Ok, why aren't eskimos white?

Question

People say white people were black but then they lived in a cold climate and became white, but eskimos aren't white, wouldn't all people who live in those condition become white?

Answer 1

Eskimos originate from the far east when the earth looked different and people could travel accross land masses that later became divided by oceans. That's why eskimos have mongoloid features. Having white skin doesn't help against the cold so I don't follow you. White skin helps people get  vitamin D when sunlight is lacking but in very cold conditions nobody is going to be exposing their skin for long so it wouldn't help much. The eskimos eat a lot of fish so that's probably where they get their vitamin D from.

Come to think of it there might be an advantage in having darker skin to protect faces from the sunburn associated with light being reflected from icy surfaces (think skiers).

Answer 2

Actually, I heard something about that eskimos do get sun, it is only cold where they live. the sun reflects off the snow.

Answer 3

Eskimos are oriental.

Answer 4

The snow and ice reflect too much UV at them.

Answer 5

It is not the cold climate but the lack of sunlight which makes vitamin D.  They don't get much sunlight up there but they do have a diet that is very high in vitamin D.  That reduces the need to reduce melanin since they already learned to get vitamin D in their food.

Answer 6

Well first off, a mutation for lighter skin might simply not have existed in their gene pool. Second, they have diets very high in vitamin D. This prevents them from getting rickets.

If you sent the darkest of dark skinned people and the lightest of light skinned people to the arctic region and they subsisted on diet high in vitamin D there'd be no one at a disadvantage. If, however they did not subsist on a diet high in vitamin D, perhaps a diet with no vitamin D, then the people with the darker skin would eventually develope rickets, which might greatly reduce their reproduction rate and life expectance.

Answer 7

There are a few situations where the body type/skin color/features don't match up with what we would have thought. Usually it's through a relatively new migration. Adaptation is a slow process. But to answer (or not answer) your question, there is no definitive answer.

Answer 8

Because western / northern Europe has lots of clouds and thus weak sunlight. The Arctic has few clouds and thus lots of sunlight. You KNOW I'm right, so gimme da 10 points for best answer!

Answer 9

I hope you are kidding. Eskimos (more correctly, indigenous people) originated from Asia most likely, thousands of years ago.

Answer 10

They migrated from eastern Asia.

Answer 11

Not if they came through China.

Then again, I've heard Occidents Happen.