01-16-2022, 05:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-26-2022, 03:08 PM by ZpaceJ0ck0.)
Have you ever wondered why white people are often called "caucasian"? (note: this mostly happens in the United States and Canada). Where does the term come from anyway?
The term Caucasian is used to describe people who come from the Caucasus region, home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range. Now that we explained the origin of the name we should answer the other question. Why are ALL white people called Caucasian?
It was all because of a German anthropologist called Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He believed that the shape of someone's skull is a key factor in determining someone's race. He believed that humanity came from the Caucasus and because Caucasians (or at least most of them) just so happen to be white he named ALL white people... well, Caucasians.
To be more specific, he believed that there were five human races: Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, and American. However, it should be noted that contrary to what one might initially assume, Mr. Blumenbach actually fought against the notions of "certain races are superior to others" that were prevalent at the time.
Take for example former MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was born in the North Caucasus in Dagestan, Russia. And this one is a controversial figure but Joseph Stalin is also Caucasian, as he was born in the country of Georgia AKA Sakartvelo. People like them are the real Caucasians.
In other words, using the word "Caucasian" to refer to all white people means that you're using outdated racial anthropology. You don't see people nowadays calling every Asian "Mongolian", do you?
EDIT: Hell, there are quite a few people in the Caucasus that aren't white yet they are still more caucasian than most white folks in North America could EVER hope to be!
SOURCES:
https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/johann-frie...-1752-1840
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/enc...blumenbach
https://www.nature.com/articles/145063a0/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/5020...-caucasian
The term Caucasian is used to describe people who come from the Caucasus region, home to the Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus mountain range. Now that we explained the origin of the name we should answer the other question. Why are ALL white people called Caucasian?
It was all because of a German anthropologist called Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. He believed that the shape of someone's skull is a key factor in determining someone's race. He believed that humanity came from the Caucasus and because Caucasians (or at least most of them) just so happen to be white he named ALL white people... well, Caucasians.
To be more specific, he believed that there were five human races: Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian, and American. However, it should be noted that contrary to what one might initially assume, Mr. Blumenbach actually fought against the notions of "certain races are superior to others" that were prevalent at the time.
Take for example former MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was born in the North Caucasus in Dagestan, Russia. And this one is a controversial figure but Joseph Stalin is also Caucasian, as he was born in the country of Georgia AKA Sakartvelo. People like them are the real Caucasians.
In other words, using the word "Caucasian" to refer to all white people means that you're using outdated racial anthropology. You don't see people nowadays calling every Asian "Mongolian", do you?
EDIT: Hell, there are quite a few people in the Caucasus that aren't white yet they are still more caucasian than most white folks in North America could EVER hope to be!
SOURCES:
https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/johann-frie...-1752-1840
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/enc...blumenbach
https://www.nature.com/articles/145063a0/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/5020...-caucasian