So why do we call white people Caucasians? The term was popularized by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who in 1795 divided the human species into five races:

Caucasian, the “white” race;

Ethiopian, the “black” race;

American, the “red” race.

Mongolian, the “yellow” race; &

Malayan, the “brown” race;

He considered the Caucasians to be the first race on Earth, consistent with the common conception of the Caucasus as a place of human origin.