© Getty Images

Introducing eugenics -

For anyone with a basic understanding of eugenics, it is impossible to imagine a history that is anything other than dark.

© Getty Images

Basic concept -

The basic idea of eugenics is that the human race can be genetically improved by excluding those groups that are considered to be inferior, and promoting those groups that are thought of as superior.

© Getty Images

True beginnings -

While the term is most commonly espoused with the Nazi regime of the 1930s and '40s, in fact the concept of eugenics dates much further back than that.

© Getty Images

Ancient Greeks -

There is evidence of attempts to try and control human populations going as far back as the ancient Greeks.

© Getty Images

Plato -

Around 400 BCE, Plato actually suggested that selective breeding should be applied to humans.

© Getty Images

Contemporary eugenics -

The contemporary history of eugenics began in the late 19th century, when the discovery of evolution and genetics prompted a new scientific movement dedicated to the cause.

© Getty Images

Francis Galton -

The movement first emerged in the United Kingdom, where it was given its name by the British scientist Francis Galton. The word ‘eugenics’ stems from the Greek word meaning "to be well born."

© Getty Images

Global movement -

From the United Kingdom, the movement spread to many countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Australia, and many European countries.

© Getty Images

"Desirable traits" -

As the movement spread, people became concerned with which genetic traits were desirable and which weren’t.

© Getty Images

Problematic at best -

The problem was that the desirability of genetic traits was largely determined, of course, by the prejudices that existed in the relevant country at the time.

© Getty Images

Exclusion of certain groups -

Entire groups of people, including immigrants and people with disabilities, were considered "unfit" to reproduce based on their genetic traits.

© Getty Images

Eugenic policies -

Many countries took measures to control reproduction among "undesirable groups," such as restricting immigration and outlawing interracial unions.

© Getty Images

The Third Reich -

Arguably the single most horrific example of eugenics in action was the Nazi regime in Germany, which systematically eliminated millions of Jewish people and other minorities.

© Getty Images

The Third Reich -

The sheer scale and brutality of the Nazi regime makes it the standout event in the history of eugenics.

© Getty Images

Other examples -

However, the Nazi eugenic policies were not dissimilar from policies enacted by other governments around the world in the middle of the 20th century.

© Getty Images

Forced sterilization -

Many countries introduced formal eugenics policies, of which sterilization was often a key element. Sweden, Canada, and Japan, for example, forcibly sterilized thousands of people.

© Getty Images

The USA -

The sterilization of individuals possessing ‘undesirable’ characteristics was particularly common in the United States.

© Getty Images

Statistics -

Between 1907 and 1979, over 60,000 people in the US were sterilized according to eugenics policies, and 32 states passed laws for the sterilization of "mentally defective" individuals.

© Getty Images

Basis for sterilization -

A person was often labeled "mentally defective" on the basis of superficial mental health diagnoses and IQ tests.

© Getty Images

Bias -

What's more, the tests used to determine an individual’s mental capacity were often linguistically and culturally biased against immigrant populations.

© Getty Images

California numbers - Things in California were particularly bad: between 1920 and 1945, Latina women were 59% more likely to be sterilized than other women.

© Getty Images

California numbers -

And the general sterilization rate in California was extremely high: the state performed one third of all the country’s forced sterilizations.

© Public Domain

Post-WWII -

After the atrocities of World War II, many countries started to ban their eugenics policies, although some countries continued with forced sterilizations for decades.

© Public Domain

Into the 1970s -

Countries that were slow to abandon forced sterilization include Sweden and the US, and in California laws were not repealed until 1979.

© Public Domain

Repeal in California -

When the Californian laws were finally repealed, it was only as the result of class action lawsuits and protest marches forcing the arm of the law.

© Getty Images

Gone underground -

Although the general influence of eugenics has been blunted since the middle of the 20th century, many countries continue to carry out illegal forced sterilizations.

© Getty Images

Renewed concern -

Furthermore, since the 1980s and '90s, there has been concern that eugenics may come back with a vengeance thanks to new technology.

© Public Domain

Renewed concern -

The development of assisted reproductive technology procedures, including cytoplasmic transfer, which was first performed in 1996, has generated concern about a new, more potent form of eugenics.

© Public Domain

All in all -

It may seem obvious, then, that the history of eugenics is dark. Less obvious perhaps is that the story is wide-reaching and, perhaps, not confined to the past.

Sources: (TED)

See also: Extinct human species: How different were they from us?

© Getty Images