the reason black people is black is because of the weather they originally born into?

Question

i mean the africans for example live in a very hot and sunny weather so thats why may be they are dark i know i sound stupid but i really wanna know ..

Answer 1

The first human beings that existed on this planet lived in Africa where the influence of the sun is intense.

As humans need Vitamin D to live, a vitamin which is naturally obtained by sunlight, humans evolved dark skin which allowed the correct amount of Vitamin D to be absorbed by the body.

However, as some humans began to migrate to the northern hemisphere where the influence of the sun was less, their skin colour gradually became less dark.

This was needed because lighter skin absorbs more Vitamin D than darker skin and as they were now living in a region which has far less sunlight, their skin needed to lighten in order to obtain the necessary levels of Vitamin D.

It therefore follows that black people who have recently moved into Europe or North America will have descendants who gradually lose their black pigment and as a result become lighter skinned.

Answer 2

It's because they lived at low latitudes, near the equator where the sunlight was very direct and intense.

Human skin can make Vitamin D when the sun shines upon it, and lighter skin is better at making Vitamin D than darker skin. But as intense as the sunlight is in Africa, dark skin can still make enough. Dark skin confers much more resistance to sunburn and skin cancer than light skin, so dark skin in high-insolation areas is a survival advantage.

In high latitudes, in the temperate and subarctic regions, sunburn and skin cancer is less of a problem, but the sunlight is too weak for dark skin to make much Vitamin D. Light skin gives a survival advantage there.

Before the great resettlement, which began during the Renaissance, of Europeans to all parts of the world, and black Africans to the Western Hemisphere, the skin tone of an ethnic group was directly proportional to the latitude of where they lived, from black Africans, to dark (Asian) Indians, to the medium brown of the Chinese, Native Americans, and Mediterranean peoples, finally to the very white English, Nordic, and Russian races. The exception to the rule is the Eskimos, who get all the Vitamin D from the fish they eat and didn't need to evolve light skin.

The effects of the resettlement are still with us; Australia has the highest concentration of white people in subtropical latitudes, and it has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world.

Answer 3

Same reason many white people tan in long exposure to direct sunligh-Melanin. Protects the skin from UVB radiation poisoning/cancers. Areas of the world nearest the equator (Africa/Middle East) are usually physically closer to the sun most of the time (Due to Earth's axis of rotation and it's spherical shape)-so the sun's radiation is stronger there. People from there have evolved with darker colored skin as a result. The only physical drawback to that is that dark colors absorb more light (creating heat)-which is why you'll see a lot more blacks than whites in the shade on a hot, sunny day.

Answer 4

Actually, the most modern theory would turn it around and say that white people are white because of the weather their ancestors moved into from Africa. Lighter skin is better at making Vitamin D from sunlight, which is important when you don't experience much sun.

But yes, it is also the case that being (largely) immune to sunburn is a healthy trait in sunny climates.

Answer 5

You are correct in one thing, this is a very stupid question.

African-American people are darker because of the amount of pigment in their skin compared to European born people. Think of it as coffee being diluted with cream. No cream the darker the coffee, add cream, the coffee lightens. It has nothing to do with where they live directly. Sunlight will darken skin, which is why so many go to tanning beds to capture that browning of the skin. But the aforementioned is the main reason for the color of African-American's skin.

Answer 6

It doesn't sound stupid actually, its a fair question.

However, two caucasian parents wouldn't have black children simply because they'd moved somewhere hot, would they?

In reality since all humans came out of Africa the ancestors of all human beings, caucasian, asian etc - were all black.

Do a search on melanin or human evolution and you can find out much more.

Answer 7

this is very true,blacks, hispanics,in the southern hemispheres and look at the blonde white skined blonde haired fins,germans,scandnavias,it takes a while but your body will adapt to different enviornments and spurn those changes

Answer 8

It's all in the genetics. Some people are born with more pigment than others and pigment is what makes your skin dark or white. It doesn't have anything to do with where you were born.

Answer 9

yes a very good theory.

But I wish we wouldn't all spend so much time worrying about people's SKIN.

Answer 10

Yea...It all goes back to evoultions and migration