How White People Became White
A reminder that we’re all human
While many people try to ignore this simple truth, it’s common knowledge that humans didn’t originate in Western Europe. They originated in Africa.
Homo sapiens, the species of primates that include all living humans, originated in Africa some 300,000 years ago. Their earliest predecessor, the now-extinct Homo habilis, lived about 2.4 to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
So, how in the heck did we end up with white people?
Race, of course, is a social construct, as humans share 99.9% of the same DNA as other humans.
That’s why scientists long ago proved that there is no correlation between one’s race and most variations among humans — despite attempts by racists to argue otherwise.
Physical variations such as skin color, hair texture, facial features, and, to some extent, bodily structure result from evolution and reflect how humans adapt to changing environments.
A broad range of skin color variations actually existed in African indigenous populations long before European colonization. Indigenous populations living in tropical African climates had skin colors that varied from light tan to very dark brown or even black.
