The earliest known racial classifications occured in Europe as an attempt to legitimize the European belief in their own superiority.  After centuries under the theocratic Judeo-Christian tradition, Europe became a collective cultural group.  Sure there were nations, but these nations were married by the commonality of Christianity.  When the first racial classifications were being designated by Europeans, the arbitrators made sure to define races that would bolster European's ego and sense of superiority over the rest of the world.  These original designations looked deep into Europe's past in order to discover the root of Christianity lay in the Middle East.  Popular thought would not have let the core of European culture come from a peoples outside of their race, so it became in vogue to define or redefine if I may Arabs as fellow Europeans.  This marked the first time Caucasoids falsely claimed Mongolo-Negroids to be part of their race to boost their egos, but it wouldn't be the last time. 

Stereotypes of the past prevented the advancement of anthropology among other sciences.  The stereotypes of the day were used to define "races", (Toro, pp. 9).  Caucasoid America defined its slave population to be a distinct race to further their mental dissonance over slavery, (Fields, par. 2).  Caucasian America saw in the Chinese immigrant a hostile entity whereas the Negro whose shackles had just been removed from the emancipation was ascribed a manageable or even docile nature, (Thorp, par. 1).  The native "aboriginal" peoples of the United States were slowly transformed from the hostile to the docile stereotype in the minds of Caucasian America.  The American racial concept was in a sense frozen in its perception of race at this point in its history due to little change in the ethnic landscape.  This was to change with World War II. 

World War II was a time of chaos but also a time of new ideas.  With Europe devouring itself by racism, America galvanized its masses against the concept of racism at home.  Racism had become a norm among the elitist mentality of the WASP intellectuals, (Guterl).  These individuals considered their portion of Caucasian/Caucasoids to be supreme over others.  This self-serving perception was unfortunately furthered by pseudo-scientific papers regarding race which fanned the egos of these Caucasian Americans.  Like before, artificial boundaries were used to divide the single Caucasoid/Caucasian race.  Capitalism, the essence of American society, devalued the unfortunate and poor in favor of big business production.  This value system only further entrenched the past racial definitions formed off differential evaluations of stereotypical character.  As World War II ended, the egos of Northern European Americans were quickly extinguished, leading to an interwar period where stereotypical thought ran under the covers of so-called "modern"  America.  This resurgence of scientific research in anthropology culminated in reformation of the Caucasian/Caucasiod race.

By virtue of their shared ancestry and recent involvements, Europe adopted the artificial American "racial" classifications.  In Europe the concept of race would have been all but abandoned if it were not for Americanization.  As post-war funds were shipped to Europe, Europe developed good feelings for America.  Historically, America was seen a rebellious and uncivilized people who to some extent were disowned by Europe.  These renewed ties with Europe filled Europe's ever-growing void in racial thought with imported American ideas on race.  Sadly, American exceptionalism in anthropology continued unabated overshadowing real races with the constructs of stereotype.