The Caspian race was a supposed sub-race of the

Caucasian race The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid, Europid, or Europoid) is an Historical race concepts, obsolete racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The ''Caucasian race'' was historically regarded as a biologi ...

in the context of a now-outdated model of dividing humanity into different races which was developed originally by Europeans in support of

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

. The term was used by M. G. Abdushelishvili (1979) as constituting a branch of the

Mediterranean race The Mediterranean race (also Mediterranid race) is an Historical race concepts, obsolete racial classification of humans based on the now-disproven theory of biological race. According to writers of the late 19th to mid-20th centuries it was a su ...

or Irano-Afghan race. In Soviet-era anthropology, the term was used to include Tats and

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; , ), Azeris (, ), or Azerbaijani Turks (, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group living mainly in the Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan region of northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republic of Azerbaijan. They are predomin ...

. The Caspian race was said to be prevalent among the

Kumyks Kumyks (, ) are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus. They traditionally populate the Kumyk Plateau (northern Dagestan and northeastern Chechnya), la ...

and Tsakhurs. Genrietta Leonidovna Khit said that as a form of racial admixture the Caspian subtype was represented among

Turkmens Turkmens (, , , ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, ...

and Talyshs.

Notes

{{Historical definitions of race Biological anthropology Historical definitions of race Pseudoscience