Page 233 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

Race and Racism

Radio
Railroad

Ramses II
Raynal, Abbé Guillaume

Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement

Religion—Overview

Religion and Government
Religion and War
Race and Racism
Religious Freedom

Religious Fundamentalism
number of historians have argued that racial divi-
Religious Syncretism Asions and racist attitudes were already present in
societies such as Greece and Vedic India in ancient times.
Renaissance
In any meaningful usage, however, these ways of con-
Revolution—China ceptualizing and responding to differences between

Revolution—Cuba human groups originated in an age of global expansion
and cross-cultural interaction in the fifteenth and six-
Revolution—France teenth centuries CE.This era saw the first sustained con-
Revolution—Haiti tacts between the Eastern and Western hemispheres as
well as greatly intensified regional and intracontinental
Revolution—Iran
interactions among societies across the world. Like all of
Revolution—Mexico the other peoples involved in cross-cultural contacts in
these centuries, the Europeans who traveled overseas to
Revolution—Russia
trade, explore, and proselytize were highly ethnocentric,
Revolution—United States that is inclined to see their languages, customs, ways of
Revolutions, Communist thinking, and material culture as preferable—if not
superior—to those of the diverse societies they encoun-
Ricci, Matteo tered in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.This very human

Roman Empire propensity to emphasize cultural differences was much in
evidence in ancient times among peoples such as the
Roosevelt, Eleanor
Greeks, who distinguished themselves from the “barbar-
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano ians” because the latter could not speak Greek, or the Chi-
nese, who viewed such nomadic, pastoral peoples as the
Rubber
Turks and Mongols as uncouth and inferior because
Rumi they lived in regions with too little rainfall to support the
Russian-Soviet Empire sedentary agriculture and sophisticated urban lifestyles
that the Chinese deemed essential for civilization.
Racism can be seen as an extreme form of this ethno-
centrism, which for a number of reasons explored below