Caucasian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caucasian is a term used for a person belonging to a racial group that includes people from Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia (the Middle East), parts of Central Asia and South Asia.[1] These people first came from the Caucasian Mountains which are located in eastern Europe and western Asia.Caucasian was first a geographical term. It referring to the Caucasus region (Caucasia) of central Eurasia. Over time, the term has gotten other meanings:
- In common usage and when used politically, it usually refers to the so-called "Caucasian race". In North America, Australia, and New Zealand, this is often the "whites" racial/ethnic group.
- On many forms, Caucasian usually means a specific group of physical attributes, especially light skin.
- In physical anthropology, it may mean the Caucasoid physical type. This group is characterized by the shape of part of the skeleton.
- In linguistics, it may refer to any of the languages of the Caucasus.
- It refers to peoples from Caucasus.
[change] References
- ↑ The Races of Europe by Carlton Stevens Coon. From Chapter XI: The Mediterranean World - Introduction: "This third racial zone stretches from Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar to Morocco, and thence along the southern Mediterranean shores into Arabia, East Africa, Mesopotamia, and the Persian highlands; and across Afghanistan into India."
