White is a
racialized classification of people and a
skin color specifier, generally used for people of
European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.
Description of populations as "White" in reference to their skin color predates this notion and is occasionally found in
Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient or medieval sources, but these societies did not have any notion of a White or pan-European race. The term "White race" or "White people", defined by their
light skin among other physical characteristics, entered the major
European languages
Most languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...
in the later seventeenth century, when the concept of a "unified White" achieve universal acceptance in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, in the context of
racialized slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and unequal
social status
Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. S ...
in the European colonies. Scholarship on
race distinguishes the modern concept from pre-modern descriptions, which focused on physical complexion rather than race. Prior to the
modern era
The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is appli ...
, no European peoples regarded themselves as "White", but rather defined their race, ancestry, or ethn