Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In the sense of evolution, southern Europeans and Middle Eastern people both share a more recent common ancestor. That is no biggie - we all share the same common distant ancestor anyway...
Geographically, the upper part of the Middle East and Southern Europe are virtually on the same latitude - so of course the people would look alike - that doesn't mean one mixed with the other.
Northern Iraqis, Northern Iranians and south-eastern Turks (or those in Duhok, Urmi, Hakkari, respectively) would tend to resemble those of the Mediterranean region on a parallel latitude (Crete, Palermo, Seville).
Genetics shows that Italians don't have much Sub-Saharan African ancestry. There are a lot of myths that have been dispelled with modern dna results.
All that pseudoscience is American.
As they watch how papists arrived into their territory, protestants tried to assimilate with blacks.
Quite demential, non-Europeans accusing Europeans of being black.
Middle Eastern or not, Italians are quite depigmented on average due to climate adaptation. Surely lighter than Iberians who live in the hottest and sunniest part of Europe.
Your thread title say middle eastern and north african but on the poll there is only one choice : middle easterners !!
What happens to the north africa choice ?
That was the best choice !!
The term "Middle East" was coined in the context of the global British Empire and has continued in use by its successor global US Empire, also effectively as a tool in its divide and conquer strategy, age-old.
Actually the essence of the poll question is if Italy, or at least Rome and southwards, is part of the Mediterranean, and whether Mediterranean people mix with Mediterranean people.
The last time I checked the map, Italy, or at least that part of it, is still part of the Mediterranean, and throughout human history, to varying degrees, willingly and unwillingly, as masters as slaves as trading partners as friends in peace as enemies in war, Mediterranean people have mixed with Mediterranean people, sometimes like nitrogen and oxygen, sometimes like water and oil, benign and noxious.
Now politically, Italy is part of Europe, and it has been that way since the failure of the attempt to retake the eastern Mediterranean (known as the Crusades), Turkish domination of the eastern and southern Mediterranean, and the French, Spanish and Austrian invasions of Italy starting around 1500. The last holdout was Venice, and Napoleon put paid to that around 1800.
Now some people can go around counting DNA, about the same value as counting pottery shards. Personally I think pottery shards are more useful.
Middle Easterners were called Graeco-Syrians, and they were the concrete of the Roman Empire, so you find a lot of their descendants in Italica. Most technicians, scientists and engineers in the Roman Empire were either Greek or Graeco-Syrians, from the ancient Hellenistic Empire created by Alexander.
Roman were peasants good at fighting, very perseverant and good politicians, but extremelly ignorant, so they needed Hellenistic technicians. And the provinces in North Africa are part of Classic antiquity, while Northern Europe is not.
Middle Eastern or not, Italians are quite depigmented on average due to climate adaptation. Surely lighter than Iberians who live in the hottest and sunniest part of Europe.
Sicilians, not Italians in general, intermarried with Arabs during the Middle Ages
Why, because Muslims, Berberiscs, along with Normans jointly occupied Sicily, and produced one of the richest architecture to exist ever?
According to that theory, all Germans and Mongols and Argentinians are Cabecitas Negras.
Really baffling.
Only Calabrese out of mainland Italians, Sicilians and Maltese look a lot more closer to Middle Eastern and North African people than others Italians (most mainlanders).
This is why some similarities can happen fairly often with populations outside of Europe:
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
