It might come as a surprise to some to learn that the concept of race is a fairly recent
phenomenon in the history of humanity. Race, as a marker of human difference,
was only introduced in the sixteenth century. However, over the course of a few
centuries, the world would witness a powerful transformation in the “perceptions
of human difference” as framed by the concept of race.1 First, there was the
introduction of racial variation based on observable differences, then the idea of
racial categorisation, followed by the idea that these categories could be organised
according to a human hierarchy.