Why Do Africans Have Dark Skin, & Europians Have Light?

Question

I mean, I know WHY, but this is the thing I don't get; When you go outside wearing black, your shirt will get warmer over time than the person next to you wearing a lighter color, because it doesn't reflect light so it obsorbs all the light. so if brown skin is supposed to helped the africans from sun damage, then why is their skin sun absorbing? And why is it that white people have skin & and eyes that are more of a reflective color if they hardly got any sun? (sometimes)

Answer 1

Dark skin does help protect against UV rays to a certain extent, but it also inhibits the body's ability to absorb the sunlight necessary for making Vitamin D. As humans migrated farther north away from the equator to where there was less direct sunlight they developed lighter skin to get more Vitamin D. Since there was less direct sunlight, the UV damage was also reduced, so it was a positive evolutionary trade-off.

Answer 2

As said above: Not all people from either region have those skin tones. That's kind of irrelevant though, so I'll skip that.

I think a fitting analogy would be the difference between sunscreen and sunblock.
Sunblock, as it implies, blocks harmful UV rays.
Sunscreen on the other hand absorbs those rays, and makes them weaker with some reflection, and scattering.

And I don't know if you can argue that having a lighter skin tone will help, because a lot of people will attest to that, as damage sometimes comes quicker from having it unprotected. I find it funny that people freak out when I say I've had sunburns in my life. ZOMG Afro-Puertorican OMG. *Laughs*
The reason is genetics. As also said above: The body naturally adapts to the world around it over time. Part of adaption involves where groups thrived over time.
For Africans, that involved the naturally darkening of skin, which makes it harder for UV rays to harm. The curling of the hair is included in aid against the sun as well. The same thing applies for things such as how european buildings tend to be built: The roofs have slopes, so that snow falls off easier in those harsh winters.

Answer 3

It is basically to do with the amount of melanin a person inherits in their genetic make up as to how dark or fair skinned they are.
The genes that produce the melanin can be recessive and appear in generations of descendants.

Answer 4

Thats a really good question....I would have to say that I simply do not know!

Answer 5

white ppls skin is more tranparent so you can see their fat easily than blakc ppls.

Answer 6

ah ah ah its the race