[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

Selective breeding on that scale, done in a time when humans were barely cognizant, seems like it would take a level of intelligence, sophisitication and previously existing innate differences in complection that most likely was not available at the time.

LanaTurnerOverdrive signed up on 2002-07-02

[LanaTurnerOverdrive]

WERE not available at the time....I'm hammered.

[AntiGuv]

The key point here to keep in mind is the concept of genetic drift. The longer two populations reproduce in isolation from one another, you will have more and more genetic drift. You can clearly see the evidence in that - for whatever reason - Africans drifted toward darker skintypes while Asians drifted toward slanted eyes and Europeans drifted toward aquiline features. At some point, if you isolate two populations of the same species long enough, they will drift apart to the point where the sperm of one will not fertilize the egg of another, or where females of one can no longer carry infants of the other to term. Whenever this juncture is reached, then you will have yourself two or more divergent species. There won't even be a "bright line" between the two. You probably won't be able to tell the one species from the next just by looking at them. That's why there are many closely related species that look almost indistinguishable from one another - but they've drifted apart just enough that they can no longer mate with each other.