While UV rays can cause skin cancer, because skin cancer usually affects people after they have had children, it likely had little effect on the evolution of skin color because evolution favors changes that improve reproductive success.
The only problem was that I couldn't remember where I had heard that. In fact, I wasn't all that sure that I was right. I know that the Roman Empire lasted rougly 500 years but how about the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Ottomons, etc. I thought that it would be interesting to explore different empires and see how long they lasted. In another article, I talk about the definition of civilization..
How many years after the western roman empire fell did the eastern roman empire last? The conventional; date for the fall of the western part of the  Roman Empire is 476, the year the last emperor in the west, Romulus  Augustus, was deposed by Ocoacer a Germaâ¦nic military commander of  the Roman army, who styled himself as king of Italy.