White people

White people are people with light skin. Most white people are of European origin. In American English, the term "Caucasian" is used to mean "white people."[1] Outside of North America, it refers to people or things from the Caucasus Mountains.[1]

Before the modern age, Europeans did not think of themselves as "white." They defined their race, ancestry or ethnicity in terms of what place or culture they were from, for example Greek or Roman.[2]

The idea of a single white race came into use starting in the 17th century. The term white was invented during American slavery to make European Americans seem different from enslaved African Americans.[3][4] The people who were the strongest supporters of the white race being supreme in 20th century Europe were fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. They felt that some European peoples such as Slavs as a different race even though they were white. This was just for political purposes.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Butterfield, Jeremy ButterfieldJeremy (2015-06-18), Butterfield, Jeremy (ed.), "Caucasian", Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199661350.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-966135-0, retrieved 2023-10-15
  2. ↑ Painter, Nell Irvin (18 April 2011). The History of White People. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-07949-4.
  3. ↑ "The Origin of the Idea of Race". PBS. Archived from the original on 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2024-04-19.
  4. ↑ "Historical Foundations of Race".
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