Dark skin
Human skin rich in melanin, evolved for protection in strong sunlight
No single value: Dark skin is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Dark skin is a human skin colour with high levels of melanin, especially eumelanin, which gives strong protection against ultraviolet radiation. It evolved as an adaptation to intense sunlight, mainly to guard against folate loss and DNA damage, and is most common in populations from tropical regions near the equator.
- Dark skin evolved mainly to protect against folate loss from UV exposure
- Eumelanin is the main pigment in dark skin, offering strong UV protection
- Dark skin is most common in populations from tropical, high-UV regions
- People with dark skin have larger and more numerous melanosomes
- All early modern humans had dark skin
What colour is Dark skin?
Dark skin is a natural human skin colour marked by a high concentration of melanin, especially the type called eumelanin. This pigment gives the skin a deep brown to nearly black tone and provides strong protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. People with dark skin have larger and more numerous melanosomes, the tiny structures in skin cells that store and transport melanin, compared to those with lighter skin. This makes dark skin distinct from lighter shades, both in appearance and in its ability to guard against sun damage.
Where does Dark skin come from?
The development of dark skin began about 1.2 million years ago, as early humans moved from shaded forests to open, sunny savannas. Losing body hair to improve cooling through sweating left their skin exposed to intense sunlight. Natural selection favoured those with darker skin, as high melanin levels protected against the breakdown of folate, a vitamin vital for healthy reproduction. Over time, all early modern humans had dark skin, which was especially important in regions with strong sunlight.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: B貌g貌lanfiniShades and relatives of Dark skin
Dark skin varies in shade depending on the amount and type of melanin, especially eumelanin, present in the skin. While all dark skin is rich in melanin, the exact tone can range from deep brown to nearly black. It is sometimes confused with tanned skin, but tanning is a temporary increase in melanin, while dark skin is a stable, inherited trait.
Questions people ask about Dark skin
What colour is dark skin?
Dark skin ranges from deep brown to nearly black, due to high levels of the pigment melanin, especially eumelanin.
Why did dark skin evolve?
Dark skin evolved as a protection against intense sunlight, mainly to prevent folate loss and DNA damage caused by ultraviolet radiation.
What gives dark skin its colour?
The colour comes from melanin, a pigment produced in the skin. Eumelanin, the dominant form, is responsible for the deep brown to black shades.
Where is dark skin most common?
It is most common in populations living near the equator, in tropical regions with high levels of ultraviolet radiation.
Is dark skin the same as tanned skin?
No, tanned skin is a temporary response to sun exposure, while dark skin is a stable, inherited trait with naturally high melanin levels.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Dark skin", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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