How did the Age of Discovery affect European ideas about cultural differences?

The Age of Discovery significantly reshaped European perspectives on cultural differences, primarily by providing a framework for colonial dominance and the eventual development of scientific racism.1

As Europeans encountered diverse societies in the Americas and elsewhere, they sought to categorize these populations to justify Western colonialism. Intellectuals often utilized the scala naturae, or Great Chain of Being, to impose a hierarchical structure on humanity, positioning Europeans as superior and Indigenous peoples as inferior. This paradigm was later refined by naturalists like Carolus Linnaeus, who attempted to classify human varieties based on physical traits, temperament, and customs, often conflating biological features with culture.12

By the 19th century, these early observations evolved into formal theories of cultural evolution. Thinkers like Lewis Henry Morgan proposed that all societies progressed through fixed stages—savagery, barbarism, and civilization—with European societies serving as the benchmark for "civilization". Ethically, it is important to recognize that these classifications were not neutral scientific inquiries; they were frequently used to make colonial exploitation and the forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples appear morally acceptable to the European public.3