How and when did the biological concept of race develop? On what was it based, and what were some of the social and political implications?
Humans have always separated themselves into groups based on shared characteristics. But the characteristics used to make these distinctions and interpretations of these characteristics have varied in different places. Classical civilizations from Rome to China did not see membership within socially delineated groups as hereditary and unchangeable. In many ancient societies, individuals with widely varying ancestries or physical appearances could become accepted members of a society by growing up within that society or by adopting the society’s cultural norms. The modern concept of race began to take shape during the European era of exploration. As Europeans encountered people from different parts of the world, they began to sort themselves and others into groups characterized by physical appearance. The English word “race” – which may be derived from the Spanish word raza, meaning breed or stock – first appeared in the late sixteenth century and referred to groups of people united by
