Showbiz only?

How about Napoleon,or Ross Perot, or Chesty Puller, or Mahatma Ghandi, or Martin Luther King, or Gus Grissom?

" The greatness of a man is not measured from his feet to his head, but from his head to the sky".

I'm 6' 00", for the record.

Tallness is primarily the result of good nutrition and good health whilst still a child. A few minor diseases or regular bouts of sickness will stunt growth whilst the body redirects resources to fight off infections. Good nutrition requires a higher proportion of protein and fat than is in vogue at the moment, and plenty of (but not excessive) calories. Environment plays a lesser third part since its no good eating well if all you consume is being spent to keep you warm in a draughty cold house rather than building new bone and tissue.

Scandinavians win on all three counts and have done historically.

Low population density and (until recently) more rural life meant that disease was less rife. The last couple of generations have been more urban, but this has been balanced by better health care, especially with the advent of universal immunisations.

Food wise Scandinavians have historically had more access to fish, meat and dairy products in their diets, with less subsistence on grain. Again the lower population density and rural distribution meant more food per person, with slightly less impact from the occasional famines incurred by crop failure or war.

Environment-wise, Scandinavians are blessed with a stable climate not prone to severe weather effects, no significant seismic zones, and few poisonous creatures. The winters, although long, historically prevented much population movement (which helped prevent epidemics) and encouraged the building of very good houses. The dryness of the climate (at least on the eastern side of the Fj?llen/Kj?len reduced dampness related sicknesses and physical heat loss.The only downside were the mosquitoes which used to be a vector for mild malaria, but again, Scandinavia was less affected than the rest of Europe, being cooler and having less marshes.

So all in all, Scandinavians with their excellent healthcare, attention to fitness, high standard of living, good housing and pleasant climate are all conducive to permitting children to more likely reach their full potential growth.

:o


I thought you left us man!

Napoleon was of average height for that time

Northern Europe is the center of a number of genetic adaptations and mutations. Blue eyes, fair hair, fair skin, taller than average height. Being able to tolerate milk after early childhood is unique to the region too. In Southern Europe, Africa and Asia most people are lactose intolerant. Native Americans too.

Just an odd bunch of mutants.

Time and location, 1.69 was pretty average for 18th century France. He only appeared small next to the Imperial Guard with a required height of at least 1.75. It did not help though that he was still nicknamed "Small General", and that the average French height of that time was lower than that of countries he was up against. ^_^

I shall form a school for us. The VDFTR School for Milk Drinking Youngsters. We shall be the L-Men-and-Women-and-Transgendered-and-occasional-Child. To keep with Europe's political correctness.

A hard way of life and adaptation.

They probably needed big lungs in that cold climate so they have barrel chests.

Being tall? Snow can get very high in those places, so long legs help to stay out of the cold, shorter people probably died off due to the snow burying them. Andy ninja'ed me.

Asian people do not have skinny eyes, just thicker eyelids, I think this was due too them keeping debris out of their eyes.

My hunches.

Yup it has to deal with genetics, but more so with selective breeding if you want to get really technical. When you have men or women picking someone due to certain attractive traits that is selective breeding that will be passed down from Dad/Mother to Son/Daughter etc... . If you have tall people finding the best girls and breeding then you'll have tall people. Sadly i'm only 5' 7" to 5' 8", but there are some tall people in my genes with one being 6' 2".

The same thing is currently applied to farming where animals like cows that produce the most milk/best milk are bred and thus you get more efficient animals.


This is a little hard to talk about for some, but the reason right now alot of disease are cropping up *Genetic Disease* is due to medical science advancing. Many of these people before these advancements would have passed away, but now they are being saved and are having children thus the continuation of these genetic diseases is happening. For those that like to look up stuff you can look up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydactyly as well as the inbreeding of king's during medieval times producing the "King's Disease" forget the actual name of it atm.

I don't know if it's the one you say, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klinefelter%27s_syndrome was quite common, among dinasty.

The Nordic peoples need to be tall, thus allowing them to grow longer beards and bring much honor to Odin.

Best explanation ever.

I'm 175cm too. I'm quite sure that's average (in Malta at least).

Because Odin wanted it that way, that's why.

Good question. Likely it's genetics, but why is the question.



Mongols did that too, but they are short and stocky (generally speaking)



Excellent theory, but Eskimos are a counter example.




As I recall Julius Caesar was about 5'6 or 5'7. But then I guess that was tall for most Ancient Romans.

God how I love Scandinavian stuff.

I think a more interesting question is why the Scandinavians who share the same rough genetic cline as northern England, Scotland and Ireland (after conquering and colonising them in the early Middle Ages) grow to be noticeably taller. Or a better example might be the Netherlands which effectively shares the same genetic heritages as its neighbouring countries (being the melting pot in the middle) but their population averages taller than either France or Germany. Europe is such a genetic blending that the average population height variances are probably more due to national differences in health and nutrition.

For a poignant insight take a look at the Wiki page showing average heights from around the world and compare the difference between the height of Mexican men (5'4") and American Mexican men (5'7"). That's a three inch difference primarily driven by a modest increase in standard of living!


:) I don't know whether you were just joking, but actually only a very tiny part of the Scandinavian population became Vikings and raided overseas. The vast majority were (relatively) peaceful farmers.

Slightly related factoid: The entire population of Iceland has a genetic heritage linked with native Americans.

No we don't

Yeah, atleast I have good looks. :disco:


According to that wikipedia link averege height here is 180cm.

I'm no expert on Scandinavian history, but Iceland's history is anything but peaceful

maybe something to do with Viking mate selection?

http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v95/n2/full/6800695a.html

Maybe intermarrying with the locals, who tended to be somewhat shorter? Formerly it was assumed that the indigenous population was displaced by the new arrivals, but from what I understand it's now thought that the respective peoples probably mixed.

This. I thought that the climate must have had a play in this. But I think it's mostly down to genetics though

This.

Some of you do, due to this Native American woman the Vikings took back with them back to Iceland.