An Essay On The Inequality of The Human Races - Superiority of The Aryans

Superiority of The Aryans

Vol I, chapter 16, the final chapter of that volume, carries the long superscript "Récapitulation; caractères respectifs des trois grandes races; effects sociaux des mélanges; supérorité du type blanc et, dans ce type, de la famille ariane", or, in English, "Recapitulation; respective characters of the three great races; social effects of mixtures; superiority of the white type and, within that type, of the Aryan family". Gobineau claims that there have been no more than ten great civilizations, and that they have all been started by the white race. These civilizations are:

  1. The Indian civilization - built around a branch of the Aryans.
  2. The Egyptian civilization - founded by an Aryan colony from India.
  3. The Assyrians - to which are attached other civilizations such as the Jewish and the Phoenician. According to Gobineau, these are Hamites and Semites. Gobineau places the Iranian civilizations here, but claims that they are Aryans.
  4. The Greeks - originally Aryans, but with Semitic elements.
  5. The Chinese civilization - like the Egyptian founded by an Aryan colony from India.
  6. The old civilization of the Italian Peninsula - became a mosaic of Celts, Iberians, Aryans, and Semites.
  7. The Germanic races transformed in the 5th century the western spirit - they were Aryans.
  8. The Alleghanian civilizations in America.
  9. The Mexican civilizations in America.
  10. The Peruvian civilization in America.

In Vol VI, chapter 7, "Les indigènes américans" ("The native Americans"), Gobineau discusses the racial status of the native Americans and ends up suggesting that at least the royal families of the three American civilization groups mentioned above (8.-10.) were white, even Aryans of Scandinavian origin.

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