Bits and pieces that are relevant:
1 The Bible on the origins of 'races', and Christian Europe's belief of origins until modern times:
Genesis chapter 9, from Biblegateway verses 18 to 27:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The Sons of Noah</b>
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were <b>Shem, Ham and Japheth</b>. (<b>Ham was the father of Canaan</b>.)
19 These were <b>the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth</b>.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what <i>his youngest son</i> had done to him,
25 he said,
    "Cursed be <b>Canaan</b>!
    The lowest of <b>slaves</b>
    will he be to his brothers."
26 He also said,
    "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
    <b>May Canaan be the slave of Shem</b>.
27 May God extend the territory of Japheth;
    may <b>Japheth</b> live in the tents of Shem,
    and <b>may Canaan be his slave</b>."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Japheth is sometimes argued to be Noah's oldest son, Shem the second and Ham the youngest. See this Christian site:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The names of Noah's sons are always listed in the same order in the Bible. However Japheth was actually the oldest, Shem the middle son, and Ham the youngest.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>The biblical races:</b> Ham was considered the father of the Hamitic Race (African people), Shem the father of the Semitic Race and Japeth the father of the Europeans. The US Churches were mostly anti-abolitionist and argued from the biblical standpoint that Africans were 'naturally' meant for slavery because of Noah's curse on the Hamitic race.
Note that although some versions of Bibles (especially today) want to replace the Hebrew word for slave with 'servant' in translation, they are merely being PC and trying to make the bible acceptable in today's world. The actual translation of the Hebrew word is <i>slave</i>.
That same Christian site groups all brown and eastern Asian people in the Hamitic race, after discussing how Europe's imperialism was the fulfilment of the 'prophecy' about Japheth:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The enlargement of Japheth is now obvious from history. The European nations rapidly built what we like to call our great "western civilization." It rose on the foundations of Greek and Roman philosophy. Our science, economic system, educational system and style of government have allowed the development of a rich and expansive character. In due time it was the Norse, then the English, the French, the Spanish, the Italians, the Portuguese who sailed the seas to the West and to the South colonizing the New World, and Africa, India and the Far East. These expansionist moves were mostly at the expense of the Hamitic peoples who already lived in those lands.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1 The Bible on the origins of 'races', and Christian Europe's belief of origins until modern times:
Genesis chapter 9, from Biblegateway verses 18 to 27:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The Sons of Noah</b>
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were <b>Shem, Ham and Japheth</b>. (<b>Ham was the father of Canaan</b>.)
19 These were <b>the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth</b>.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what <i>his youngest son</i> had done to him,
25 he said,
    "Cursed be <b>Canaan</b>!
    The lowest of <b>slaves</b>
    will he be to his brothers."
26 He also said,
    "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem!
    <b>May Canaan be the slave of Shem</b>.
27 May God extend the territory of Japheth;
    may <b>Japheth</b> live in the tents of Shem,
    and <b>may Canaan be his slave</b>."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Japheth is sometimes argued to be Noah's oldest son, Shem the second and Ham the youngest. See this Christian site:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The names of Noah's sons are always listed in the same order in the Bible. However Japheth was actually the oldest, Shem the middle son, and Ham the youngest.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>The biblical races:</b> Ham was considered the father of the Hamitic Race (African people), Shem the father of the Semitic Race and Japeth the father of the Europeans. The US Churches were mostly anti-abolitionist and argued from the biblical standpoint that Africans were 'naturally' meant for slavery because of Noah's curse on the Hamitic race.
Note that although some versions of Bibles (especially today) want to replace the Hebrew word for slave with 'servant' in translation, they are merely being PC and trying to make the bible acceptable in today's world. The actual translation of the Hebrew word is <i>slave</i>.
That same Christian site groups all brown and eastern Asian people in the Hamitic race, after discussing how Europe's imperialism was the fulfilment of the 'prophecy' about Japheth:<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The enlargement of Japheth is now obvious from history. The European nations rapidly built what we like to call our great "western civilization." It rose on the foundations of Greek and Roman philosophy. Our science, economic system, educational system and style of government have allowed the development of a rich and expansive character. In due time it was the Norse, then the English, the French, the Spanish, the Italians, the Portuguese who sailed the seas to the West and to the South colonizing the New World, and Africa, India and the Far East. These expansionist moves were mostly at the expense of the Hamitic peoples who already lived in those lands.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->