Icon by Paul BenivedesOrigins of the Aryan Myth

Racism in Europe has been widespread for centuries. Since the earliest days of the peoples of Europe it has played an important role in the development of its history. The Aryan Myth has been propelled into unimaginable aspects of human nature. This train of thought has been deeply embedded in the thinking of the peoples of this continent. It is understood that the separation of the European population into Semites and Aryans was founded on the confusion about the nature of men, their race, and their culture, or language. This misunderstanding was propelled enough so that the Aryan Myth achieved pride among scholarly men. This myth usually involved a bias that favored the Aryans. The ideologists of Nazi Germany simply took this bias out of proportion. Hence the hatred and racism that would bring about such cruel genocide as in the Holocaust.  

The racism can be traced back all the way to the beginnings of human kind, the Garden of Eden. Discrimination implies a distinction between something superior and something inferior, or something good and something evil. In Genesis, there is a recognition of what became man's original sin which in turn already singles out some people for blessing while others for doom. Hinduism, one of the world's oldest religions is basically based on discrimination based on the color of the skin. This caste system dates back to the subjugation of the people of the Indus River by the Indo-Europeans, who called themselves the Arya or Ariens, the chosen or nobles. The higher castes were the Aryans, who regarded themselves superior because of their bright skin color.  

Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally, 1936.

Ancient Egypt teaches us that anti-Semitism was being practiced hundreds of years before it came into the world perspective. The Egyptian's slaughter of the first born Jews exemplifies how there was cruel racism even though the forefathers of Egypt and Israel were brothers. Although their Koran demands equal respect for all mankind, the Muslims distinguish between the inhabitants of dar el harb (the land of war) and of dar el Islam (the land of peace). This Islamic principle asserts that there is a difference between Muslims and non-Muslims. These examples serve to show that racism and discrimination has existed almost everywhere long before common times. Adopting this train of thought, a sixth century Arab Gospel, in which Jesus Christ changes some Jewish children into goats, reveals a lot in just a few words as Jesus addresses their mothers with: "The children of Israel have the same rank among the peoples as the Negroes." 

In modern times racism has been evermore present. Spain is a nation which has greatly grasped the concept of racism. The Spaniards have historically claimed their origins of race in the Goths. The history of the Goths was heavily studied in Sweden, from which they derived. In 1944 Swedish historian J. Nordstrom wrote that "The expansion of Christian Spain was an expansion of the Gothic race.". Spanish theologians came up with a doctrine which stated the false belief that the Moors and Jews had soiled their blood. This stain or "nota" had been transmitted by heredity to the furthest descendants, who were ostracized in the caste of New Christians called "conversos". Although these theologians recognized that all men descended from the common father, Adam, they did keep the idea that the rejection of Christ had corrupted the "conversos". Therefore, this was the first institutional form of racism to appear in European history. That is how Spanish nationalism fused with racism brought about the Inquisition.