Why Did People Become White? A host of evolutionary pressures at
work that contributed to the development of lighter skin, but
for now, scientists aren't sure exactly what produced white
people. Image Humans come in a rainbow of hues, from dark
chocolate browns to nearly translucent whites. This full
kaleidoscope of skin colors was a relatively recent evolutionary
development, according to biologists, occuring alongside the
migration of modern humans out of Africa between 100,000 and
50,000 years ago. The consensus among scientists has always been
that lower levels of vitamin D at higher latitudes — where the
sun is less intense — caused the lightening effect when modern
humans, who began darker-skinned, first migrated north. But
other factors might be at work, a new study suggests. From the
varying effects of frostbite to the sexual preferences of early
men, a host of theories have been reviewed. Vitamin D plays an
important role in bone growth and the body's natural protection
against certain diseases, and