How did human skin colors evolve the way they are?

Good question.

Melanin and geography. Interesting article

Well we started with black so we’re all shades of that.

It’s a function of latitude and climate. More northern and less sunny weather then the need for less melanin to protect from UV rays and an increased need to synthesize vitamin D. Not too hard to understand.

No it’s not hard to understand. @mazingerz88 gets that he’s not stupid. What he’s asking is why aren’t we all shades of orange or green or something.

People, and science for that matter, always cite the vitamin D thing, but I’m convinced camouflage is part of the reason. Red skin in the Southwest where there is lots of clay. Dark skin in areas with dense forests like parts of Africa. Platinum hair, pale skin, and blue eyes in regions where the snow is white and blue. Olive skin in countries with green and olives!

I think it had to do with survival and natural selection many thousands of years ago.

By the way I’m very pale white and my vitamin D is severely deficient, because people with very little natural protection from burning stay out of the sun.

“Redskin” has been a European term for native Americans for a couple hundred years now, whether they’re from the Pacific Northwest, Florida, the Plaines or wherever.

@Dutchess_III I know that, but some people in the Indian Tribes do have a red undertone. I have a peach undertone, my husband has a yellow-green undertone, etc. The Eskimos mostly have darker skin and they live up in the snow in Alaska, so there aren’t always pale white people in snowy places, which is contra to what I suggested, but also doesn’t fit with the vitamin D explanation either.

I’m not saying it’s ok to walk around calling Native Americans redskins. There is evidence of the Native Americans calling themselves redskins back to colonial days, but I don’t think there is clear evidence why. I don’t think we know for sure if they self-named themselves that term, or the British did.

Even if you don’t use the word red, their skin was often light brown in the west, which fit in with the arid landscape. They also tend to tan easily.