“It is not the strongest of species that
survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
–Charles Darwin

In 1863, a scientific lecture was organised by the Anthropological Society of London but it turned out to be a scandalous event. The lecturer of this occasion was the then president and founder of this body, Dr. James Hunt. The thesis that he presented was called “The Negro’s Place in Nature”.

He embarked on by stating “I propose to discuss the physical and mental characteristics of the Negro, with the view determining not only his position in nature but also the station he should occupy. I shall also dwell on the analogies between the Negro and the anthropoid apes.” This racist blather continued, coated with technical jargon from scientific explanations. Meanwhile, Hunt continued unabated, their “skull is very hard and usually thick” qualifying these people to “fight or carry weights on their heads with pleasure”. The audience assibilated and jeered out of disappointment but his thoughts struck a chord with like-minded people.

One can think of ‘Negro’s circumstances out of helplessness or poverty because of being disadvantaged or even bad luck but the Imperials induced it as the superiority of their race. Since the British imperialism was such an achievement, it gave birth to the phrase “Genius for empire”. This mindset was actually jumbled up with Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution that the British had evolved naturally to rule over others.