The 18th century is associated with numerous forces and changes that still influence race relations in the world today. During this period, colonialism became a major global movement as different European countries scrambled and fought for territories in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. This development was informed or triggered by the notions of nationalism and militarism. The acquisition and control of additional territories would support the economic development of such countries. Those masters started to view the colonized as inferior, uneducated, and incapable of pursuing their goals effectively. Slavery emerged as malpractice that historians would later use to define this century. Those in favor of this misbehavior used negative concepts and ideas to explain how Africans were uncivilized and inferior. Consequently, new stereotypes and prejudices against minority racial groups emerged that cast shadow across the world today. Using slave theory, many Europeans viewed Africans as barbaric in an attempt to justify that making them servants would save them from the predicaments they faced.
With such ideas of race, many people from civilized nations began to pursue notions of supremacy and dominion over inferior groups. The examples of the British and the German people explain why they began to engage in rivalries in an attempt to assert their positions in the European continent. Similar notions eventually forced more societies to begin promoting disparities based on skin color and race. By the 1930s, the problem had worsened and spread to different parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and America. The oppression and discrimination many Jews and African Americans faced have their roots in the ideals of colonialism and slavery.