what is ethnology

Ethnology is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them. It is a branch of cultural anthropology that deals with the comparative and analytical study of cultures. Ethnology takes the research that ethnographers have compiled and then compares and contrasts different cultures. The term "ethnologia" (ethnology) is credited to Adam Franz Kollár, who used and defined it in his Historiae ivrisqve pvblici Regni Vngariae amoenitates published in Vienna in 1783. Ethnography is the in-depth study of a particular cultural group, while ethnology is the comparative study of ethnographic data, society, and culture. Anthropologists are engaged in both ethnographic and ethnological study. Ethnology has been considered an academic field since the late 18th century, especially in Europe, and is sometimes conceived of as any comparative study of human groups.