Map showing frequency of red hair across Europe. Five color-coded ranges: red (over 10%) concentrated in Ireland and Scotland, orange (5-9%) in parts of UK and northern Europe, brown (2-4%) in Scandinavia and Germany, darker brown (1-2%) in central Europe, and darkest brown (under 1%) in southern Europe. Shows clear north-south gradient with highest concentrations in Celtic regions.
Okay, plz explain. We all want to know.
Probably related to dark winters, cloudy weather, low melanin levels, and genetic isolation on islands.
I’m just guessing the following:
Trade and shipping from the British isles across the North Sea to the Baltics also moved people along those routes.
The red center in Russia might be due to Viking settlement and establishment of Rus.
Blond and blue eyes have a high distribution around the Baltic Sea mostly due to similar reasons.
That's nowhere near Rus (if the Viking thing even happened). It's a particular Finnic population.
I mean why is there this spot in russia :-)
Because the Vikings settled and formed The Russians around Ukraine, from where they spread and eventually formed Russia.
That's closer to Khazakhstan.
But what about that red head spot?
There must be some (maybe forgotten) wild story about it
Somebody with red hair had a lot of children there right before the population suddenly grew. Or maybe was one of the survivors when it regrew after a national disaster. The founder effect, in other words.
Other people are talking about selection. The numbers are in, that accounts for maybe 5% of genetic change over the last 10,000 years. The rest is just chaos.
I think that's Udmurtia. Udmurts are an Ugric minority people within Russia, and they've got a really high incidence of red hair