I don't think it's necessarily a simple case of grouping people who are neither black nor Asian as white. It's more a slightly different perception of how to define white, where a certain amount of tan just indicates a Mediterranean white rather than a pasty British/Irish one.
Also, I think the ethnic make-up of "white Europeans" is more complex and more fluid than it is sometimes assumed to be. It's not always taken into consideration how many invasions, conquests and migrations there have been during thousands of years of European history. I suppose the only way to be absolutely sure of someone's ethnic make-up is to do a DNA test. However, I would assume that the reason so many Spanish and Portuguese people have dark hair and an olive/"tanned" complexion in comparison with white Northern Europeans has a lot to do with the Moors conquering the Iberian peninsula in the eighth century and occupying it for the following five centuries (and longer in Granada).
Another influence on the Mediterranean is that for more than two centuries the south-east Mediterranean was part of the Ottoman Empire, at the core of which were the Oghuz Turks, originally from Central Asia.
Of course, hundreds of years before any of this, soldiers in the Roman army were from all over the Roman Empire and merchants in the Roman Empire traded throughout it, and dedications to Syrian and North African deities have been found at Hadrian's Wall.
Also, in the eighteenth century there were black people in Britain and northern Europe, who were either freed slaves or their descendants.
There must be many more examples. I find all this really interesting to think about!
no subject
Also, I think the ethnic make-up of "white Europeans" is more complex and more fluid than it is sometimes assumed to be. It's not always taken into consideration how many invasions, conquests and migrations there have been during thousands of years of European history. I suppose the only way to be absolutely sure of someone's ethnic make-up is to do a DNA test. However, I would assume that the reason so many Spanish and Portuguese people have dark hair and an olive/"tanned" complexion in comparison with white Northern Europeans has a lot to do with the Moors conquering the Iberian peninsula in the eighth century and occupying it for the following five centuries (and longer in Granada).
Another influence on the Mediterranean is that for more than two centuries the south-east Mediterranean was part of the Ottoman Empire, at the core of which were the Oghuz Turks, originally from Central Asia.
Of course, hundreds of years before any of this, soldiers in the Roman army were from all over the Roman Empire and merchants in the Roman Empire traded throughout it, and dedications to Syrian and North African deities have been found at Hadrian's Wall.
Also, in the eighteenth century there were black people in Britain and northern Europe, who were either freed slaves or their descendants.
There must be many more examples. I find all this really interesting to think about!