What is the connection between imperialism and racism?

The answer may possibly be traced back to Alexander the great. In those days the Greco-Macedonians were light-skinned, although they are no longer today because Greece has been invaded repeatedly by Asiatic peoples. An African queen wrote a letter to Alexander, and pleaded that he not think himself superior simply because his skin was lighter. As the Age of Exploration began, European countries vied for power with each other, but all regarded themselves as superior to darker-skinned Africans, Asians, Americans, and Australians. * Except for the Australian natives who were entirely tribal, some Africans, Asians, and Americans lived in towns or cities to compare or rival those of Europe. China and India especially had highly-developed cultures when Europe began searching for loot in other parts of the world. * Customs, language, religion, and facial features were certainly factors as well, but there may be many other references to affirm the European "White is Right" mindset. For instance, inhabitants of the "West Indies" were referred to as Red Indians, and those of the "East Indies" were Black Indians. * During the Age of Exploration, an Italian (name unremembered) wrote a book in which he argued that black Africans had been placed on earth by God to serve as slaves for white people, as they were incapable of governing themselves and suited only to physical labor. This belief persisted in America into the 1800's as Colonel William Travis (commander of the Alamo during the Texas-Mexico War) and Colonel William Quantrell (infamous Southern guerrilla leader who never actually held an officer's commission in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War) carried their belief in the slavery of Africans to near-religious extremes. * As a disappointment to racists both black and white, neither is a true color on the visible light spectrum. Black is the total absence of color, and white is all of the colors mixed together harmoniously. Unlike science, human nature is not all black & white, although it continually strives to be with often negative results.