page_title: Red hair
section_title: Historical
hierarchical_section_title: Red hair / Geographic distribution / Historical
caption_attribution_description: Learn more about Papua New Guinea on eGuide Travel where we did a review. A country of a million journeys and not a place with many tourists.
context_page_description: Red hair occurs naturally in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations. It is most common in individuals homozygous for a recessive allele on chromosome 16 that produces an altered version of the MC1R protein.
  Red hair varies in hue from a deep burgundy or bright copper, or auburn, to burnt orange or red-orange to strawberry blond. Characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin, it is associated with fair skin color, lighter eye color, freckles, and sensitivity to ultraviolet light.
  Cultural reactions to red hair have varied from ridicule to admiration with many common stereotypes in existence regarding redheads. The term redhead has been in use since at least 1510.
context_section_description: Several accounts by Greek writers mention redheaded people. A fragment by the poet Xenophanes describes the Thracians as blue-eyed and red-haired. The ancient peoples Budini and Sarmatians are also reported by Greek author to be blue-eyed and red-haired, and the latter even owe their names to it.
  In Asia, red hair has been found among the ancient Tocharians, who occupied the Tarim Basin in what is now the northwesternmost province of China. Caucasian Tarim mummies have been found with red hair dating to the 2nd millennium BC.
  Reddish-brown (auburn) hair is also found amongst some Polynesians, and is especially common in some tribes and family groups. In Polynesian culture reddish hair has traditionally been seen as a sign of descent from high-ranking ancestors and a mark of rulership.
caption: Woman with mixed reddish-brown hair, Papua New Guinea. Melanesians have a significant incidence of mixed-fair hair, caused by a genetic mutation different from European blond and red hair.[31]
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-HX5V", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:11 11:22:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "270", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "S", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[6, 58, 24069/500]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[146, 57, 1421/1000]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "3/2", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[1, 22, 1189/1000]", "GPS GPSStatus": "A", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "3", "GPS GPSSpeedRef": "K", "GPS GPSSpeed": "2", "GPS GPSTrackRef": "T", "GPS GPSTrack": "3591/20", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "555/4", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "GPS GPSDate": "2011:02:11", "GPS GPSDifferential": "0", "Image GPSInfo": "10746", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-HX5V", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2011:02:11 11:22:06", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "11282", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16569", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "11/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:02:11 11:22:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:02:11 11:22:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "85/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2736", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10716", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}