This term derives from the Latin word “niger,” meaning black. In the Netherlands, the term has been used since the 17th century to refer to Black people in and from (sub-Saharan) Africa. Not much later, it came into use to describe enslaved people, and became associated with the racial sciences of the 18th and 19th centuries (see also “Caucasian” and “Race”). In the 20th century, “Negro” was used in a racial typology that supported stereotypes about Black people, but functioned simultaneously, even contradictorily, as part of emergent anti-colonial struggles and increasing Black consciousness. Nowadays, the word is widely regarded as derogatory including by Black and other activists, academics among others.