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Boris Yelsin also has pretty narrow eyes. Also the face tends to be flatter than say Germans.
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I have the same perception as you do with Boris. In fact, I see Asian features in Vladimir Putin ( eyes and cheekbones)...and Mrs. Gorbachev and so does tennis player Maria Sharapova.
Oh good grief. Russians have a high percentage of Persian blood, meaning early Indo-European genetic markers (Scythian). It's still debated as to where Indo-European people originated; a few experts say Turkey, but the majority say the Black Sea steppes (modern south Ukraine). Due to various waves of invasions by Asiatic peoples some have a small percentage of Asian DNA. More recently, though (the last wave of Asians were the Mongols), there have been some inter-racial marriages, so you may see some European Russians with almond eyes.
The Saami don't look Inuit. They're of the White Sea type, a sub-set of European, except for some enclaves of darker Samoyed types. Western Russia, prior to the migration north of Slavic people, was mainly Finnic tribes (speaking Urallic languages) and Balts. The only Turkic speakers were in the south, around the Crimean peninsula.
I've never seen any Scandinavians with even remotely Asian features.
Turkic peoples originated in Manchuria, along with the Mongols. (The Huns originated there and originally were Turkic-speaking.) Most Turkic peoples look "Mongoloid". Stalin was a purely Caucasus type, unrelated to anything Asiatic. Don't confuse "Turkic" with Turkey, where the original population was Indo-European tribes (like the Armenians), before the Turkic invasion from farther East in Asia, and still is predominantly Indo-European in type.
St. Petersburg actually was populated by a Finnic tribe, the Ingrians, before Peter the Great decided to make the delta of the Neva River (very rich fishing ground, originally) his window on the West. There are still a few Ingrians left in the city. Peter imported Russians and Germans to the area.
The Belorussians are genetically Balts. The homeland of the Balts used to extend from present-day Latvia, Lithuania and the Kalinin region (old Prussia, pre-German Prussia) to east of Moscow, and down to the north of Ukraine. Russians are the East Slavs. Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks are West Slavs. Everyone south of Hungary and Romania are South Slavs.
Stephen Oppenheimer has several books out on the peopling of the world and genetics, if you'd like to get into more detail about some of this. Fascinating stuff.
Saami people often have the very dark hair and eye shapes of what people tend to consider Asians.
Japanese speakers also often say that Finnish seems to be related to Japanese.
I think the idea that Finns came from Mongolian is of course ridiculous and nobody would believe that today (though mummies and skeletons with 'Caucasian' features have been found in China), but I think Finland at least has a larger 'admixture' of genetics not commonly found in Europe than their Scandinavian neighbours. I feel the Sami/tribal presence is strongest in Finland too (northern and central part).
And for those who think the Sami are completely 'Europoid' in appearance:
It's not said to be all Finns, but Saami specifically. They've done DNA studies and Finns and Saami are not related. They are descended from completely different people.
I think you're imagining the blond Asians on Uke dating sites. The Ukrainians are descended from the Vikings (on top of their Slavic background). If any look Asian, it's either due to make-up, a few contemporary mixed-race marriages, or an over-active imagination on the part of the Westerners viewing the site.
I have Saami ancestry, and my Asian husband says my eyes do look quite Asian for a white person. All of my other ancestry is some form of Caucasian. My hair is also much more Asian that it is European.
I think the idea that Finns came from Mongolian is of course ridiculous and nobody would believe that today (though mummies and skeletons with 'Caucasian' features have been found in China), but I think Finland at least has a larger 'admixture' of genetics not commonly found in Europe than their Scandinavian neighbours. I feel the Sami/tribal presence is strongest in Finland too (northern and central part).
And for those who think the Sami are completely 'Europoid' in appearance:
One study put Finland as closest to Cro Magnon the original European. (Keep in mind Finland is the most blonde Nation in Europe even more so than Sweden)
While it put the Sami the 2nd closest to Cro Magnon the original European.
Cro Magnon the original European looked like this.
Cro Magnon depicted themselves as this.
Which I think would mean that this Sami shouldn't be questioned for being Eurpid or anyone in Eastern Europe.
Rather it should be questioned on how these people look Europid?
There has been a lot of intermarriages between Tatars and Russians and there are Tatars have blond hair and blue eyes. Blond hair and Blue eyes is not an Tatar trait.
The physical appearance of the Tatar varies from blue-eyed blondes to more Mongoloid features. In general, they have oval faces with little facial hair. They speak a unique language called Kazan Tatar, although many now claim Russian as their mother tongue. They are a settled people, mostly peasants and merchants, who have completely lost their traditional tribal structure. Social Life in Tatarstan
In addition the Tatars in the Baltics and Poland are mixed as when the Tatar men moved there centuries ago they married Christian women and over time they gradually assimilated with the local population yet some people over there try to cling on to old Tatar and Islamic identity but they only represent an very small minority of the populations of those countries.
Tatars to me look far more White than Italians, Albanians, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese etc.
No not exactly. Tatars are essentially Blonde R1a haplogroup Scythians who mixed with Turkic C haplogroup people from Central Asia
Tatars were in the Volga region before Russians.
Before the Tatars the Blonde haired Scythians were in the region.
Last edited by hussar1683; 06-16-2012 at 07:41 AM..
A number of Finns, Hungarians, Russians and Slavs have "Mongoloid" backgrounds, but being a Finn, Hungarian, Russian or Slav doesn't necessarily mean you have Mongoloid roots. Yes, Finno-Ugric language and culture originates from east of the Urals, but these modern countries have been influenced far more by their immediate neighbours in recent centuries than by their distant ancestors.
By comparison, many Americans have English roots but being an American doesn't mean you have English ancestors.
I think the features of English people are far more questionable.
Here is what Cheddar man the first man in England looked like 9,000 yrs ago.
What English people today look like this?
The Cheddar man looks Eastern & nothing like people of the British Islands today.
English people look more like Mecht Afalou the 28,000 yr old Cro Magnon from North Africa.
Here is a Mechta Afalou reconstruction below. A much closer match for the features of English people than Cheddar man.
I think a lot of people from the British islands have very questionable non European features.
Many of the redheads in the British Islands have almost African like features.
Like Travis T Flory with an American redhead with an Anglo surname.
Saami people often have the very dark hair and eye shapes of what people tend to consider Asians.
Japanese speakers also often say that Finnish seems to be related to Japanese.
It takes a lot more than dark hair and eye shape to look Inuit. Most Saami actually are blond.
The Japanese tend to look for people who they might consider ancestral to them, or closely related, all over the place. After the USSR crashed, they were all over the Russian Far East, declaring this or that nationality to be their brothers. There's no connection with the Finns though. The Hungarians, distantly, are a possibility, but not Finno-Ugrian peoples.
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