«Des hommes noirs et non pas des nègres»: skin and race in XVIIIth century

Abstract

A growing interest in the nature of the black skin and in the origins of the peoples classified under this trait was accompanied in the eighteenth century by an increasing differentiation of their nature from whites, to the point that they were considered either a degenerated variety of humans, a separate species or inferior animals. Skin and race go together in the natural history of man, wich comprises not only anatomical and physiological aspects, but also the history of nations, the Sacred History and the aesthetic reflection.