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Title page of Systema Naturae by Caroli Linnaei. Includes a landscape illustration of trees, animals, sky, clouds, and several figures.
Cover of Systema Naturae, 1760 edition.

Naturalist Carl von Linnaeus publishes Systema naturae with racialized classifications for humans.

1735

HISR
HISS
API
XEN
Cover of Systema Naturae, 1760 edition.

In 1735, Carl von Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist and physician, identifies four groupings for humans: "white," "black," and "red"–meaning European, African, and Indigenous. He describes Asian people as luridus signifying "lurid," "sallow," or "pale yellow." In his botanical studies, luridus is also the term he uses to characterize unhealthy and toxic plants.