For the entire long history of its existence, man has mastered the most remote corners of the planet. However, the resettlement of mankind did not occur immediately, but stretched out for millennia. In search of the best places to live, people had to overcome gigantic distances by land and sea.
Today, the number of inhabitants of the Earth exceeds 7 billion people, and the most rapid growth in the number began to occur only in the century before last. Now it is difficult to imagine that at the dawn of civilization the planet was inhabited by a few tribes of primitive hunters, who gradually settled throughout the entire territory suitable for habitation.
Most archaeologists and historians today agree that equatorial Africa was the birthplace of the ancestors of modern man. On this continent, more than two million years ago, the human race emerged from the animal world, as evidenced by numerous paleontological finds. Africa is the only continent where scientists have found almost all transitional forms from a primitive human being to its modern form. From here began the path of man to other continents.
There is, however, evidence that suggests that in ancient times there were several centers of civilization on the planet. For example, on the territory of Eurasia, the remains of representatives of one of the oldest human species were found. But these findings have little to do with the features of the branch from which modern mankind has gone. It is quite possible that in this case it would be more correct to speak not about the second independent center of the emergence of Homo sapiens, but only about a series of waves of dispersal, stretching over many thousands of years.
Archaeological and geological studies suggest that 70 thousand years ago, an extremely strong volcanic eruption took place on the planet. The consequence of this event was climate change and a sharp decline in the number of animals. In search of food, people were forced to settle in very vast territories.
The first big wave of migration, which began 60 thousand years ago, was directed towards Asia. From here the man got to Australia and the islands of Oceania. About 40 thousand years ago, people appeared in Europe. After another five millennia, man reached the Bering Strait and ended up on the territory of America, the complete settlement of which took about 20 thousand years.
The long-term dispersal of mankind across all continents led to the formation of several distinct large groups, called races. Being very distant from each other, these groups gradually became isolated, and their representatives acquired characteristic external features. The isolation of peoples also affected the characteristics of their culture.
