Story: European ideas about Māori

Types of mankind

This illustration was published in Josiah Nott and George Gliddon's 800-page volume, Types of mankind, in 1854. The book was highly influential in promoting the idea of the separate creation of races. Nott was an Alabama doctor and Gliddon an Egyptologist. Both were heavily influenced by Samuel Morton's study of human skulls, which led him to the view that different races were distinct and separate species. Types of mankind was used to justify the slavery of blacks in the southern United States, and it had an international audience. In New Zealand, it was used to justify polygenist views about Māori.

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Reference: Josiah Nott and George Gliddon, Types of mankind: or, ethnological researches, based upon the ancient monuments, paintings, sculptures, and crania of races. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1854

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How to cite this page:

James Belich, 'European ideas about Māori - Hard racism and the ‘Call of the Pah’', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/zoomify/29876/types-of-mankind (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by James Belich, published 5 May 2011