@ Lars:

     The Hungarians are actually from the Steppes of Central Asia, and they first appeared in history as the Magyars, a nomadic people akin to the Turks and Mongols whose raids into Europe actually went into France, Germany and Italy during a period from the late 9th into the 10th Centuries CE.  They were subdued by the Germans under the Ottonian Dynasty in the mid-10th C, and converted to Christianity.

     I had noticed the Asian appearance of Dr Strange in Ditko's initial issues of the comics and wondered.  Could it have been his way of showing how the Doctor actually accepted the native philosophies of his mentor?

"Oriental: A person from the Orient, or with ancestry from the Orient. "

I think you forgot the part "seen as offensive by those from Asia who term Oriental as relating to objects such as rugs or vases."

I think, looking at those old stories, that Steve Ditko may have meant for Doctor Strange to be Asian/Oriental/Mongoliod (or whatever you guys finally agree on), but Stan Lee wrote him as a caucasian. Ditko clearly drew Strange with different features in the first few tales. By the time the origin was revealed, though, I think the race for the character had been settled, and Ditko drew him with more caucasian features.

Then again... Maybe the same thing happened with him as it did to Doctor Droom (later "Doctor Druid")...

Caucasian and European are not synonymous. "Causasians" range from Europe to Western Asian to Northern Africa. No doubt in regions were Caucasians and Mongolians co-existed there was a mingling of language, culture and genetics. Though in looking at Hungarians I dont see a lot of "Mongoloid" physical traits. No one is going to mistake Zsa Zsa Gabor for Yoko Ono.

As for the Sami:

QUOTE: In very recent studies, some overwhelming new evidence has challenged the myth of the Finns and the Sámi as having a strictly Asian origin.    Extensive genetic testing has helped put an end to the false conclusions that came from biased studies, based on everything from tooth size to skull shape. [8] With modern technology, it now appears that the Finns and the Sámi may have originated from an “old population in Europe which diverged from other European populations prior to subsequent linguistic and cultural diversification.” [9] Genetic testing has shown that the Finns and the Sámi are “phenotypically and genetically typical Europeans.” [10]   The Sámi, as well of the Finns, are a very heterogeneous group of people who display a wide range of physical features. While there are some that feature darker Mongoloid-like characteristics, there are others who display very light colored pigments in their skin and hair.  While this is somewhat a result of natural selection that has allowed for adaptation to an environment with very low ultraviolet radiation, light pigments, like the Y chromosomal polymorphisms, are a result of a founding effect, not sexual selection, as it was once thought of in the past. [11]

http://www.utexas.edu/courses/sami/dieda/hist/genetic.htm