Why are white people called Caucasians? Were they born in the Caucasus mountains?

Question

Germans don't use the word Caucasian for whites. They called themselves Aryans, so why do people use the word Caucasian for whites. Is there a legal definition of it, because it is used for the official census.

Answer 1

The Caucasus Mountain Range is considered to be the dividing line between modern Europeans and those people with "Asian" features, i.e. Mongoloid...

About 40,000 years ago, the early Cro-Magnon Caucasians migrated from the perimeters of the Black Sea, to Eastern Europe and beyond. Those who stayed around the Caspian Sea (Kazakhstan), tended to migrate towards the east...

Answer 2

First, Germans don't currently use the word "Aryan."

The term "Caucasian" comes from the racial categories which were developed by 19th century scientists studying "craniology."  This was the study of different facial and head shapes which, it was believed, would categorize people by race.  According to several of the prominent scientists in this field, the ideal shape of head for a white person was personified by people from the Caucasus region.

European mythology associated a number of stories with the Caucasus region, including Jason and the Argonauts and the idea that the women there were magical.  It was said to be a beautiful place, with mountain ranges and fertile fields and so forth.  

The term isn't used much in other places except the United States, where it is mostly used to denote light-skinned people.  In Europe, the terms "Europid" and "European" are used.  The race theories of the 19th century scientists have been discredited and the term is not used at all in scientific circles any more.