Origin of Humanity

We all wonder about evolution and our origins as a human race and our religious texts talk about creation from the Almighty’s point of view. But how did we really evolve? Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all humans originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of at least 5 million years.

Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes of Africa like the chimpanzees and gorillas share a common ancestor who lived between 5 and 8 million years ago. One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism or the ability to walk on two legs, evolved over 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language developed more recently.The fossils of early humans who lived between 2 and 5 million years ago come entirely from Africa.

Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 1.6 million and 2 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, generally within the past million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later. For instance, people first came to Australia probably within the past 60,000 years ago and to the Americas within the past 30,000 years ago or so. The beginnings of agriculture and the rise of the first civilizations occurred within the past 10,000 years ago. By this time line, our evolution has been a recent one.