Page "Race (human classification)" Paragraph 14

The 1775 treatise " The Natural Varieties of Mankind ," by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach proposed five major divisions: the Caucasoid race, Mongoloid race, Ethiopian race ( later termed the Negroid race ), American Indian race, and Malayan race, but he did not propose any hierarchy among the races.

Blumenbach also noted the graded transition in appearances from one group to adjacent groups and suggested that " one variety of mankind does so sensibly pass into the other, that you cannot mark out the limits between them ".