I'm a fair skinned irish man who just returned from the Turks and Caicos and, even with all modern advancements in sun blocking, still got burned! How did predominantly white colonists in the 15, 16, 17, and even 18 hundreds go about their days, work, and just live in that environment?
A similar question regarding sailors was recently asked, and [these answers] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a3559z/did_ancient_mariners_rowers_deck_hands_etc/) by /u/jschooltiger and /u/terminus-trantor may be of some interest