Racism as a concept and ideology does not have a single inventor but developed over time, especially with the rise of European colonialism and scientific attempts to classify humans into hierarchical races.

• The word "racism" itself was first recorded in 1902 by Richard Henry Pratt, who used it to argue against racial segregation, although he is more infamously known for his assimilationist policies toward Native Americans

• However, the ideological foundations of racism date back much earlier. In the 1450s, the Portuguese writer Gomes Eanes de Zurara wrote a book that described Africans as an inferior and beastly group, effectively inventing the notions of "blackness" and "whiteness" to justify the emerging Atlantic slave trade

. This marked a significant moment in the invention of racial categories tied to hierarchy and exploitation.

• Scientific racism emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries with figures like François Bernier, Georges-Louis Leclerc (Buffon), Johann Blumenbach, and others who classified humans into races based on physical traits and often placed white Europeans as the norm or superior

. Some, like Thomas Jefferson, propagated ideas of racial inferiority that fed into systemic racism

• The concept of race itself was developed to justify social hierarchies, colonialism, and slavery. It is widely recognized that "race" as a biological category is a human invention used historically to justify discrimination and oppression

In summary, racism evolved through a combination of early racial categorization by European colonizers and pseudo-scientific theories that emerged over centuries, rather than being invented by a single individual. The Portuguese crown's slave trade interests in the 15th century and later scientific racial classifications were key moments in the development of racism as an ideology. The term "racism" as we use it today appeared only in the early 20th century