Race in the European Enlightenment

What was the relationship between race and history in Enlightenment thinking?

What happens when we view Europe's Enlightenment through the lens of the history of science? One thing that happens is that the concept of race becomes central to the intellectual history of humanity.

A discussion on the importance of natural history for ideas about virtue and progress in the 18th century:

Bruce Buchan & Silvia Sebastiani on Race in the European Enlightenment

Timeline of history in Ferguson’s 1780 article History (2nd edition of Britannica).