# A world of people **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881 "2012-01-18T05:08:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joanblair\_hotmail.com](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@joanblair\_hotmail.com](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joanblair_hotmail.com)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/1 "2012-01-18T05:08:05Z")
Answer this question only if you are the smartest. If Adam and Eve were the first two peole on this earth, what race were they, and how did so many races come about and separated from each other?:confused ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/2 "2012-01-18T05:15:33Z")
There were no “first two people”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/3 "2012-01-18T05:57:49Z")
They were human. What other races did you have in mind? The elves came before the humans, the dwarves were made by Aule in defiance of Illuvatar, and the ents were created at the pleading of Yavanna that the forests would need defenders against the dwarves. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/4 "2012-01-18T06:02:05Z")
The smartest what? Person in my house? ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/5 "2012-01-18T06:38:24Z")
I I know that Adam and Eve are only one of many creation myths. Many non judeo-christian cultures have interesting and involved stories about how people and different races came to be on the earth. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/6 "2012-01-18T07:29:01Z")
If Adam and Eve were the first two people on this earth, they were Martians, and I am indeed the smartest man who ever lived. Look up “vacuously true.” ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/7 "2012-01-18T10:33:38Z")
Assuming you are looking for a biblical answer and not a real life one. You can actually ignore Adam and Eve since everyone but Moses’ crew was wiped out in the flood so start from there. From [The Origin of Race - A biblical explanation of race. "Where did the races come from." by Cooper P Abrams, III](http://bible-truth.org/race.htm) “Traditionally biblical scholars have concluded that the three races were the progeny of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham. Japheth is the father of the Caucasian race, Shem of the Mongoloid race, and Ham of the Negroid race. Some have interpreted Noah’s prophecies of his sons in Genesis 9 to be the Scriptural basis for discrimination of one race against another. Particularly, the supposed curse on Ham’s son, Canaan, was purported to be Biblical support for Negro slavery.” ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/8 "2012-01-18T11:21:29Z")
As I understand biblical theory, there were other people in the world - but only Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. Then they had to go out into the world. Cain and Seth had children so they must have found wives somewhere. Heres a clip I found: “The two lines of men mentioned are through Cain, 4:17 and Seth, 5:6. 6:2,4 says that the sons (human) of God had children with the ungodly daughters of men.” All very interesting but forget about it. The early bible stories are a series of simple lessons and vignettes interspersed with historical figures and events to educate an illiterate population. They are not to be read literally. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/9 "2012-01-18T15:50:38Z")
I like the scene in “Inherit the Wind” where the know-it-all Bryant character is on the stand, and the defence attoney reads the Genesis passage “Cain took himself a wife…” and asks “where did _ **she** _ come from??” ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/10 "2012-01-18T16:00:05Z")
> [@joanblair\_hotmail.com](#): > > Answer this question only if you are the smartest. > > If Adam and Eve were the first two peole on this earth, what race were they, and how did so many races come about and separated from each other?:confused Why make that assumption? Further, the standard creationist response I’ve heard has to do with complete DNA or something like that - not that this explanation makes any sense, mind you. Further, let’s suppose it is the case, how did the races ‘repopulate’ after the flood? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/11 "2012-01-18T16:03:27Z")
> [@joanblair\_hotmail.com](#): > > Answer this question only if you are the smartest. > > If Adam and Eve were the first two peole on this earth, what race were they, and how did so many races come about and separated from each other?:confused Well, I truly have \*the \*definitive answer to this question, which has puzzled men and scholars for ages-- I’m holding in my hand top-of-the-line irrefutable evidence and everything-- but I’m not even closest to being the “smartest,” which means I am ineligible from giving you the answer. Too bad, really. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/12 "2012-01-18T16:09:15Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Assuming you are looking for a biblical answer and not a real life one. You can actually ignore Adam and Eve since everyone but Moses’ crew was wiped out in the flood so start from there. Noah, not Moses. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/13 "2012-01-18T16:34:29Z")
Wait a sec, quite a few people have answered the OP but you can’t _all_ possibly be the smartest. Learn to follow directions, people! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/14 "2012-01-18T16:35:46Z")
I may not be the smartest, but I am Spartacus! ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/15 "2012-01-18T16:40:16Z")
> [@joanblair\_hotmail.com](#): > > … how did so many races come about and separated from each other?:confused Basically different races evolved because of climate. Dark skin races evolved in sunny, hot climates for protection from the sun. Asian features such as extra skin over the eye and round (tubular) hair evolved to protect them from cold. Races with fair skin became that way because of lack of intense sun, e.g. Ireland. That’s not the smartest answer but that’s all I’ve got today. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/16 "2012-01-18T16:54:32Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > …Asian features such as extra skin over the eye and round (tubular) hair evolved to protect them from cold… Not necessarily. You can see epicanthic folds in certain African ethnic groups like the San Bushmen. That might be the basal condition and the ethnic groups without it might be more derived. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/17 "2012-01-18T17:05:47Z")
> [@joanblair\_hotmail.com](#): > > Answer this question only if you are the smartest. OK.😉 > [@](#): > > If Adam and Eve were the first two peole on this earth, what race were they, and how did so many races come about and separated from each other?:confused 1. Factually speaking, neither Adam and Eve nor any equivalent ancestral couple existed. Modern humans are descended from an ancestral _population_ that always included more than one pair. Ancestral modern humans originated hundreds of thousands of years ago in Africa. Although they probably had dark skin, they would not have belonged to any present “race.” The different traits shown by modern populations came about gradually subsequently due to partial isolation in different regions in the world, as well as in some cases limited hybridization with other human lineages such as Neanderthals. 2. If you are speaking about the mythological Adam and Eve, since they are figures in a semitic creation story they would obviously have to be semitic. Semites are usually classified as Caucasians, although they would generally be darker skinned than most Europeans. To the best of my knowledge, the Bible does not explicitly describe how other races arose, although as **jackdavinci** mentions they are traditionally traced back to the sons of Noah. (No explanation of how other distinctive lineages such as the australoids or Khoisan might have arisen. Maybe Noah had more than three sons.) Since this origin is mythological, the way that the races arose can best be described as “by magic.” ---
**Author:** ![brittekland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/18 "2012-01-18T17:15:54Z")
From one single rib Eve was created so imagine the multitude of possibilities with whole two bodies. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-world-of-people/609881/19 "2012-01-18T22:13:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Noah, not Moses. Wow brain fart.