What is race and where does it come from?

The word "race", interpreted to mean an identifiable group of people who share a common descent, was introduced into English in about 1580, from the Old French rasse (1512), from Italian razza.

The idea of "race" began to evolve in the late 17th century, after the beginning of European exploration and colonization, as a folk ideology about human differences associated with the different populations-Europeans, Amerindians, and Africans-brought together in the New World.