Why are skin colors different?

Question

I know its becuase parents are that color, but like how did people become white or black in the first place, and what cuases that?

Answer 1

Skin tone is determined by the amount and type of the pigment melanin in the skin. In general, people with ancestors from sunny regions have darker skin than people with ancestors from regions with less sunlight. However, this is complicated by the fact that there are people with ancestors from both sunny and less sunny regions, and whose skin color may have any shade of the spectrum of possible tones. On average, women have slightly lighter skin than men.

People who lived in very sunny climates needed darker skin for protection from the sun's rays.

Answer 2

Well, while what the others say is true, I believe I can go deeper into it seeing as I studied a lot around this topic this year at school. You see the melanin in skin is built up through contact of the suns UV rays, but that doesn't mean if you were to go out and get a killer tan, and have a child that it would be as dark as your tan, you see it's Darwin's theory at work, which is basically, certain attributes helped animals to survive longer. eg. The giraffe, the longer it's neck the higher it can reach, the more food is obtainable, the longer it lives, it mates and passes its long neck gene down to its young, they repeat the cycle. This is applicable to the skin tone of darker people too. The person with the darker skin can handle heat better, and thus can survive better in the hot equatorial environments, this person has children and they pass down the darkness. Now you may be wondering where does the dark melanin come from still if not from a the temporary change of pigment in the skin when the egg was fertilised. Well that is just from the process of reproduction, sometimes there is random occurrence that is different to how the parent is eg.slightly darker skin and it may not be completely noticeable at the time but over many many many generations this changes the end result from the beginning result drastically, but in actuality, dark people didn't become dark, they just stayed dark, we were always dark, white people are the ones who became white, there is many theories to suggest how or why we became white, but Darwin's theory of sexual selection or artificial selection may help you to understand it , the above mentioned is the natural selection process, which is not particularly applicable to modern day humans as we select our mate on their appearance in most cases (artificial/sexual selection) but perhaps back many thousands and thousands of years ago humans did not select mates on appearance but perhaps on how well old they were or strong, hope this helps.

Answer 3

However, we all have the same coloring pigment in our skin -- melanin. This is a dark-brownish pigment that is produced in different amounts in special cells in our skin. If we had none (as do people called albinos, who inherit a mutation-caused defect, and cannot produce melanin), then we would have a very white or pink skin coloring. If we produced a little melanin, we would be European white. If our skin produced a great deal of melanin, we would be a very dark black. And in between, of course, are all shades of brown. There are no other significant skin pigments.

In summary, from currently available information, the really important factor in determining skin color is melanin -- the amount produced.

In humans, melanin is found in skin, hair, the pigmented epithelium underlying the retina, the medulla and zona reticularis of the adrenal gland, the stria vascularis of the inner ear, and in pigment bearing neurons of certain deep brain nuclei such as the locus ceruleus and the substantia nigra. Melanin is the primary determinant of human skin color.

Answer 4

This is just my opinion, but I think that we all used to be the same color. (Back when the continents were all 1 -Pangea, and before God sent us all diferent ways, different tribes, different languages) The people who stayed near the equator kept dark skin because the sun was more intense there and the people who move further from the equator got lighter and lighter over time which is why we have so many beautiful shades now.

Answer 5

It is due to the amount of pigment in your skin. Pigment is what protects our skin from the sun. That is why when you stay out in the sun for a LITTLE bit every day you build up a tan and when you stay out of the sun for days the tan goes away. People who's ancestors come from regains close to the equator are darker because there people needed more pigment to protect them from the sun. Those who are from further away needed less. I hope this makes sense to you and helps.

Answer 6

It happened when man built the tower of Babel...God gave them all different languages and the ones that could understand each-other moved together to different parts of the world...
Its the parts of the world that you are from that decides the skin color...

Answer 7

It's a chemical in our bodies called "melanin". Melanin darkens and protects skin in locations of the planet that are closer to the equator where the Earth is closer to the Sun, and it contributes to the color of our eyes and freckles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin

Answer 8

people around the globe have different skin colors because of the location where they are living, people in africa have dark colored skin beacause of their hot climate, while american and european people have white skin color because they have a cold climate

Answer 9

Thousands of years of evolution. People in sunny climates are darker because it helps protect them from the sun. People in rainy climates are lighter since they have less sun to deal with.

Answer 10

I think it is because it must be affect by weather in many countries . Weather is different in different countries .