Posted on 04/22/2025 10:15:54 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Only around 5% of the world’s population have hazel eyes. Yet a 2009 study found that 55.2% of their Spanish cohort had hazel-green eyes. This eye color is also more common in Portugal than the global average. But why is there such a concentration of hazel eyes in the Iberian peninsula compared to most other parts of the world? And is the evolution of hazel eyes connected to the genetic history of Iberia? Now there are a two main types of hazel eyes.
Iberian DNA and the Evolution of Hazel Eyes... | 15:00
Celtic History Decoded | 48.5K subscribers | 456,464 views | March 23, 2025 Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:25 Hazel Eyes
1:07 Iberian Peninsula
2:04 Genetics of Hazel Eyes
4:14 First Person with Hazel Eyes?
6:43 Iberia and Hazel Eyes
8:11 Get Member-Only Videos
8:42 The Genetic History of Iberia
12:55 Main Haplogroups of Iberia Today
14:45 Become a Member
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
I’m the same way - I’m the only green-eyed person in my family, or among my grandparents; and I can’t even remember one of my many cousins who had the green eyes. Everyone has been brown or blue.
That doesn’t mean that someone from Spain or Portugal didn’t stop off in Hungary.
And it could have happened many thousands of years ago, so how would you know?
Apparently green eyes occur in every race; and yet they seem to be the most rare eye color. (As I said before, I only remember meeting one other green-eyed person in my life.)
(Maybe that has something to do with the fact that our green eyes aren’t really ‘green’ - sort of the way the Blue Jay’s feathers aren’t really blue...?)
It appears to be a rare thing ( passing down a hazel/green eye color ) to future generations.
Well I have studies that area’s history, EXTENSIVELY, for as far back as one can know, and trust me, that did NOT happen!
They aren’t green? But they certainly look green! And I know a few people with green eyes and many more, with hazel eyes.
There’s no melanin/pigment in the iris - it’s sort of an optical illusion having to do with the way light scatters, like the Blue Jay feather. (Blue eyes aren’t really blue, either. Only brown and hazel eyes actually have pigment.)
https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/news-events/the-buzz/nature-curiosity-why-are-blue-jays-blue
I have hazel eyes. When they are bloodshot they turn violently green. I look like a green-eyed Dracula.
Many thanks for the link and the info; very interesting!
Green eyes involve mutations. They may have developed as an adaptation to lower light levels in Northern latitudes.
Interesting. My father was 100% Hungarian, and I have hazel eyes.
What does ‘100% Hungarian’ mean, genetically?
I’m ‘100% American’ going back to the 1600’s; but that has nothing to do with my genetics, which go back thousands of years in other places...
That makes sense. The retina and iris have a direct connection to the brain and originate as neural cells during embryonic development. This helps to explain why personality and skills are linked with eye color. Those with the lightest eye color are said to do best at self-paced tasks — like aiming at and hitting a target as a sniper.
That’s interesting.
My grandfather was too ( he was born in America though ) and had hazel eye. None of his progeny nor grands got them. , or great grands, nor great, great grands either.
And even though you claim to be 100% American, your ancestors who came here, were something else, so you're mixed, as most Americans are now.
Just from a rather small group ( my family and those who married into it, whom I knew and/or knew many family stories about, would contradict that.
That was my point. My people originally came from all over the world, going back so many thousands of years that there is no way for me to know where they all came from to start.
Except for a few rare and very small, isolated populations, all of us in the world are ‘mixed’. (And I have to wonder about the genetics of those ‘isolated’ ones, too, given the length of human habitation on the planet.)
The US, like Hungary, is a geographical designation. On their own, those mean little in terms of genetics; and mutations and genetics are what ultimately determine eye color.
Re Hungarians...there are certain types of face shapes as well as also a slight eye slant. Americans do NOT have a distinct type. What was a 20th century designation..."THE ALL AMERICAN GIRL", was more often than not someone who had Brit or German ancestry. And this idealized "girl" was NOT typical of ALL American females of any age, or even who had Brit or Germanic heritage.And it wasn't/isn't representative of ALL Brits or Germans either.
I think you’re missing my point that everyone, all over the world, has mixed genetics, even if it doesn’t always show. The world and humanity are extremely old, and stuff happened for thousands of years that never was written down in history books.
But that’s enough for tonight. Take care.
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