Saturday, January 5, 2008

People of the world

As the first humans spread across the world during prehistoric times, some settled at the margins of deserts, others at the edge of the frozen Arctic, and others still in the green depths of tropical rain forests. Over a long time, the climate, the amount of sunlight, the type of food available and many other factors affected the physical appearance if these isolated groups of people, and gave them distinct characteristics.

When did the races appear?
Modern humans, Homo Sapiens, emerged about 100 000 years ago and spread through Europe, Africa and Asia. Among skeletons from this period, different human traits have been recognised. So, a separation into races must have begun at a still earlier date, through no one can say exactly when they diverged. Genetic studies show that all people come from one common human stock, and that differences relate only to things such as skin colour, hair type and facial features.

Why are some people white and some black?
As early human spread around the world, groups settled in different climate zones. In hot, tropical areas, a high level of the dark skin pigment melanin protects the skin from strong sunshine, so people with plenty of melanin survived there better than people with pale skin. In cooler, cloudy climates, where the Sun is weaker, it is an advantage for skin to absorb more sunshine, which provides Vitamin D, so skin with less melanin is better.

In the frozen north
The Inuit are a Mongoloid people of the Arctic regions. Their traditional life revolved around fishing and hunting seal and walrus among the ice floes, and over thousands of years they adapted physically to their surroundings. Their eyes are particularly narrow because their upper eyelids have developed a special fold of skin to protect their eyes from glare from the snow. A thick layer of flesh on their bodies provides insulation from the cold.

Melting pot
There are five main racial groups in the world. Although each groups originated in a particular area, they soon spread across the world.

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