zuky:
From: Getting Rid of the Word Caucasianhttp://www.sjsu.edu/people/carol.mukhopadhyay/papers/Getting%20Rid%20of%20the%20Word%20Caucasian.pdf
“The term Caucasian originated in the eighteenth century as part of the developing European science of racial classification. After visiting the region of the Caucusus Mountains, between the Caspian and Black seas, German anatomist Johann Blumenbauch declared its inhabitants the most beautiful in the world, the ideal type of humans created in “God’s image,” and deemed this area the likely site where humans originated. (Humans actually originated in Africa.). He decided that all light-skinned people from this region, along with Europeans, belonged to the same race, which he labeled Caucasian.
Blumenbach named four other races he considered physically and morally “degenerate” forms of “God’s original creation.” He classified Africans (excepting lighter-skinned North Africans) as “Ethiopian” or “black.” He split non-Caucasian Asians into two separate races: The “Mongolian” or “yellow” race of China and Japan, and the “Malayan” or “brown” race, including Aboriginal Australians and Pacific Islanders. Native Americans were the “red” race.
Blumenbach’s system of racial classification was adopted in the United States. American scientists tried to prove that Caucasians had larger brains and were smarter than people of other races. Racial science dovetailed with nineteenth century evolutionary theories, which ranked races from more “primitive” “savages” to more “advanced” “civilized” with Caucasians on the top. Racial hierarchies were used to justify slavery and other forms of discrimination.”