Caucasian race

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See Caucasian for other uses of the term.
The term Caucasian race is used almost exclusively in the United States to refer to people whose ancestry can be traced back to Europe, North Africa, West Asia, South Asia and parts of Central Asia. It was once considered a useful taxonomical categorization of human racial groups based on a presumed common geographic and/or linguistic origin.
In the United States, it is currently used primarily as a distinction loosely based on skin color alone for a group commonly refered to as Whites, as defined by the American government and census bureau. In the British Isles, "Caucasian" follows the North American definition, but in continental Europe, "Caucasian" currently refers almost exclusively to people who are from the Caucasus.
The term itself derives from measurements in craniology from the 19th century, and its name stems from the region of the Caucasus mountains, itself imagined to be the location from which Noah's son Japheth, traditional Biblical ancestor of the Europeans, established his tribe prior to its supposed migration into Europe.
Caucasoid is a term used in physical anthropology to refer to people falling within a certain range of anthropometric measurements.
In New Zealand the term Caucasian is used most frequently in police offender descriptions. Pākehā, European New Zealander, or simply New Zealander (although in theory this should include all New Zealanders) is more common in general language.

Contents[hide]
1 History of the concept
2 U.S. Supreme Court rulings
3 Current views
4 See also
5 Books