Human evolution

Human evolution is about the origin of human beings. All humans belong to the same species, which has spread from its birthplace in Africa to almost all parts of the world. Its origin in Africa is proved by the fossils which have been found there.[1][2][3]

The term 'human' in this context means the genus Homo. However, studies of human evolution usually include other hominids, such as the Australopithecines, from which the genus Homo had diverged (split) by about 2.3 to 2.4 million years ago in Africa.[4][5] The first Homo sapiens, the ancestors of today's humans, evolved around 200,000 years ago.[6]

It was known for centuries that man and the apes were related. At heart, their anatomy is similar, despite many superficial differences. This was the reason why Buffon and Linnaeus, in the 18th century, put them together in one family. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution says that such basic structural similarity comes from the common origin of the group. The apes and man are close relatives, and are primates: the order of mammals which includes monkeys, apes, lemurs and tarsiers.

The great apes live in tropical rainforests. It is thought that human evolution started when a group of apes (now called the australopithecines) began to live more in the savannah. A savannah is more open, with trees, shrubs and grass. This group started walking on two legs. They began to use their hands to carry things. Life in the open was different, and there was a big advantage in having better brains. Their brains grew larger, and they began to make simple tools. This process began at least 5 million years ago. We have fossils of two or three different groups of walking apes, and one was the ancestor of humans.

The biological name for "human" or "man" is Homo. The modern human species is called Homo sapiens. "Sapiens" means "thought". Homo sapiens means "the thinking man".

Paleoanthropology looks at ancient human fossils, tools, and other signs of early human life. It began in the 19th century with the discovery of a skull of "Neanderthal man" in 1856.