German anthropologists used Germany's colonial conquest in Africa to promulgate racist theory, and create racial hierarchies. While popular at the time, scientific racism became a justification for widespread oppression.

Colonialism saw European nations conquer vast territories and control of millions of subjects. The conquest led some scientists to ask why Europeans could morally justify the violence and exploitation of the world they had created. A new branch of science sought to justify the unequal treatment of different people, with horrifying and longlasting consequences.