As cultures and languages disappear from the Earth at a shocking rate, it becomes all the more urgent for us to know and value the worldαs many ethnic identities. National Geographicαs Book of Peoples of the World propels that important quest with concern, authority, and respect. Created by a team of experts, this hands-on resource offers thorough coverage of more than 200 ethnic groups₂some as obscure as the Kallawaya of the Peruvian Andes, numbering fewer than 1,000; others as widespread as the Bengalis of India, 172 million strong. Weαre swept along on a global tour of beliefs, traditions, and challenges, observing the remarkable diversity of human ways as well as the shared experiences. Spectacular photographs reveal how people define themselves and their worlds. Specially commissioned maps show how human beings have developed culture in response to environment. Thought-provoking text examines not only the societies and the regions that produced them, but also the notion of ethnicity itself₂its immense impact on history, the effects of immigration on cultural identity, and the threats facing many groups today. Threading through the story are the extraordinary findings of the National Geographic Societyαs Genographic Project₂a research initiative to catalog DNA from people around the world, decoding the great map of human migration embedded in our own genetic makeup.

Rev. ed. of: Peoples of the world. c2001.

The Genographic Project /Jason Blue-Smith -- Map of regions of the world -- Sub-Saharan Africa -- When languages die / K. David Harrison -- North Africa & The Middle East -- A life on the move / Harrison -- Asia -- To sail by the wisdom of the stars / Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey -- Oceania -- Notes on the world's scales / Miranda Weinberg -- Europe -- Written word, oral world / Robert E. Hart -- North America -- Making a space to live in / Harrison -- Central & South America -- Ethnic groups of the world.