# What is the largest group of people that's ever been wiped out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829 "2016-07-13T18:35:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/1 "2016-07-13T18:35:34Z")
A group can be a country, or an ethnic group, a religion, etc. And wiped out could be anything like genocide, disease, or natural disaster. I was thinking about this because we’ve had plenty of genocides in the past which has reduced the numbers of a group of people, but even if millions are killed, millions usually still survive. With disease, the Black Plague wiped out like a quarter of Europe, but there were enough survivors that countries like France or Spain or Italy didn’t just disappear. The only thing I can think of is something like Pompeii, where the city was just covered with ash and lava and ceased to exist. And I think Genghis Khan also once destroyed a whole city by killing or enslaving everyone in it and diverting a river to wipe it off the map. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/2 "2016-07-13T18:44:47Z")
I bet that the Native Americans would be in first place. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/3 "2016-07-13T18:47:51Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > I bet that the Native Americans would be in first place. The OP clearly stated wiped out, no longer exist. There are still a significant number of Native Americans. I doubt such a group would be very large. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/4 "2016-07-13T18:50:24Z")
How many Neanderthals do you see around? a whole species wiped out. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/5 "2016-07-13T18:53:48Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > How many Neanderthals do you see around? a whole species wiped out. The last surviving [member](http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2013/04/29062012charliewatt.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/6 "2016-07-13T18:54:19Z")
Carthage? Carrier pigeons, that used to have huge flocks to block out the sun, now extinct? (Not human, but…) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/7 "2016-07-13T19:01:30Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Carthage? > > Carrier pigeons, that used to have huge flocks to block out the sun, now extinct? (Not human, but…) nitpick, it was the [passenger pigeon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon) but the extinction was just as complete. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/8 "2016-07-13T19:48:44Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > How many Neanderthals do you see around? a whole species wiped out. This is what came to mind to me also. And while not Homo sapiens (or perhaps a sub-species) they should count as “people” I would think, we share 99.5% of their DNA and some (most?) people have Neanderthal genomes in their DNA. The problem is that not everyone agrees they actually went extinct, there’s a theory that they “vanished” through interbreeding. Which means they’re not gone, they’re **us**. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/9 "2016-07-13T19:51:07Z")
The British took the Tasmanian Aborigines down to a mere 4 in the 1860s. They have since rebounded. > **[Aboriginal Tasmanians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Tasmanians)** > > The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Palawa kani: Palawa or Pakana) were the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and erroneously, thought of as being an extinct cultural and ethnic group that had been intentionally exterminated by white settlers. Contemporary figures (2016) for the number of people of Tasmanian Aboriginal descent vary according to the criteria used to determin Fi... ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/10 "2016-07-13T19:58:22Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > How many Neanderthals do you see around? a whole species wiped out. I’ve seen one driving a cab in Levy, Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/11 "2016-07-13T20:30:52Z")
The Carthaginians, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/12 "2016-07-13T20:58:46Z")
The [Taino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno) were basically driven to extinction by the arrival of the Spanish. They were reduced from probably millions in the Caribbean to fewer than 500 people. There are some people remaining that have some mixture of Taino background, but as a group they were wiped out in the 16th century. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/13 "2016-07-13T21:13:12Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > The [Taino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno) were basically driven to extinction by the arrival of the Spanish. They were reduced from probably millions in the Caribbean to fewer than 500 people. There are some people remaining that have some mixture of Taino background, but as a group they were wiped out in the 16th century. There are quite a few indigenous groups which were recorded by the first European explorers that no longer exist as identifiable groups. It’s hard to distinguish between “driven to extinction” and “absorbed.” Most of the group may have been killed off, but the survivors might have been enslaved or otherwise incorporated into the dominant group. So they still have descendants, even the group is effectively extinct. Neanderthals are an example of this. Neanderthals are long extinct as a group, but they still have living descendants, which include a large percentage of modern humans. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/14 "2016-07-13T22:07:10Z")
Ishi, last of his tribe? Which was the title of a book about him that we read in junior high. > **[Ishi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi)** > > Ishi (c. 1861 – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as many members of their parent tribe, the Yana) were killed in the California genocide in the 19th century. Ishi, who was widely acclaimed as the "last wild Indian" in the United States, lived most of his life isolated from modern North American culture. In 1911, aged 50, he emerged at a barn and corral, 2 mi (... ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/15 "2016-07-13T22:12:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > There are quite a few indigenous groups which were recorded by the first European explorers that no longer exist as identifiable groups. It’s hard to distinguish between “driven to extinction” and “absorbed.” Most of the group may have been killed off, but the survivors might have been enslaved or otherwise incorporated into the dominant group. So they still have descendants, even the group is effectively extinct. > > Neanderthals are an example of this. Neanderthals are long extinct as a group, but they still have living descendants, which include a large percentage of modern humans. I would imagine that the best way to answer the question would be to frame it as something like, “what’s the largest group that people self-identified as in the past for which no one self-identifies as today?” Plenty of people still self-identify as Native Americans, and even of various particular tribes. But certainly there are ones that no one does so for any longer. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/16 "2016-07-13T22:22:16Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I would imagine that the best way to answer the question would be to frame it as something like, \*\*“what’s the largest group that people self-identified as in the past for which no one self-identifies as today?” \*\* Milli Vanilli fans? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/17 "2016-07-13T22:23:37Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Ishi, last of his tribe? I’m sure this will irritate some American Nativists and ethnologists, but many tribes were very small and almost indistinguishable from others in their region. Ishi’s tribe was closely related to others and probably never more than a few hundred members. California in particular had hundreds of such small tribes who were grouped into far fewer “peoples” or “nations.” Nothing undoes the loss due to simple extermination, but it’s not going to be one of the larger groups thus eliminated. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/18 "2016-07-13T22:32:36Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I would imagine that the best way to answer the question would be to frame it as something like, “what’s the largest group that people self-identified as in the past for which no one self-identifies as today?” Plenty of people still self-identify as Native Americans, and even of various particular tribes. But certainly there are ones that no one does so for any longer. This would be a difficult criterion to apply. Nobody today identifies as a Gaul, a Hun, a Hittite, or an Aztec, but they weren’t “wiped out.” (Some people may identify with these groups today, but not as part of a continuous tradition with the original group.) They no longer speak the same language as in the past, or preserve their culture, but they have many modern descendants. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/19 "2016-07-13T22:39:13Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > The OP clearly stated wiped out, no longer exist. There are still a significant number of Native Americans. > > I doubt such a group would be very large. Native Americans include many nations of people … and some of these nations were wiped out completely. My understanding the Nation that lived here where I live are gone, just a few people with 1/8th of the blood amalgamated into one of the surviving Nations. Near as I can guess, and the restrictions put down by the OP, an entire nationality doesn’t get completely wiped out, somewhere some place there will still be someone of at least partial kinship. The Huns, Visigoths, Britons … are they wiped out or just incorporated into other Nations? ---
**Author:** ![Oddball\_92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@Oddball\_92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oddball_92)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829/20 "2016-07-13T22:58:44Z")
The great flood killed everyone on earth except Noah and his family. Bible scholars don’t really know the numbers but it is estimated to have been well over a million. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-group-of-people-thats-ever-been-wiped-out/759829.md?page=2)