Evolutionary speciation, whether it be cladistic or phyletic, has always been associated with race concepts. Biological races are conceived as definable stages of divergence from a common ancestor. However, the species concept in Western science began within a special creationist framework. The 16th century European voyages of discovery resulted in special creationist schemes explaining the origin of the new peoples encountered. These were designed to provide the moral justification for their colonization and enslavement. By the 17th century European naturalists were beginning to seriously question the meaning of the variation within the animals and plants they observed within the context of God’s role in creation. By the middle of the 19th century, “the species question” was the most important intellectual enterprise within biology. Here I discuss how notions of speciation influenced and were influenced by conceptions of race within Homo sapiens.