Central African Anthropological Type

The Central African anthropological type (also tropical anthropological type , paleonegroid anthropological type , West-Bantoid anthropological type ) is one of the variants of the small Negro race . Distributed in the rain forests of the Congo Basin among the western Bantu peoples - in the Republic of the Congo , in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , in Angola and in some other countries (among the so-called black forest). The main feature of the Central African type is lower growth in comparison with the Sudanese type ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

In the classification of G. F. Debec, the Central African type is referred to as "tropical." This anthropological type is included in the Sudanese minor race of the African branch of the large negro-australoid race . Along with the tropical type (somewhat close to the Negril race ), the Sudanese type also belongs to the Sudanese race in this classification (with signs approaching the characteristics of the Nilotic type ) ^{[4] [5]} .

The features of the Central African anthropological type suggest that this type was formed as a result of crossbreeding of representatives of the Negro race with the pygmies also inhabiting the Congo river basin. The signs of the Central African type include ^{[1] [2] [3]} :

• slightly lighter skin tones than representatives of the Sudanese anthropological type;
• moderate dolichokephaly ;
• highly developed tertiary hair on the face and body;
• stocky physique ;
• relatively short stature and some other symptoms.

According to S. V. Drobyshevsky , it is possible to talk about the separation of the Central African and other Negro anthropological types with some degree of conventionality, since the populations in the area of ​​the Negro race are poorly studied and, accordingly, there are no sufficient descriptions of this or that variety of this race ^[6] .

In the literature on racial studies with respect to the Central African type, the terms “tropical”, “paleonegroid” and “western-bantoid” are used ^{[2] [7] [8]} . The last two names are not entirely successful, since the first of them suggests some antiquity in the origin of the anthropological type under consideration (while the Central African groups of populations formed relatively late), and the second indicates the linguistic group (meanwhile, linguistic and racial affiliation at least, in this case, do not correlate in any way) ^[6] .