One of the earliest examples, which still exist today, is the caste system practice in India since c. 1500 BC. The caste system is embedded into the Hindu religion in which fair-skinned Brahmins rule over the dark-skinned population -- which in itself is divided into lower hierarchial classes with Dalits on the bottom. For further study read:The Bible of Aryan Invasions: Aryan Invasions of Negroes, Semites & Mongols--by Prof. Uthaya Naidu

The Brahmin caste system is so extreme that the very sight or touch of some groups (‘untouchables’) by other "higher ordered" groups was pollution. Domination is sustained through the 4 tiered castes which are based upon upon birth and ethnicity, with Brahmins at the top and other allied ethnic groups in decending order of value down to the "untouchable" Dalits. The Dalit's culture is viewed as inferior to other various hindu castes. As Brahmin culture permeated throughout the Indian sub-continent, the oppressed population worshipped brahmical religious gods in addition to their own gods even though they were forbidden to enter hindu temples. They began to accept hindu philosophy and changed their own worldview ways of thinking. To some extent, untouchables began to view themselves as inferior to hindus and perpetuate hindu casteism and sexism in their own community and family institutions.

Ancient Egyptians were well aware of the physical variations of humans. Yet, they distinguished groups according to ethnicities. ( For example, the Nubians who resided in the southern regions of the Nile, dark-skinned Africans, but not a race in modern sense.) Though indicates the possibility Egytians often murdered red-headed people who regarded in their culture as symbols of evil (see the Egyptian god, Seth) whenever they encouneted them.

However, according to Jean-François Champollion the Younger, in his 13th letter to his brother, remarking (about certain bas-reliefs he had seen in various tombs):

"According to the legend...they wished to represent the inhabitants of Egypt and those of foreign lands. Thus we have before our eyes the image of the various races of man known to the Egyptians... the last one is what we call flesh-colored, a white skin of the most delicate shade, a nose straight or slightly arched, blue eyes, blond or reddish beard, tall stature and very slender, clad in a hairy ox-skin, a veritable savage... he is called Tamhou.... I certainly did not expect, on arriving at Biban-el-Moluk, to find sculptures that could serve as vignettes of the history of the primitive Europeans, if ever one has the courage to attempt it. Nevertheless, there is something flattering and consoling in seeing them, since they make us appreciate the progress we have subsequently achieved."

Ancient Greece and Rome

As did the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks also recognized physical differences in peoples.

-Herodotus (484 - 425 B.C.) sees the differences in human phenotype as a result of adaptation to differing environments.

History clearly reveals Herodotus labelng black-skinned people as "Aethiopian" or "Ethiopian", which means "burnt-faced" in Greek. He often made of descriptions about other peoples as in the case with the Colchis:

"There can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyptian race. Before I heard any mention of the fact from others, I had remarked it myself. After the thought had struck me, I made inquiries on the subject both in Colchis and in Egypt, and I found that the Colchians had a more distinct recollection of the Egyptians, than the Egyptians had of them. Still the Egyptians said that they believed the Colchians to be descended from the army of Sesostris. My own conjectures were founded, first, on the fact that they are black-skinned and have woolly hair, which certainly amounts to but little, since several other nations are so too; but further and more especially, on the circumstance that the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians..."
[Herodotus, Book 3]

-Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): "Historia Animalium" describes similarities between man, apes, and monkeys, as related to the great chain of being. Like Herodotus, Aristotle argued for environmental causes of variation. For example, he concluded that the hot, dry climate caused the hair of Aethiopians (Africans) to be wooly, while the moist air climate caused the hair of to be straight.

Generally, The word 'barbarian' stems from the Greek, meaning 'non-Greek', not participating in the enlightenment and refinement of Greek culture. They likely did so in order to describe the sounds they made-- bar-bar-bar-bar... In this case, this would be the early European tribes in the north and the Garamantes (Berber?) in northern Africa.

However, Greeks held a very unfavorable view of their northern neighbors. According to Greek culturral historians and later the Romans:

"Barbarians can neither think nor act rationally, theological controversies are Greek to them... Under the assault of their horrible songs the classic meter of the ancient poet goes to pieces...Barbarians are driven by evil spirits; "possessed by demons", who force them to commit the most terrible acts...incapable of living according to written laws and only reluctantly tolerating kings...Their lust for gold is immense, their love of drink boundless. Barbarians are without restraint...Although generally they are considered good-looking, they are given to gross personal hygiene...They run dirty and barefoot, even in the winter...They grease their blond hair with butter and care not that it smells rancid...Their reproductive energy is inexhaustible; the Northern climate of their native land, with its long winter nights favors their fantastic urge to procreate...If a barbarian people is driven back or destroyed, another already emerges from the marshes and forests of Germany...Indeed, there are no new barbarian peoples--descendents of the same tribes keep appearing." (Herwig Wolfram, The History of the Goths, p. 6-7).
One Roman writer in his work described early northern Europeans as warlike:
"A constant preoccupation was the menace of the barbarians, who consisted of many warlike races, not ashamed to live by plunder. The area of Roman influence reached to the Danube, which was a useful natural defence. When the river froze in winter, however, invasion could be expected. Mounted bowmen using poisoned arrows came and devastated the land, plundering the meagre wealth of the peasants, setting fire to their huts and then taking into captivity those they had not killed. The fear of such raids was constant, and they came suddenly like great flocks of birds." [Ovid in Exile: Barbarians]
Keep in mind it was the barbarian tribes who rained from the north to destroy the Roman empire. Thus, the modern term for barbarian holds a negative connotation pointing to destructive behavior.

Early "Renaissance"

Prior to the Reformation and age of Enlightment, the division of humankind was marked by ethnic descent. Such divisions were actually more religious than racial. There periods of religous wars persecutions as in the case of the Crusades. The Christians were Anti-Muslim nnd continue to be so til this day. In particular, the Crusades set a precedent for the mass murder of Jews in western German towns in 1196 AD. (See Jewish Trouble History Timeline for more information.) The Spanish Inquisition was a major event in which many lives were lost due to religious beliefs.

The early church doctrines proposed human unity regardless of skin color. But most of all, it was possible for blacks to reach sainthood in the Catholic Church (ie. St. Benedict the Moor). There were even imges of the Virgin Mary being represented in the form of the Black Madonna. But what went wrong?????

-1441Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal, explores the coat of West Africa and finds black people accustomed to working in the tropical climates.

-1442 The first African captives are brought to Lisbon as slaves.

-1492 Christopher Columbus bumps into America with Alonzo Pietro, known as “il Negro,” as his navigator. African servants, slaves, and explorers come to the “New World” with the first Spanish and French explorers. Pedro Niño of Columbus’ crew is identified as black by some scholars. Keep in mind this all takes place the same year that the Moors were driven out of Spain. Thousands of Moorish slaves left behind as prisons of war

-1493 Columbus' second voyage.

-1498 Columbus' third voyage to America. Spanish government allows Columbus to take convicted robbers and murderers on this voyage. In the New World they are granted large freeholds and permitted to treat all non–white Christians as chattel and beasts.

-1502 The first Africans are brought as laborers to the West Indies from Spain where considerable numbers had been employed for some time before.

Queen Isabella commissions Ovando to take Africans “born in the power of Christians” to West Indies, but prohibits him from taking Jews and Moors (Moslems). In 1503 Ovando protests against this prohibition since imported Africans either run away or help to “demoralize” the Amerindians.

-1513 Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade begins

-1516 Friar Bartolomé de las Casas suggested substituting the use of Africans for Indians as slave.

-1543 Martin Luther (1483-1546) sets the stage for anti-Semitism in the Protestant sector of Christianity. In "The Jews and their Lies", Luther made this remark concerning the Jews:

"They hold we Christians captive in our own land. They have seized our goods by their cursed usury, they mock and insult us because we work. They are our lords, and we and our goods belong to them."

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Transition from medieval to modern philosophy in which Europe began to interpret nature based upon what was written in the Bible. Europeans began to recognize differences in humans during their initial voyages and explorations to other places around the world.

-1555 Juan Gines De Sepulveda argued the superiority of the Spaniard to the indigenous people in America:

"In wisdom, skill, virtue and humanity, these people are as inferior to the Spaniards as children are to adults and women to men; there is a great a difference between savagery and forebearance, between violence and moderation, almost -- I am inclined to say -- as between monkeys and men."

-1588 Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), Jumps on the West African trade bandwagon.

Foundations of Modern Racial Superiority

What constitutes one group superior over another? In early Europe, the term "race" was first used to describe the special order of kings and bishops. Societies became hierarchial in nature as natural categories of occupation were forming. These categories were said to be justified by the will of God or nature called "The Great Chain of Being."

Plato and Aristotle were the first ones to conceptualize "The Great Chain of Being" in their philosophy "Scala Naturae"-- the scale of nature. These early philosphers interpreted the natural world in terms of the principle of
plenitude, the overflowing abundance of the first principle or Godhead which creates successive beings.

In "Biology & Great Chain of Being", Aristotle suggested that different living organisms possessed three distincted "souls" (or psyches): the vegetative, locomotive, and rational. It was here where Aristotle placed human beings above plants and animals. In his work, he also writes:

"The universe resembles a large and well-regulated family, in which all the officers and servants, and even the domestic animals, are subservient to each other in a proper subordination; each enjoys the privileges and prequisites peculiar to his place, and at the same time contributes, by that just subordination, to the magnificence and happiness of the whole. "
Thus, this philosophy sparked centuries of human prejudices and religous chauvinism.
Particulary in France prior to the revolution, society was contructed according to the Ladder of Creation (or The Great Chain of Being.) The chain represented natural progression leading up from the least element to the most perfect being. Likewise the feudal system was supposed to represent the "natural order" appropriate for the social and political realms. The peasants and commoners were at the bottom, the merchants and bourgeoisie class were in the middle. At the top of the ladder were the nobility: the counts and marquis, princes and princesses. Each position in this hierarchy determined one's degree of superiority or perfection--which also reflected in one's wealth. Those at the bottom lived in inescapble conditions of poverty and relied at the mercy of those above them. Like the Hindu caste system in India, the "natural order" condemned the poor into no hope of economically improving themselves.

How did whites end up on the top and blacks on the bottom? Some may argue the tale of Andromeda, an European Greek myth about an Ethiopian woman chained to a rock. The "chain" may suggest the "Great Chain of Being", particularly her fixidness as well as the chains of enslavement and her social immobility. Thus, the representing the birth of both sexism and racism, in subordinating the woman and Blackness. Therefore, whites felt compelled to enslave blacks indefinitely.

Some European Christians defended their enslavement of Africans by applying biblical scriptures:

Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave.' "
This curse was issued not issued by God Himself, but from Noah who cursed ONE of Ham's grandson. Keep in mind that traditionally Ham is supposed to represent the dark-skinned race of humankind.

Institution of Slavery

Egyptians, Mesopotamia, and Romans practiced slavery. When the Roman Empire collapse, slavery evolved into serfdom in the feudal system. Many early societies indulged in slavery. Such European societies include the Anglo-Saxons in England, Cymry in Wales, and the Vikings in Northern Europe. Slavs in Central Europe were usually captured and enslaved by other groups . Slavery also flourished in Africa prior to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Yet, unilike Europeans, theirs was more servitude in nature, capturing war prisoners and releasing them sometime in the future.

Both Christians as well as Muslism owned slaves. Each set up codes in regulating the treatment of slaves. Why wasn't it outlawed? Economic reasons. Since slavery has always been the economical foundation for ancient civilizations, societies knew no other way. Religions such as Christianity was used to accept such brutal activities by suggesting that life's burden be relieved after death.

The origins of the scientific foundings of racism comes from a Frenchman named Comete Degobineau. He lived during the 18th century and wrote a book called ''Inequality of the Races'',and tried to explain the inferiority of others through his theories. Hitler used Degobineau's work like a textbook and cherished it. He based much of the principles of Nazism off Degobineau's book.

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Originally posted by ausar:

The origins of the scientific foundings of racism comes from a Frenchman named Comete Degobineau.

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Originally posted by Horemheb:
Whats the origin of walklikean egyptian?

a dumbass plant

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Originally posted by walklikeanegyptian:
what is the origin of racism? its so obvious. the answer:

white people.

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Originally posted by walklikeanegyptian:
such as what places are those?

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Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, UAE, Iraq, India, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China etc etc etc etc

Just some random places... Racism is everywhere.

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Originally posted by walklikeanegyptian:
u contradicted urself. u always say the egyptians r white but u said there is racism there but no white people. which one is it, buddy?

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Don't the Aryans have somehting to do with India???

What was with the whole blonde hair blue eyes fixation he had????

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Originally posted by ausar:

Leba, do you think that racism exist in any of the countries before European intervention? I know that the pre-Islamic Arabs were often racist,but that never stopped them from mixing with blacks.

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Racism didn't came from Europeans, Its human.

And Arabians were not only racist to darker people but also to Europeans, Turkic people they even enslaved them.

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Originally posted by walklikeanegyptian:
what is the origin of racism? its so obvious. the answer:

white people.

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Originally posted by sonomod:
Too bad Census bureas consider you white too.

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She isn't Egyptian shes an African-American she knows nearly noting about Egypt.

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Originally posted by leba:
She isn't Egyptian shes an African-American she knows nearly noting about Egypt.

[This message has been edited by leba (edited 04 October 2005).]

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Originally posted by Tee20:
What's the relation btween Hitler and the Aryans??

Don't the Aryans have somehting to do with India???

What was with the whole blonde hair blue eyes fixation he had????

The swastica(sp) is acutally an occultic symbol--the sun wheel

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I thought it was an ancient Indian symbol for good luck.....used to adorn the front and back covers of old Rudyard Kipling books about India.....

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Originally posted by Tee20:
What is the origin of racism?

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Like someone said, definitely about money.

For example, the British really took advantage of India's caste system to divide and conquer.

When I was in college, I took a class on the history of South Africa. When the British first *settled* there, apparently there was very little racism, blacks and whites mixed without rancor, and there were many mixed marriages. Only when the population got large and premium pieces of land begun to get scarce, did people start determining social/racial status of people....and whites won out. For a while.

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Originally posted by ausar:

The origins of the scientific foundings of racism comes from a Frenchman named Comete Degobineau. He lived during the 18th century and wrote a book called ''Inequality of the Races'',and tried to explain the inferiority of others through his theories. Hitler used Degobineau's work like a textbook and cherished it. He based much of the principles of Nazism off Degobineau's book.

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Originally posted by leba:
She isn't Egyptian shes an African-American she knows nearly noting about Egypt.

[This message has been edited by leba (edited 04 October 2005).]

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out of Egyptian, African American, and black, i am all 3. so deal with it before labelling me an African American knit wit like someone did to Makayla.

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His name was Arthur de Gobineau, "comte" means "count" in French. Just little correction <http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/smile.gif>

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I knew Comete meant count in French. Comete Debogineau or Arthur De Gobineau are both correct. Degobineau was a count. Either way that was not the point. He is considered by many to be the father of scientific racism. He greatly influenced people like Hitler. So much that Hitler made his the Inequality of the Races into a textbook for his Hitler youth education.