Race (human categorization)

=== Colonialism ===
According to Smedley and Marks the European concept of "race", along with many of the ideas now associated with the term, arose at the time of the [[scientific revolution]], which introduced and privileged the study of [[natural kind]]s, and the age of [[European imperialism]] and [[colonization]] which established political relations between Europeans and peoples with distinct cultural and political [[traditions]].<ref name="Marks 2008" /><ref name="Smedley 1999" /> As Europeans encountered people from different parts of the [[world]], they speculated about the physical, social, and cultural differences among various human groups. The rise of the [[Atlantic slave trade]], which gradually displaced an earlier [[History of slavery|trade in slaves]] from throughout the world, created a further [[incentive]] to categorize human groups in order to justify the subordination of African [[slave]]s.<ref name="meltzer" />

Drawing on sources from [[classical antiquity]] and upon their own internal interactions&nbsp;– for example, the hostility between the English and Irish powerfully influenced early European thinking about the differences between people<ref name="takaki" />&nbsp;– Europeans began to sort themselves and others into groups based on physical appearance, and to attribute to individuals belonging to these groups behaviors and capacities which were claimed to be deeply ingrained. A set of [[folk belief]]s took hold that linked inherited physical differences between groups to [[Race and intelligence|inherited intellectual]], [[behavioral]], and [[moral]] qualities.<ref name="banton" /> Similar ideas can be found in other cultures,<ref name="Lewis; Dikötter" /> for example in [[China]], where a concept often translated as "race" was associated with supposed common descent from the [[Yellow Emperor]], and used to stress the unity of ethnic groups in China. Brutal conflicts between ethnic groups have existed throughout history and across the world.<ref name="REGWG" />