Caucasian vs White
Caucasian is a term that is applied in general to white people though it is a broad term encompassing people belonging to many different parts of the world. The term Caucasian itself has been rejected by scientists as a major division of human races though it continues to be used in popular terminology. Inside US and across Europe, Caucasian continues to be used for people having white skin though it is clear that Caucasian is a much broader concept than being a term used to refer to people of white skin. Let us take a closer look.
The term Caucasian was first used by German scientist Blumenbach in early 19th century to refer to a particular human race based upon his study of human skulls. He divided human races into Caucasians, Mongoloids, Ethiopians, Americans, and Malayan. Blumenbach was of the view that studying human skull was the best way of categorizing them into races. He labeled people belonging to Caucasus region as Caucasians and referred to them as the most superior people of all human races. A long time has passed since then, and the views of Blumenbach are no longer regarded as true. Even the classifications system of human races has changed drastically. However, the word Caucasian continues to be used in modern terminology, loosely applied to people having white skin in US and across entire Europe.
Even in the earlier times, Caucasian was a race of people belonging to not just America but North Africa, West, central, and South of Asia. Even today, people of South Asian origin are termed as Caucasians in Britain though there are many who feel it is politically incorrect to term people with colored skin as Caucasians.
Summary
Caucasian vs White
Caucasian is a term coined by German anthropologist Blumenbach in the early 19th century to refer top people belonging to Caucasus region. He divided humans into 5 races of which Caucasians formed a major race. The same people were later at different times labeled as Aryans and also as Indo-Europeans. The term Caucasian included people belonging to not just North America but also North of Africa, West, Central, and South of Asia. The term continues to be used even today though the division of human races proposed by Blumenbach has been rejected by the scientists. Today, Caucasian is a word loosely applied to people with white skin though it has no real meaning. It is the same as blacks being referred to as African-Americans in US.