Final answer:
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach classified humans into five racial categories: Caucasian, American, Ethiopian, Mongoloid, and Malay. These categories are no longer considered scientifically valid as modern anthropology recognizes human traits vary along a spectrum without discrete racial divisions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German physician and anthropologist, identified major human population types by studying craniometry and dividing humans into five racial categories. These categories, which are now considered obsolete and incorrect from a biological standpoint, included:
- Caucasian for White people
- American for Indigenous people of the Americas
- Ethiopian for Black people
- Mongoloid for people of East Asian and some Central Asian origin
- Malay for people of Southeast Asian origin and Pacific Islanders
Blumenbach's classification system erroneously proposed a hierarchy among these groups, placing Caucasians at the top. This misguided hierarchy has been largely discredited, yet some terms like 'Caucasian' persist in contemporary use. It is important to note that modern biological anthropology has shown that human traits such as skin color, facial features, and other characteristics do not sort neatly into discrete racial categories, rendering Blumenbach's racial classifications scientifically invalid.