How common were non-white people in Pre-Industrial Europe?

by Hazzardevil

I've heard people complaining that in media presenting Medieval Europe as nearly white only. Would I walk through a busy town or city in many cities and spot someone who wasn't white? I'm aware of Othello presenting an African as in some position of influence and having a white wife, but I have no idea if this is something that the audience would have considered very unlikely or completely outlandish.

Hayt7

It depends on your definition of "white." Much of what we deem as white today was not considered white by the population of Europe. The Romany people were considered to be colored and the Irish were deemed blacker than Africans by many. Modern definitions of race are eighteenth and nineteenth century inventions created during imperialism.

However to really answer your question, in the major trade ports of Europe one would find people of many races due to the constant trade between continents. Venice is a good example of a multiracial city because of its trade economy. However, if one was in a rural town or village than seeing people of different races would be very uncommon. In fact, someone just from a different village a few miles away would be considered "foreign." Most rural people stayed within ten miles of their birthplace.

I hope this helps. Most of my knowledge of race creation and identification is from a later time period so if you have any further questions on race later on please let me know.