BLACK people left Africa, and BECAME whiter.
There have been numerous waves of migration out of Africa, going back
1.9 million years to Homo erectus. The most recent exodus, which happened
around 75,000 years ago from East Africa, is responsible for the spread
of Homo sapiens around the world. Genetic studies suggest this was a
tribe of around 1,000 related individuals, who crossed the southern end
of the Red Sea at Bab el Mandib, between what are now Eritrea and Djibouti
in Africa, and the Yemen:
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they moved beyond, with hunter-gatherers reaching Britain via the Doggerland
land bridge after the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago - i.e., around
the time Cheddar Man lived.
Survival would have been difficult in Northern Europe. Even with the advent
of agriculture, famine would have been a regular thing. Minor biological
variations could have meant the difference between life and death. People
with paler skin would have an advantage in being able to produce more Vitamin
D from the meagre sunlight of northerly climes than their darker-skinned
tribe mates. Vitamin D prevents osteomalacia (rickets in children), a
softening of the bones. Having strong(er) bones allowed paler people to
continue to forage and hunt in times of scarcity, when darker-skinned
people might have starved or suffered injury which ultimately killed them.
As a result, pale-skinned people lived longer, producing more children,
who in turn would be paler and better adapted to survival in low sunlight
conditions. This change began about 8,000 years ago (6,000 BCE).
Wade says, "Hmmm."