Blondes are thought to be found only among Caucasians; so, how do the Melanesians, who live mostly east of Papua New Guinea in Oceania, have the darkest skin in the world outside of Africa and blonde hair? For years, many people and scientists have been perplexed by this question.
Blond hair has long been associated with Caucasians, but the Melanesians of the Solomon Islands are one of the few groups outside of Europe with blonde hair.
These unique Melanesians are black island people from the south Pacific who migrated thousands of years ago, long before African slaves arrived in the Americas.
Jules Dumont d’Urville coined the term Melanesia in 1832 to describe an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia.
Scientists now believe that the cultural, linguistic, and political fragmentation of Melanesians that existed at the time of European arrival, with a half-dozen languages and cultures frequently represented on a single island, was partly the result of transformations that occurred over the previous 2,000 years.
The indigenous Melanesian people, like the Asmat tribe, practiced cannibalism, headhunting, kidnapping, and slavery until recently.
When it comes to dark skin and blond hair, the Solomon Islands’ Melanesian people are the focus of attention. The Solomon Islands are an independent state within the British Commonwealth, located in the South Pacific, in the heart of Melanesia, just northeast of Australia, between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
Despite the fact that the indigenous Melanesian population of the islands has the darkest skin outside of Africa, 5 to 10% of the population has bright blond hair.
The origins of these people’s blond hair have been the subject of several theories. Some speculate that the whitening effect of the sun and salt, a high fish diet, or genetic heritage from mixed-breeding with Americans and Europeans who founded the islands are to blame.
Sean Myles, a geneticist from Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Canada, used saliva and hair samples from 1209 Melanesian Solomon Island residents to conduct a genetic analysis. He discovered that the blondes carried two copies of a mutant gene that is present in 26 percent of the island’s population after comparing 43 blond Islanders to 42 brown Islanders. Melanesian people have a native TYRP1 gene that is partly responsible for blond hair and melanin, but it is not found in Caucasians’ genes.
It’s a recessive gene that affects more children than adults, with hair darkening as the person grows older.
This supports the theory that black Africans were the first homo sapiens and that all races descended from them.
Melanesia now has over 1,000 languages, with pidgins and creole languages forming centuries before European contact as a result of trade and cultural interaction. Some people still practice their native religions, such as the belief in a variety of spirits that inhabit the forests, mountains, and swamps, despite the presence of many missionaries in the area.
The tropical region of Melanesia, like the rest of the world, has struggled with social issues such as alcoholism, crime, and other serious health issues such as malaria and AIDS, particularly in Papua New Guinea.
Despite these challenges, many people consider the region, with its beautiful islands, to be a paradise with exotic history and culture, as well as the world’s happiest and friendliest people.
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