question onli for the intelligent historians out there.?

Question

i am an indian. need to ask the question if north indian (fair-skinned) ppl are actually whites/caucasianz?. i've heard it is common for the ppl in the north especially in kashmir and punjab, have blue/green eyes. some ppl in pakistan(initally in india) have even blonde hair! it is known to many ppl tht due to intermixing of the natives of of india...half the ppl of india look very diverse. but can someone out there, verify if all this information is true. i mean a blue/green-eyed indian is bilwidering (mabe itz becoz i've never seen one). and this is all due to the aryan(white) invasion from the meditterranean isnt it?!

thnkz

it is defintely not becoz of britsh influence (okay mabe partly)...but even before 1700's....north indians were perceived to look like a turkish or of the meditteran race.

Answer 1

You probably refer to some tribes in northern India and in Pakistan who claim to be descendents of the Greeks and especially the soldiers of Alexander the Great! The tribe that is mainly claiming that is the Kalash.
They claim that they are the direct descendants of either Greek settlers, Alexander the Great's army, or even Alexander himself. The claims are questionable, as there is proof of their existence before Alexander's invasion of the Persian Empire. One theory suggests that similarities in the culture of the Kalasha and Greek people stem from the expansion of Proto-Indo-Europeans.
The Kalasha of Chitral believe in various deities Mahadeo (Khodai, the Khowar word for God is also used), and worship other deities that offer protection to different aspects of life (such as Jeshtak, who represents family, pregnant mothers, and marriage). It is suggested that they are based on twelve Olympian gods of Ancient Greece.
The Greek contribution to the Kalasha is somewhat of a mystery. Recent analysis of the y-chromosome shows that the Greek admixture could be as high as 20-40%, but considering that the local population contains no haplogroup 21 the findings have been chalked up as genetic drift. Surprisingly, mtDNA research has shown that there is absolutely no Eastern Asian genetic influence within the Kalasha. This is in stark contrast to some of their closest Indo-European neighbors.
As you can see we can not possible be sure if the Kalash are linked to the Greeks although there are a lot of evidence!
To correct the previous answerer the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia or Macedon and Alexander the great were responsible for the spreading of the Greek culture and civilization!
{Some people tend to confuse the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia or Macedon (which was the birth place of Alexander) with the modern state of Makedonija (or FYROM or Slav Macedonia as they are not related at all). The confusion has started a few years ago because that small state started to use the name “Republic of Macedonia” causing a great confusion with real Macedonia in Greece. I have to mention though that the official policy of that state is that it is not related to Greek Macedonia and Alexander at all}

Answer 2

Yes, fmmchard, it is true, exept the point that Hunza people lives in Afghanistan and they do not speak Greek at all - they speak an ancient language which have nothing incommon with greek language. Also ancient Macedonians had their own language.
They used do speak also the Greek language, the same way we all today learn and speak English, even we are not native speakers. Dear lokeshrooy, I'm Macedonian and can tell you there are also Roma people living here in Macedonia (and in many parts of Europe), who have Indian roots. The point is the mixing of the ancient people without any equality according to nowadays nations since XIX th century.

Answer 3

There are some stories about Alexander's men (the Macedonians) settling in Northern India after their military campaigns there. I seem to remember from Michael Wood's book (In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great) that there are some villages of blond, blue-eyed people who speak Greek in North India. But I could be wrong.

Answer 4

up until around 1875? it was normal for the british soldiers to marry and mix with indians,but then queen victoria made an edict that it was no longer the right thing to do,so to answer your question its probably a throback from those colonial days,

Answer 5

Indian is caucasion, there is a big difference between white and caucasian. White and Indian people has different colored skin and hair, but their facial features are very similar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race