Out of Africa facts for kids

The Out of Africa theory explains how all modern humans came from Africa. Scientists believe that our earliest ancestors appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 130,000 years ago. This idea is strongly supported by studying our DNA (especially mitochondrial DNA) and by looking at old fossils.

Scientists are still learning if there was one big move out of Africa or several smaller ones. Some researchers also think that North Africa might have been the starting point for the first humans who left the continent.

The Journey Begins: Leaving Africa

The first modern humans, called Homo sapiens, started their journey out of Africa. Around 90,000 years ago, they began moving into Eurasia. This huge area includes both Europe and Asia. Before Homo sapiens arrived, other types of humans, like Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), had already been living there for a very long time – over 500,000 years in places like western Europe.

Spreading Across the World

By about 42,000 to 44,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had reached western Europe, including Britain. In Europe and western Asia, modern humans eventually replaced the Neanderthals around 35,000 years ago. We don't know all the details of how this happened.

Around the same time, Homo sapiens also arrived in Australia. Their journey to the Americas happened much later, about 15,000 years ago. All these early groups of modern humans lived as hunter-gatherers, meaning they found their food by hunting animals and gathering plants.

Evidence from Genes and Fossils

Studies of our genes and old fossils show that early Homo sapiens slowly changed into the humans we are today, and this happened only in Africa. This change took place between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago.

One group of these modern humans left Africa sometime between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago. Over time, these humans replaced earlier groups of the genus Homo, such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus, in different parts of the world.

The most successful "Out of Africa" migration (meaning the one that led to people with living descendants today) is generally thought to have happened about 60,000 years ago, based on genetic evidence. However, some archaeological discoveries of tools in the Arabian region suggest that some humans might have left Africa as early as 125,000 years ago.

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