Aryan race

The 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (Leipzig, 1885-1890) shows the Caucasian race (in blue) as being made up of Aryans, Semites and Hamites. Aryans are further subdivided into European Aryans and Indo-Aryans. The people called "Indo-Aryans" on this 1890 map are today known as Indo-Iranians, and the word "Indo-Aryan" is only used today for those Indo-Iranians from northern India.

The Aryan race is an idea formed in the 19th and early 20th century that the early speakers of the Indo-European languages and their modern descendants were a sub-race of Caucasians called the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the Proto-Indo-Europeans were called Proto-Aryans. The term Aryan comes from the ancient Sanskrit word ārya, which was a term used by Sanskrit speaking people to distinguish themselves from other races. The Iranians also used the terms, and the name Iran means "land of the Aryans". The idea of an Aryan race was first used as a category of people but was later used by occult movements such as Theosophy. It was also later used by Nazism and white supremisism in racist ways.

Theosopy

Theosophy, an occult society founded by Helena Blavatsky believes that the Arabian people and the Jews are a part of the Aryan race. It is believed by Theosophists that the Arabians used the Semitic language of the people around them. These people had moved to the area from Atlantis. Theosophists claim that the Jews began as a part of the Arabian subrace in what is now Yemen around 30,000 BC. They moved first to Somalia and then to Egypt where they lived until the time of Moses.

References

• http://archaeology.about.com/od/indusrivercivilizations/a/aryans.htm