory of Dagestan, and its population is only 443 people as of the end of 2010. For a long time, the Ginukh people were not identified as a separate ethnic group, since the Ginukh language was considered only one of the dialects of the Tsez language widespread in Dagestan.

9. Selkups

Until the 1930s, representatives of this West Siberian people were called Ostyak-Samoyeds. The number of Selkups is just over 4 thousand people. They live mainly in the Tyumen and Tomsk regions, as well as the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

8. Nganasans

This people lives on the Taimyr Peninsula, and their number is about 800 people. Nganasany is the most northern people in Eurasia. Until the middle of the 20th century, the people led a nomadic lifestyle, driving herds of deer over vast distances; today the Nganasans live sedentary lives.

7. Orochons

The place of residence of this small ethnic group is China and Mongolia. The population is about 7 thousand people. The history of the people goes back more than a thousand years, and the Orochons are mentioned in many documents dating back to the early Chinese imperial dynasties.

6. Evenks

This indigenous people of Russia lives in Eastern Siberia. These people are the most numerous in our top ten - their numbers are quite sufficient to populate a small town. There are about 35 thousand Evenks in the world.

5. Chum salmon

Kets live in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region. The number of this people is less than 1500 people. Until the middle of the 20th century, representatives of the ethnic group were called Ostyaks, as well as Yeniseians. The Ket language belongs to the group of Yenisei languages.

4. Chulym people

The number of this indigenous people of Russia is 355 people as of 2010. Despite the fact that most of the Chulym people recognize Orthodoxy, the ethnic group carefully preserves some traditions of shamanism. Chulyms live mainly in the Tomsk region. It is interesting that the Chulym language does not have a written language.

3. Basins

The number of this people living in Primorye is only 276 people. The Taz language is a mixture of one of the Chinese dialects with the Nanai language. Now this language is spoken by less than half of those who consider themselves to be Taz.

2. Livs

This extremely small people lives on the territory of Latvia. From time immemorial, the main occupations of the Livs were piracy, fishing and hunting. Today the people have almost completely assimilated. According to official data, there are only 180 Livs left.

1. Pitcairns

This people is the smallest in the world and lives on the small island of Pitcairn in Oceania. The number of Pitcairns is about 60 people. All of them are descendants of the sailors of the British warship Bounty, who landed here in 1790. The Pitcairn language is a mixture of simplified English, Tahitian and maritime vocabulary.