Mike Monaghan, age 13, of Trenton, Ontario, Canada, for his question:

WHAT ARE ARYANS?

Long ago a group of people were supposed to have lived on the Iranian Plateau of southern Asia between the Caspian Sea and the Hindu Kush Mountains. Aryan is the language they spoke. The people themselves are sometimes called Aryans after their language.

About 3,500 years ago one branch of the Aryan¬ speaking people conquered the peoples of India while another migrated to Europe and spread their language there. This explains why the languages spoken by most Europeans are very much alike. All Europeans speak an Aryan tongue except the Turks, the Magyars, the Basques, the Finns, the Lapps, the Estonians and a small group in Russia.

There is no such thing as an Aryan race. If the Aryans ever were a distinct people, their characteristics have been thoroughly mixed with those of other peoples.