Seventeenth-century Europeans classified India, China, Japan and America all as Hebrew

Evidence

It is extraordinary that in the seventeenth century a Congregationalist missionary, Cambridge educated, could announce that “fruitful India are Hebrewes, that famous civil (though Idolatrous) nation of China are Hebrewes, so Japonia, and those naked Americans are Hebrewes, in respect of those that planted first these parts of the world.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 305 (#expands, via linked claim)

In a similar way the myth of the Lost Tribes became a useful channel for understanding unknown peoples and races, and as a means of categorizing human entities for whom there was no readily available label. It is extraordinary that in the seventeenth century a Congregationalist missionary, Cambridge educated, could announce that “fruitful India are Hebrewes, that famous civil (though Idolatrous) nation of China are Hebrewes, so Japonia, and those naked Americans are Hebrewes, in respect of those that planted first these parts of the world.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 313 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Seventeenth-century missionaries declared India, China, Japan, and America Hebrew colonies. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 305; Seventeenth-century missionaries read unknown peoples as lost Hebrews to categorize them — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 313; Europeans classified southern African peoples as descendants of biblical Jews — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 328 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Seventeenth-century missionaries declared India, China, Japan, and America Hebrew colonies. #expands (0.97) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 305
• Seventeenth-century missionaries read unknown peoples as lost Hebrews to categorize them #expands (0.92) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 313