Why are Serbs lighter than Croats?

[Ushtari]

Being Orthodox and subjected to Turkish Kebab for 500years, one would expect Serbs should be swarthier than Croats, but judging by Croats in western/northern Europe, they are clearly darker and more meddish than Serbs, how come?

[Joseph Capelli]

Is this a joke?

[Rastko]

Welfareshtari strikes again!

[Duke]

Is this a joke?

Do you really read his posts?

[Vojnik]

In before the title wave.

[Solin]

I actually do not think that Ushtari is trolling and I think that he is telling the truth.
Woggy Croats are Croats which come from western Herzegovina and a part of Dalmatia ( Dalmatia hinterland, Dalmatinska zagora ).
I know this because I have ancestary there and I can confirm this.
Its these Croats which make up a large number of immigrants in Diaspora and these Croats are those which created an image of Croatian face among foreigners I guess.

I accidently saw the following thread on Skadi and this conversation can also confirm this.
http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php?t=149246

I live in Agram (Zagreb), the capital, and the people around me are not very similar to Dalmatians, though you have to know that many of them come to Agram. You can easily differentiate them from local people from Agram and other parts of Northwestern Croatia for being typical or even pure Dinarid type. Notice how close this area is to Slovenia, as this fact made a great impact on phenotype here.

I'm originally from Eastern part of country, near Esseg (Osijek), the area that had a large Volksdeutsche community before the WWII. Though one can say that this area is close to Bosnia and Serbia, it affects Esseg only because of immigrants. The natives are often fairer, just like in Agram and NW Croatia.

I live in Croatia, so I do have a little more experience with both of them

What I wanted to do with my posts is to say some things that you probably don't and can't see if you don't live here. As I already said, NW Croats have much more in common with Slovenians than Dinarids from coastal region, and same goes to Eastern Croatia. I think that the photos above illustrate it well, just look at the last two man, they are both from the coast. On the other side, the first woman was born in Agram.

I'm not surprised that most people see Croatians as predominantly Dinarid, and this might be one of the reasons - this picture is made upon Croatian immigrant in Germany, Austria etc. What you have to know is that a great part of these people have some Bosnian ancestry, and/or they often come form coastal regions. I think this explains a lot.

Furthermore, I have to say that Bosnians are, hmm, a kind of problem in Croatia. They come in large numbers and people have a lot of prejudices against them, not only because their customs are fairly different, but also because of their appearance (!). So, you see, Croats can easily say if you are Croatian, Bosnian of a mixture, but I can understand it is not that easy for other people. And, to be honest, I'm pretty freaked out by Bosnian "invasion", and I don't feel very comfortable near Dinarids from the coast - and I'm not the only one.

Although it is strange to read this kind of posts where people of the same ethnicity are divided I have seen worse coming from Croats (from Northern, Northwestern and Eastern parts of Croats) themselves saying that western Herzegovinians do not look like them and that we are not Croats and on some forum I have even seen claims that even Dalmatians ( I guess these from hinterlands but not sure ) are not Croats.
I have been raised my whole life as a Croat and so was my father, mother, grandfather, great grandfather.... and it is really hurtful to see this kind of thinking among Croats-
If something is so I will say it as you can see.
I would like to say that people from Western Herzegovina and perhaps parts of Dalmatian hinterland are blond gods but I like to be sincere

[Ushtari]

Actually i only know 1 Croat and he is Borreby

[Mordid]

Because most Serbs come from Carpathia.

[Vučko]

Must be all the tans Croats are getting on the Dalmatian coast, while Serbs are living in valleys where the mountains block out the sun

[Drawing-live]

Must be all the tans Croats are getting on the Dalmatian coast, while Serbs are living in valleys where the mountains block out the sun

You can laugh but this makes sense within albania as well. Those who live near the coast tent to always be darker in conparison with kosovar/macedonian albos, In general. Even those from the areas far from the sea like within albania, korcha gjirokastra etc tropoja and some northern albanian parts.