Polygenism

Polygenism is the doctrine that humanity originated from multiple ancestral populations or original pairs rather than one common ancestral population or pair.

Creationism: The belief that the universe or living things originated through divine creation. Biblical creation narratives supplied arguments both for and against multiple human origins.
Monogenism: The doctrine that humanity descends from one original population or pair. It is the direct opposing account of human origins.
American slavery: The system of forced labor imposed on enslaved people in the United States until its abolition in 1865. Polygenist writings were used to defend slavery and racial subordination.
Recent African origin of modern humans: The model that modern humans arose in Africa and later dispersed across the world. It explains modern human origins through shared ancestry rather than independent racial beginnings.
Pre-Adamism: The belief that humans existed before the biblical Adam. Some versions made Adam the ancestor of only one human population.
Scientific racism: The misuse of scientific claims to justify racial hierarchy and unequal treatment. Polygenist claims were used to present racial hierarchy as natural and permanent.
Abolitionism: The movement to end slavery and the trade in enslaved people. Abolitionists challenged racial arguments used to defend slavery, including polygenism.
Multiregional hypothesis: The hypothesis that modern humans evolved across several regions through continuing gene flow. It proposes geographically widespread evolution without endorsing historical racial polygenism.
Carl Linnaeus: The Swedish naturalist who established a foundational system for naming and classifying organisms. His classification of human varieties helped shape eighteenth-century debates about human unity.
Race: A social classification of people that commonly relies on perceived ancestry and physical traits. Polygenist theories treated racial categories as evidence of distinct human origins.

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