Who is Black? Striking Images of the World’s Dark-Skinned People Inaccurately Considered Non-Black

Semang (Bateq) tribe woman of Malaysia and her child

Black People of Southeast Asia

The Black people who are labeled “The Negritos,” are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia, remnants of the earliest populations from the Out of Africa migration.  The term refers to the current populations which include 12 Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, six Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand, and also the Aeta, Agta, Ati  and 30 other peoples of the Philippines.

They are believed to be the descendants of the indigenous negroid populations of the Sunda landmass and New Guinea, predating the Austronesian peoples who later entered Southeast Asia.

Genetically these people are some of the most distantly related human beings to Black Africans on earth, and most related to Southeast Asians. Some people attempt to use this fact to remove them from the Black race, however; a more reasonable conclusion acknowledges it as a testament to to the broad range of diversity among the Black people of the world.

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