(September 21, 2012 at 12:51 am)DeistPaladin Wrote:(September 21, 2012 at 12:08 am)FallentoReason Wrote: How do you explain the skin pigmentation of people living thousands of kilometres from fish such as countries in the middle of Africa? Or are their diets still vitamin D rich anyways?
I always thought skin colour was a direct adaptation to how strong the sun was in that region..?
That's my understanding as well. This theory is born out by the pattern we see where the closer you get to the equator, the darker the skin, while the closer you get to the poles, the lighter the skin.
We can see this effect not just in Europeans but other people in the world. Compare among Native American tribes the Eskimo of Alaska to the Inca of Peru. Compare in East Asia the Mongolians to the Siamese. Among Europeans, compare the Italians to the Scandinavians.
Skin color is just an adaptation to the amount of direct sunlight a given people have over time. Darker skin is more resistant to sunlight so it protects from sunburn, useful in tropical climates. Lighter skin sucks up sunlight, useful if its in short supply.
You can just as easily come up with counterexamples. For example Northern Chinese tends to be significantly darker than southern Chinese.
