Paper 64 Overview: The Evolutionary Races of Color

This paper chronicles the evolutionary progression of human races on Urantia from the emergence of Andon and Fonta nearly one million years ago, through the differentiation of the Andonic aborigines, the development of the Neanderthal races, and culminating with the appearance and global dispersion of the six colored Sangik races. The narrative delineates how mankind's history bifurcates into two distinct epochs: the pre-Planetary Prince era comprising the first half-million years, and the subsequent period beginning with the Planetary Prince's arrival, coincident with the appearance of the six colored races. This latter epoch corresponds chronologically with what contemporary anthropology designates as the Old Stone Age, a period characterized by significant biological diversification and the foundations of cultural differentiation.

The paper meticulously traces the geographic migrations, physical adaptations, and cultural developments of these early human populations as they spread across continents, developed distinct societal structures, and experienced varying degrees of spiritual awakening under notable leaders. Special attention is given to the unprecedented simultaneous emergence of all six Sangik races from a single family, a phenomenon unique to Urantia, and the subsequent complex patterns of racial mixing, conflict, and cooperation that shaped humanity's prehistoric development. Through detailed accounts of the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo races, the narrative illuminates how environmental pressures, genetic predispositions, and cultural choices resulted in the diverse human populations that would eventually form the foundation for modern civilization through processes of migration, conquest, amalgamation, and adaptation.

This is the chronicle of Urantia's evolutionary races from the days of Andon and Fonta, almost one million years ago, through the era of the Planetary Prince and concluding at the terminus of the ice age. The narrative encompasses the entirety of human biological and cultural evolution during this extensive period, documenting the emergence, migration, and development of humanity's earliest races.

Human history naturally divides into two major epochs, with the first half corresponding to the pre-Planetary Prince era, and the latter half commencing with the arrival of the Planetary Prince, coincident with the emergence of the six colored races. This second period approximately correlates with what contemporary anthropology classifies as the Old Stone Age, a critical developmental phase in humanity's journey toward civilization.

Primitive man made his evolutionary appearance on earth slightly less than one million years ago, embarking on a vigorous developmental trajectory marked by instinctive intelligence and adaptive capacity. These early human populations faced significant geographical constraints on their migration patterns: the arid Tibetan highlands with elevations of 30,000 feet above sea level blocked eastward movement; the expanded Mediterranean Sea, which then extended eastward to the Indian Ocean, prevented southward and westward travel; and the advancing ice sheets impeded northern progression. Despite these formidable barriers and increasing hostility from dispersing tribes, the more intelligent groups categorically rejected the possibility of retreating southward to commingle with their inferior tree-dwelling cousins of lesser intellectual capacity, demonstrating an early manifestation of evolutionary self-selection.

The Andonites deliberately eschewed forest environments, establishing a pattern diametrically opposed to their nonhuman relatives. This strategic environmental preference proved evolutionarily significant, as human advancement consistently occurred in open landscapes and higher latitudes rather than forested regions. The cold and resource-scarce conditions of northern territories functioned as evolutionary catalysts, stimulating action, invention, and resourcefulness among these developing populations. While the Andonic tribes were forging the foundations of human civilization amid the hardships and privations of northern climates, their less progressive cousins enjoyed the comparative ease of the southern tropical forests in the land of their common origin, a divergence that would establish a recurring pattern throughout human history wherein environmental challenges correlate with accelerated cultural and biological advancement.

These early migrations were occurring during the third glacier according to geological reckoning, the first by geological classification to significantly impact northern Europe. During most of the ice age, England maintained a land connection with France, while Africa was later joined to Europe via the Sicilian land bridge. At the time of the Andonic migrations, a continuous land path extended from England in the west through Europe and Asia to Java in the east, facilitating widespread human dispersal while Australia remained isolated, developing its distinctive fauna independently.

By 900,000 years ago, the arts pioneered by Andon and Fonta and the cultural advancements initiated by Onagar were rapidly disappearing from the earth, with culture, religious practice, and even flintworking techniques reaching their nadir. This period of cultural regression saw large numbers of inferior mongrel groups migrating into England from southern France—populations that had been so extensively hybridized with forest-dwelling proto-humans that they barely qualified as human. These groups possessed no religious beliefs and demonstrated only the most rudimentary flintworking abilities, representing a significant devolution from earlier Andonic achievements. Following these degraded populations came somewhat superior and more prolific peoples who would eventually spread throughout continental Europe, forming what anthropology later classified as the Heidelberg race.

During this extended period of cultural deterioration, isolated pockets of more advanced civilization persisted, particularly among the Foxhall peoples of England and the Badonan tribes of northwestern India, who maintained elements of Andonic traditions and vestiges of Onagar's cultural influence. The Foxhall peoples, situated at the westernmost extent of Andonic cultural diffusion, succeeded in preserving significant knowledge of flintworking techniques, which they subsequently transmitted to their descendants, the direct ancestors of the modern Eskimo populations. Despite their remains being among the last discovered in the archaeological record of England, these Andonites were chronologically the first human inhabitants of these regions. Most of their early settlements, strategically positioned along rivers and seashores, now lie submerged beneath the waters of the English Channel and North Sea, with only three or four sites remaining above water along the English coast—a testament to the dramatic geographical transformations that have occurred since their habitation.

The more intelligent and spiritually receptive members of the Foxhall peoples managed to maintain their racial integrity and perpetuate their primitive religious customs through successive generations. As these populations later intermingled with subsequent migrations, they advanced westward from England after a later glacial period, eventually evolving into the present-day Eskimo populations, thus establishing one of the few direct lines of continuity between prehistoric and contemporary human groups, albeit one significantly transformed by environmental adaptation and genetic admixture with other populations encountered during their northward migration.

Concurrent with the Foxhall peoples in the west, another center of struggling cultural resilience persisted in the east among the tribes of Badonan in the northwestern Indian highlands. These people held the singular distinction of being the only descendants of Andon who categorically rejected the practice of human sacrifice, maintaining a more ethically evolved expression of early human spiritual development. These highland Badonites occupied an extensive plateau environment characterized by surrounding forests, traversed by multiple waterways, and rich in game animals. Their dwellings consisted of crude stone huts, hillside grottoes, and semi-underground passages that provided protection from both environmental challenges and hostile neighbors.

As the northern tribes developed increasing apprehension regarding the advancing ice sheets, populations closer to their ancestral homelands cultivated an equally powerful fear of water, having observed the gradual submersion of the Mesopotamian peninsula beneath the encroaching ocean. This hydrological phenomenon, which periodically submerged and then reemerged land masses, generated enduring cultural narratives centered on the dangers of water and the perpetual threat of engulfment. These fears, combined with experiences of river flooding, explain why these populations sought elevated terrain as sanctuary, establishing a pattern of highland habitation that would recur throughout human prehistory as a response to environmental threats.

Approximately 850,000 years ago, the superior Badonan tribes initiated a systematic campaign of extermination directed against their more animalistic neighbors. This extended conflict, persisting for nearly one millennium, resulted in either the eradication or forced migration of most borderland animal-like groups. This aggressive selection process produced a marginal improvement in the hill tribes, and the mixed descendants of this enhanced Badonite genetic stock eventually emerged as an apparently distinct population—the Neanderthal race, which would play a pivotal role in subsequent human evolution through its wide-ranging migrations and eventual admixture with later populations.

The Neanderthalers were exceptional combatants who traveled extensively, gradually radiating from their highland centers in northwestern India westward to France, eastward to China, and southward into northern Africa. They established dominance across vast territories for approximately half a million years, until the migration period of the evolutionary colored races introduced new genetic and cultural influences. During their ascendancy around 800,000 years ago, game was extraordinarily abundant across Europe, with numerous deer species, elephants, and hippopotamuses providing plentiful sustenance. These resourceful people developed sophisticated hunting practices, with the tribes in France pioneering the cultural innovation of granting successful hunters preferential mating rights, an early manifestation of sexual selection based on demonstrated survival skills.

The reindeer proved exceptionally valuable to these Neanderthal populations, serving multifunctional purposes as food, clothing, and raw material for tools, with horns and bones being fashioned into various implements. Despite limited cultural advancement, they significantly improved flintworking techniques, nearly achieving the quality seen in the era of Andon. Large flints attached to wooden handles reappeared in their toolkit, serving effectively as axes and picks for various subsistence activities. As the fourth ice sheet advanced southward 750,000 years ago, these adaptable populations developed methods for creating holes in frozen rivers to spear fish that congregated at these oxygen-rich openings, demonstrating their capacity for environmental problem-solving despite their overall cultural stagnation.

Throughout the extensive tenure of the Neanderthal races, there was remarkably little spiritual, intellectual, or cultural advancement. For nearly a quarter million years, these primitive peoples drifted through existence, hunting and fighting with occasional improvements in specific domains but generally regressing compared to their superior Andonic ancestors. Their spiritual consciousness remained underdeveloped, eventually evolving from animal worship to a superstitious fear of natural forces, particularly atmospheric phenomena like clouds, mists, and fogs. This primitive cosmology of fear culminated in the practice of human sacrifice as attempts to placate invisible forces intensified, reaching its apogee during periods of lunar darkness when they would sacrifice their most exceptional tribal members in desperate efforts to induce the moon's return. This established a pattern of sacrificial practice that would persist in various forms among less developed peoples well into the modern era.

Approximately 500,000 years ago, the Badonan tribes inhabiting the northwestern highlands of India became embroiled in another protracted racial conflict that persisted for more than a century. When this relentless warfare finally subsided, only about one hundred families survived the decimation, but these surviving lineages represented the most intellectually advanced and genetically desirable of all then-living descendants of Andon and Fonta. This dramatic population bottleneck created the conditions for a remarkable evolutionary development that would fundamentally reshape human history through an unprecedented genetic differentiation.

Among these highland Badonites, an extraordinary biological phenomenon manifested when a man and woman residing in the northeastern region of the inhabited highlands began producing offspring of exceptional intelligence. What distinguished these children even more remarkably was that their skin exhibited unique properties of pigmentation, manifesting various colors when exposed to sunlight. This was the Sangik family, whose nineteen children—specifically five red, two orange, four yellow, two green, four blue, and two indigo—became the progenitors of all six colored races of Urantia. As these uniquely pigmented individuals matured and mated with their fellow tribesmen, their offspring consistently inherited the characteristic skin coloration of their Sangik parent, establishing distinct racial lineages that would subsequently develop different cultural, intellectual, and spiritual proclivities as they dispersed across the globe.

Following this critical point in evolutionary history, the narrative temporarily suspends chronological progression to examine separately the distinctive characteristics and developmental trajectories of each of the six Sangik races, whose simultaneous emergence represents one of the most significant biological anomalies in Urantia's evolutionary record. This punctuated genetic diversification established the foundation for human racial differentiation that would subsequently undergo complex patterns of migration, admixture, competition, and cooperation throughout the remaining prehistoric period.

On average evolutionary worlds, the six races of color emerge sequentially over extended periods, with the red race evolving first and establishing global presence before subsequent races appear. Urantia presented a profound deviation from this standard pattern through the simultaneous emergence of all six races from a single family, a genetic phenomenon unprecedented in the local system. Equally anomalous was the prior appearance of the Andonites ahead of the evolutionary colored races, as on no other world in Satania had such a race of will creatures evolved in advance of the sequential colored races, establishing Urantia as exceptional in its evolutionary trajectory.

Each Sangik race developed distinctive characteristics that influenced their historical development: The red race exhibited remarkable intellect, establishing advanced tribal civilization and government while maintaining strict monogamy even among mixed descendants. Despite their early sophistication, internecine conflict weakened them, allowing yellow tribes to drive them from Asia to North America approximately 85,000 years ago. The orange race manifested extraordinary building urges, constructing anything from structures to massive stone mounds, but their cultural achievements deteriorated until revitalized by Porshunta's leadership at Armageddon 300,000 years ago. The race eventually perished in a century-long conflict with the green race in Egypt's Nile valley about 100,000 years ago. The yellow race abandoned hunting early to establish settled agricultural communities and developed superior collective organization through fraternal cooperation, enabling them to displace the red race as they expanded across Asia. Under Singlangton's leadership 100,000 years ago, they experienced spiritual revival through the worship of the "One Truth" and have persisted as among the most peaceful Urantian populations.

The green race, chronically weakened by extensive migrations, experienced cultural renaissance under Fantad's leadership 350,000 years ago before splitting into three divisions: northern tribes subjugated by yellow and blue races, eastern groups assimilated by ancient Indian populations, and southern tribes who entered Africa and destroyed their orange cousins. The green race included strains of giant individuals, with many leaders standing eight to nine feet tall, but these physical advantages proved insufficient for long-term dominance, and remnants were eventually absorbed by the indigo race. The blue race developed significant technological innovations, including the spear and rudimentary arts of modern civilization, combining the intellectual capacity of the red race with the emotional depth of the yellow. They proved receptive to the teachings of Prince Caligastia's staff but were confused by subsequent corrupted doctrines, later experiencing spiritual revival under Orlandof who restored worship of the "Supreme Chief." The indigo race, the least progressive of the Sangik peoples, migrated last from their highland homes to take possession of Africa. In isolation, they achieved minimal advancement until Orvonon's spiritual leadership, but despite their comparative underdevelopment, they maintain exactly the same standing before celestial authorities as any other earthly race, a testament to the spiritual equality underlying human racial diversity despite varying levels of cultural and intellectual achievement.

These diverse races experienced repeated spiritual and cultural revivals under various leaders throughout the pre-Adamic era, with figures like Porshunta, Singlangton, Fantad, Orlandof, and Orvonon serving as spiritual catalysts for their respective peoples. Despite periods of conflict and progressive divergence, these races collectively represent the multifaceted expression of humanity's evolutionary potential, with specific advantages manifesting in each group that would eventually contribute to the composite human civilization through processes of admixture and cultural exchange. The plan for evolving either three or six colored races on space worlds serves multiple purposes: providing necessary variety for natural selection, creating potential for superior strains through selective interbreeding, stimulating healthy competition, developing human tolerance and altruism, and maintaining diversity until spiritual development reaches sufficiently advanced levels.

As the colored descendants of the Sangik family multiplied and sought territorial expansion, they encountered formidable challenges from the fifth glacier (the third by geological reckoning) advancing southward across Europe and Asia. This extensive ice sheet significantly restricted migration paths for thousands of years, particularly limiting access to eastern Asia until the subsequent retreat of the Mediterranean Sea following Arabian elevation finally opened routes to Africa. For approximately one hundred thousand years, these diverse populations remained concentrated around the foothills and experienced varying degrees of intermixing, despite natural antipathies that emerged between the different races.

During this critical period of restricted migration, India developed the most cosmopolitan population ever documented on Urantia. Unfortunately, this mixture contained disproportionate representation of green, orange, and indigo races—the secondary Sangik peoples—who found existence more favorable in southern regions and subsequently migrated in large numbers to Africa. The primary Sangik peoples, the superior races, strategically avoided tropical environments, with the red man traveling northeast into Asia (later crossing to North America), closely followed by the yellow man, while the blue race moved northwest into Europe. This pattern established the foundation for the subsequent racial distribution across continents, with the red race occupying North America after crossing from Asia approximately 85,000 years ago. The purer remnants, comprising eleven tribes totaling over seven thousand individuals, were accompanied by three small mixed groups, the largest being a combination of orange and blue races, who established independent civilizations in Central and South America.

The yellow race maintained possession of central Asia and demonstrated greater survival success than other colored races. Though occasionally engaging in racial conflicts, they avoided the relentless wars of extermination that characterized the red, green, and orange peoples. The blue race migrated westward along ancient Andonic trails into Europe, where they encountered and assimilated their distant cousins, the European Neanderthalers. This infusion of Sangik blood, particularly from the blue man, produced marked improvement in these Neanderthal populations, generating successive waves of increasingly intelligent tribes throughout Europe. As the Sangik migrations concluded, the racial distribution showed the red man established in North America, the yellow man dominant in eastern Asia, the blue man spread throughout Europe, and the indigo race concentrated in Africa. This distribution, though subsequently modified by the admixture of Adamic stock and continued migration, established the foundational pattern for human racial geography that would persist, with modifications, into historical times.