Explain the process by which humans migrated from Africa to eventually populate the earth

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
Students should be able to explain the possible causes and the accepted sequence and patterns of the migrations from Africa. Early humans first expanded their range in eastern and southern Africa. Then they ventured out of Africa, perhaps following migrating herds of animals or searching for more abundant food supplies in a time of drought. The reasons are uncertain, but the end results are vividly clear: humans successfully colonized diverse environments, including deserts and arctic lands. This dispersal demonstrates early humans’ talent for adaptation. Homo erectus was the first human species to inhabit all parts of Africa and to be found outside Africa. Java man and Peking man were members of this species. DNA and fossil evidence suggest that Homo sapiens also first evolved in Africa. The ancestral group from which all modern humans are descended may have comprised as few as 5,000 individuals. From this population, a band of several hundred people initially moved out of Northeast Africa around 50,000 years ago, and their descendants rapidly spread across the planet. The Great Ice Age enabled modern humans to penetrate into the Americas and even the Arctic. During glacial periods, people would have been able to cross a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, perhaps beginning around 18,000 b.c.e., though some scholars believe that the first migrations occurred as early as 35,000 to 25,000 b.c.e. About 46,000 years ago, modern humans, traveling by boat from Java, colonized New Guinea and Australia when both were part of a single landmass, and others crossed the land bridge then existing between the Asian mainland and Japan.