ABSTRACT
Racial and cultural differences exist not only between Europe and Africa but also within Africa itself, and strictly speaking the term African should not be used without qualification. The people of Africa are divided into a number of races, each of an individual type, and even within the races variations are found which have been caused by intermarriage, by environment, and by history. Indigenous races and civilizations have influenced each other, and moreover for thousands of years streams of foreigners and of foreign culture have flowed into Africa from outside. Leaving aside the Semites in the east and north, the Indians in the east and south, the Malays in Madagascar, we regard as ancient inhabitants of Africa three races: Pygmies, Hamites, and Negroes. The Pygmies and Bushmen possibly represent an old type of mankind in Africa. The material culture of both Pygmies and Bushmen is poor, and their social organization primitive.
