The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is linked to biological and sociological factors. Race refers to a person's physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone structure and etc. Ethnicity, on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language and beliefs (Vxpilot). There are various differences in race and ethnicity. To start, ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, on the basis of a common ancestry. Ethnicity shows the cultural traits and the shared group history. Some ethnic groups also share linguistic or religious traits, while others share a common group history but not a common language or religion. Typically, if people believe they descend from a particular group, and they want to be associated with that group, then they are in fact members of that group. Ethnic groups distinguish themselves differently from one time period to another. They typically seek to define themselves but also are defined by the stereotypes of dominant groups. .
In the last decades of the 20th century, in the U.S. and in most nations, the legal system prohibited ethnic-based discrimination. Often brutal conflicts between ethnic groups have existed throughout history and across the world. But most ethnic groups in fact get along peacefully within one another in most nations most of the time (Vxpilot). The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics, which usually result from genetic ancestry. Race shares biological or genetic traits. In the early 19th century, racial differences were seen through areas of intelligence, health, and personality. Racial categories result from a shared ancestry due to geographical isolation. In the modern world this isolation has been broken down and racial groups have mixed.