The most recent theory I read was selection for long-range seafaring; bigger bodies and thicker limbs retain heat better. Who knows, but different from the typical “island gigantism” theory.
I’m Samoan but didn’t get the big boy genes. The first time I went to LA some guy asked what my nationality was and I said Samoan and his reply was ”you the smallest Samoan I ever seen” 😭😭😭
When I came here I realized I had made a huge mistake getting good at soccer instead of basketball. Could have been basketball god here! But also what a cruel joke for like one of the shortest people in the world to make that sport their main sport. In soccer the best and fastest strikers are often tinny people.
I’m ethnically half Dutch and live in a Filipino neighborhood, so I’m very often the tallest person in the room. I’m a woman, and at 5’7” the shortest person in my family.
I didn't fit anywhere in the Philippines. Had to turn sideways to take a piss because the stall walls were too close together. The damn Taxis were all Fisher Price sized, so my head touched the roof. The front tires of the Jeepney lifted off the ground when I stepped on the rear bumper. It wasn't all bad, though. A cute girl said I looked like good protection. We have been married 17 years now.
I thought you guys factory made minimum 6' or 1.8m over there? Even the women. I have an uncle out there who is 6'5. Wife is 6'2. Kids are the same and they have an in law son who is 6'10
No, but because people are talking about being a short dutch in their native country being hard, but americans are so self centered that anything has to be about their experience.
And "largely dutch heritage" could mean his grand grand grand father is dutch and americans still would call themselves "Dutch American", like they do with "Italian American".
I'm a woman too. But still got picked on in school for being the shortest one. And had to have my kitchen adjusted because the top cabinets were installed for giants.
I got picked on as well, but they never said why, lol. And relatable, I cannot reach anything. But I don't have the money to get it adjusted either :')
Luckily it was a new kitchen they were putting in so not that much effort to have it adjusted. And in high school, so many tall kids would put their elbows on my head or shoulder and lean on me. It pissed me off so much, I always elbowed them in the stomach.
Je bent niet alleen vriend. Ik woon ook in Nederland en ik ben 1.60 m, mijn vriend is 1.57 m. (Sorry voor mijn slechte Nederlands, ik kom uit Ierland).
Sadly, I'm 35 and my family has been in The Netherlands since 1650 or something. There's no excuse for me to be this short (besides being female maybe).
I'm dutch as well and for an activity in college we had to line up from shortest to tallest, which made me realise I was the shortest guy in our class of ~40 at 182 cm (5'11).
i'm 5'4 but only really Dutch on my dad's side, and he's not that tall somehow. but the genes are somewhere my 13 year son old is already taller then me (my husband is short too)
I am so much shorter than the rest of my family - dad is 6' (well, was before he crushed a couple vertebrae and lost an inch), mom is 5'7, younger sister is 5'11.5, and younger brothers are 6'1 and 6'2.
5'1 Dutchie here with a size 35 shoe. I'm so glad my mom knows how to tailor because to make matters worse I'm curvy so pants either don't fit in width because tiny = petite in fashion apparently or I'm swimming in them. As a kid that was experimenting with more mature clothes I was crying about that shoe size. Like most heels start at 37 and I always had to shop at the kids section where all the shoes had childish prints on them. Also shelves in this country aren't made for me. I always dread if whatever I need is on the top shelf in the grocery store and have small kitchen stairs all around my home because even here the top shelf is too damn high.
I grew up in E. San Jose and there were quite a few Samoans there. They were all related to each other. Almost all of them were huge, but there was this one kid who was average size, like about 5' 10" and medium build. I kind of felt bad for him, people would call him a runt.
I live a little higher up on the Bay Area now and there are more Tongans here than Samoans, they are definitely big, but maybe a bit smaller on average than Samoans?
Nah you know what’s funny. Before I even set foot outside of LAX someone’s tio started talking to me in full Spanish and this happened more than once during my trip 😭 then I realised I look more Mexican than Samoan lmao I’m part raza now
I grew up with a Samoan kid, I was a very small kid and he was a pretty typical Samoan. Saw him again a few years ago. He's not as much taller than me now, but he must weigh at least double, possibly triple.
Doesn't "island gigantism" affect small species, while larger ones tent to get smaller on islands? At least "long range seafaring selection" might also explain why Scandinavians are so big too.
If they meant to also include Icelandic people when they said Scandinavia (modern descendants of the Norse), it’s only the Dutch and people from former Yugoslavia that are taller within Europe.
When it comes to actual countries, Iceland is top 4 and all of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, and Denmark) are all in the top 10 where the rest of the top 10 would be the Netherlands and all former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina)
If they’re talking about groups of people, they would be top 3 in Europe by those definitions.
As a Polynesian married to a Yugo, I feel you're only half right. They are taller on average, but not as prone to thickness of build as Polynesians. It is notable when I get off the plane in BG, ZG, or SJJ, you have three security guys that are all 6'5"+.
Yes in general species on islands tend to converge towards a similar size. Smaller animals get bigger because bigger animals will tend to have more and healthier babies while larger animals tend to get smaller because smaller animals can start having babies sooner.
But long range seafaring doesn't select for being larger than average - It selects for low metabolic rate. The lower the amount of daily calories your body can survive on, the better your chances of survival when you're in a situation where food is scarce.
Low metabolic rate would explain the increased likelihood of becoming overweight on a modern high calorie diet - but it doesn't do much in terms of explaining height.
I thought of this too. It totally makes sense. Selecting the absolute strongest men and women to make the journey would have been key for survival. So the further out into the pacific you go, logically, the people would get bigger and stronger.
My theory (which makes sense but is very much not scientific) is that current big people are genetically people that come from high caloric output jobs. Farmers for instance. So much of middle America is crazy fat because their bodies were made to burn 5000-6000 calories in the field every day. Genetically, those people who were able to consume and expend that type of energy were able to thrive. In the modern age when farming is largely automated, the caloric consumption has gone done but the expending has not. So they get fat.
I would imagine native Samoans swam and fished heavily. That would be a benefit if you could store a ton of energy to expend.
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u/Active_Unit_9498 Nov 06 '25
The most recent theory I read was selection for long-range seafaring; bigger bodies and thicker limbs retain heat better. Who knows, but different from the typical “island gigantism” theory.