Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Day 17- Races

It is safe to say that different races on earth do not exist. We all originated from one continent; more specifically, one tribe of people. These people, from south-east Africa, are the origin to the human race. In this group of people, we can find features of all different races of people, all in one person. This tribe ventured out of their home to search for something new. Where they were going? They had no idea because they had never been too far away from their home. They started in south-eastern Africa, then moved through the modern Middle-East and on to Asia. After Asia, the tribe scattered out in different directions, and it is here that we find the differences that are used to characterize what modern-society defines as a race.
             
The differences in appearance and traits are caused by genetics or DNA, which are tiny variations in the genetic makeup of a person. As time went on, these variations appeared more and more often, and the gaps grew bigger and bigger between races, until finally, we get to the modern world with hundreds of different races.  All of this is an outcome of natural selection, where nature is the one who decides which traits keep reappearing, and which are not as common. For example, the original tribe of people had a dark skin color. This is because they lived in south-eastern Africa, very close to the equator, and they were hunter gatherers so they were out in the sun a lot. As time went on, though, and they moved out into cooler regions such as Asia, the need for extra protection from the sun was not needed. So the dark skin pigment trait eventually died off due to natural selection.

This happened over and over, traits came and went throughout the world as humans made their way into climates and lands which they were not used to. Eventually, each race would develop distinct adaptations for the environment they were living in, but all of these races can still trace their roots back to the same common ancestor. 

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