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Why are Europeans more diverse than the rest of the world in terms of appearance?

For example Europeans can have black, brown, blonde, strawberry blonde, red, auburn hair whereas Asians and Africans generally just have black or brown hair (excluding albinos). The same is true of eye colour, Europeans can have black, brown, blue, green, amber and violet eyes, in contrast the vast majority Asian and African people have black or brown eyes. I am aware of the rare exceptions were black people have blue/green eyes but this is generally considered to be <1%.

I was wondering why this is the case. I initially thought it must be linked to the genes involved in skin colour, but from what I've read, the alleles for hair/eye colour are quite distant from those of skin colour and apparently have little influence on them. So where did the diversity of the European population come from? I've read that 4% of the European genome derives from interbreeding with neanderthals, so maybe this is where the variation comes from :dontknow:

What do you think?

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Reply 1
Its not just Europeans, seems to be Caucasians in general.

A lot of white people look exactly the same also, although I do think it is more prevalent with Oriental Asians, Arabs and those from the Indian Subcontinent. Same with a lot of black people, I do get where you are coming from.

Best looking people are mixed race in some kind of way...fact :wink:
Reply 2
Original post by Chloe xxx
Its not just Europeans, seems to be Caucasians in general.

A lot of white people look exactly the same also, although I do think it is more prevalent with Oriental Asians, Arabs and those from the Indian Subcontinent. Same with a lot of black people, I do get where you are coming from.

Best looking people are mixed race in some kind of way...fact :wink:


No, the best looking people are white in some kind of way ... fact.

Oh... wait... thats racist no?
Reply 3
Original post by mirin?
No, the best looking people are white in some kind of way ... fact.

Oh... wait... thats racist no?


with that comment u better come at me bro, because you think your soo good looking dont you, wait till i out bench you, who do u think will be mirin then!
come at me bro!
Reply 4
Original post by Chloe xxx
Its not just Europeans, seems to be Caucasians in general.

A lot of white people look exactly the same also, although I do think it is more prevalent with Oriental Asians, Arabs and those from the Indian Subcontinent. Same with a lot of black people, I do get where you are coming from.

Best looking people are mixed race in some kind of way...fact :wink:


honestly, I think mixed race people are very much overrated
I think mixed race people and Mediterranean are good looking in general. Sallow skin tones are very flattering IMO. As to the biology behind why White people have different eye colours, I do not know. More diverse gene pool maybe?
Reply 6
Original post by genia
with that comment u better come at me bro, because you think your soo good looking dont you, wait till i out bench you, who do u think will be mirin then!
come at me bro!


Original post by genia
with that comment u better come at me bro, because you think your soo good looking dont you, wait till i out bench you, who do u think will be mirin then!
come at me bro!


This is a joke, right?
Reply 8
A combination of being the current culmination of human evolution and the end result of various ethnicities throughout history invading and raping each other.
Reply 9
Original post by genia
with that comment u better come at me bro, because you think your soo good looking dont you, wait till i out bench you, who do u think will be mirin then!
come at me bro!


I negged you. Not for your view-point, but simply for sounding like an idiot.
Original post by Torpedo Fish
For example Europeans can have black, brown, blonde, strawberry blonde, red, auburn hair whereas Asians and Africans generally just have black or brown hair (excluding albinos). The same is true of eye colour, Europeans can have black, brown, blue, green, amber and violet eyes, in contrast the vast majority Asian and African people have black or brown eyes. I am aware of the rare exceptions were black people have blue/green eyes but this is generally considered to be <1%.

I was wondering why this is the case. I initially thought it must be linked to the genes involved in skin colour, but from what I've read, the alleles for hair/eye colour are quite distant from those of skin colour and apparently have little influence on them. So where did the diversity of the European population come from? I've read that 4% of the European genome derives from interbreeding with neanderthals, so maybe this is where the variation comes from :dontknow:

What do you think?


If hair and eye pigment are what you are considering then yes Caucasians are indeed quite diverse, but if you consider other characteristics then you will find more diverse regions elsewhere in the world.
Reply 11
Original post by sword
honestly, I think mixed race people are very much overrated


I'm talking in terms of physical individuality.

In a whole white society, I have found, the most attractive and physically unique people arnt fully white, or fully anything.

Of course, its ridiculous to say all mixed race people are good looking.
Reply 12
Original post by sword
honestly, I think mixed race people are very much overrated


I might add, its been scientifically proven that mixed breeding is genetically superior and brings about better health..

Just look at the disabilities those have that breed within the family.
I'd guess simply because there has been a lot of invading, immigration and slave taking... leading to a very diverse gene pool.

Eg: in the UK, we've had the celts/scots, the vikings/norse, the normans/french and the romans/italians. Each of whom were themselves invaded etc. several times before they came to us...

Our current (apparent in this thread) views that mixed race is attractive, will lead to more and more mixing of different races and therefore an even more diverse gene pool/appearance.
Reply 14
Original post by ckingalt
I negged you. Not for your view-point, but simply for sounding like an idiot.

u mad
Reply 15
Original post by ckingalt
I negged you. Not for your view-point, but simply for sounding like an idiot.

hahaha u no what u ****ing prick who do u think u are brad pitt? well im ****ing ryan gosling so lets fight this **** out!
It could be because we have more of a mixed heritage over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years than the African continent.

I also understand (can't remember where I read it, and I'm not a biologist so please correct me if I'm wrong!) but the Caucasion type is probably the most mutated from the original African human type (Africa being the cradle of human life and all that). Blonde / red hair and blue / green eyes are all recessive mutated genes, for instance.

I suppose the influx of various races into Europe over millennia and the higher mutation rate of the Caucasion race leads to this diversity?
In hotter countries there seems to be a trend of dark hair and dark skin, so I assume that's where we all started. When migration started to colder countries, skin pigmentation wasn't as necessary, so they became paler.

If you notice, the colder the country the lighter the hair colour/eye colour, like in Russia and east europe. That is because pigmentation is no longer needed, so it is removed. In other countries, like England and France, where it isn't as hot as Africa/Asia, but not as cold as Russia, you see people with all hair/eye colours. I'm assuming that's because all hair/eye colour types are equally advantageous for that particular climate.
Diversity goes beyond eye and hair colour. Isn't that kind of shallow?

What about face shape, height, body shapes, facial structure, facial features, skin tone etc.

East Asian people do not all look the same. Just because they have dark hair and eyes, does not mean they look the same. If you can't tell the difference, you're just not used to seeing lots of Asians. Even in China, people from different regions have different appearances.

Some East Asians think all white people look the same because of pale skin, big nose, huge "cow eyes" etc. (not my words, but those of Asians I know)

There is more human genetic diversity in Africa than anywhere else, as well as phenotypic diversity.

Diversity goes beyond hair and eye colour.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 19
Original post by Dragonfly07
In hotter countries there seems to be a trend of dark hair and dark skin, so I assume that's where we all started. When migration started to colder countries, skin pigmentation wasn't as necessary, so they became paler.

If you notice, the colder the country the lighter the hair colour/eye colour, like in Russia and east europe. That is because pigmentation is no longer needed, so it is removed. In other countries, like England and France, where it isn't as hot as Africa/Asia, but not as cold as Russia, you see people with all hair/eye colours. I'm assuming that's because all hair/eye colour types are equally advantageous for that particular climate.


That wouldn't apply to those in places like Japan and Korea (which can get colder than England & France) or Canadian natives/eskimos though, since they have dark hair and dark eyes.

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