The lost white tribe: explorers, scientists, and the theory that changed a continent

321 Pages·2016·15.552 MB·English

by  Robinson, Michael F

THE LOST WHITE TRIBE

THE
LOST
WHITE
TRIBE
Explorers, Scientists,
and the Theory that
Changed a Continent
Michael F. Robinson
1
1
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© Michael F. Robinson 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Michael F. (Michael Frederick), 1966– author.
The lost white tribe : explorers, scientists, and the theory that changed a continent /
Michael F. Robinson.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-997848-9—ISBN 978-0-19-997849-6—ISBN 978-0-19-997850-2
1. Africa—Discovery and exploration—European.
2. Africa—Colonization—History—19th century.
3. Ethnology—Africa—History. 4. Whites—Africa—History. I. Title.
DT3.R63 2016
960.23—dc23 2015015102
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Michele

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
PART I: STANLEY’S LOST STORY
1. Gambaragara 13
2. Another World 23
3. Early Encounters 36
4. The Story Breaks 47
5. The Curse of Ham 55
6. Oriental Jones 64
7. The Beautiful Skull 75
8. The Hypothesis Revised 85
9. King Mutesa 95
10. Great Zimbabwe 108
11. At the Summit 120
Contents
viii
PART II: A WORLD GONE WHITE
12. The Dynastic Race 137
13. The Aryan Tidal Wave 147
14. Blond Eskimos 162
15. Tribes of the Imagination 175
16. The White Psyche 188
17. Cracks in the Theory 199
18. The Roof of the World 211
19. Colored by War 224
20. Kennewick Man 235
Epilogue: What Did Stanley See? 245
Notes 257
Select Bibliography 279
Index 289
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project began in 1998 when I read Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s essay
about his encounter with “Blond Eskimos.” It was a strange story.
At the time, it didn’t follow the direction of my research on Arctic ex-
ploration, and I left it out of the book I was writing on this subject, The
Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture. Something
about the “Blond Eskimos” story stayed with me, though, so I held on
to the essay. Soon I began finding more white-encounter stories and
set them aside in a file cabinet. By the time I started working on this
project seriously in 2008, the cabinet was stuffed with accounts of
long-lost Caucasians, Hamites, and Aryans, reviews of lost race litera-
ture, Nazi expeditions, and research articles on skulls.
If this project succeeds in being something more than a cabinet of
strange stories, it is because I have been helped by many people. Jason
Anthony, Valerie Olson, Katharine Owens, Avi Patt, Laurel Clark Shire,
Bryan Sinche, Richard Troy, and Robin Troy read early proposals of
The Lost White Tribe and sharpened its focus. Kathleen Sheppard, Neil
Kodesh, Michele Troy, and Dane Kennedy read portions of my manu-
script and offered valuable expertise. Rand Richards Cooper read this
manuscript from beginning to end, and then, because he is gracious
and thorough, read it again. His suggestions made it a stronger book.
At the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium, Dr. Mathilde
Leduc-Grimaldi guided me through the collections of the Stanley
Archive. At Makerere University in Kampala, professor Mahmood
Mamdani, director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research, and