From sharing the earth with other human species as hunter-gatherers to building rockets and creating the internet, the history of humanity is a tale of determination, cooperation, and ingenuity. Our species, Homo Sapiens, has come a long way since our emergence 200,000 years ago. At the time, we shared the world with other hominins such as Homo Erectus and Homo Neanderthalensis. While the genes of these hominins suggest that they interbred, Homo Sapiens is the only species of humans that remains today.
So how did we become the dominant species on Earth? How did we migrate and adapt to various ecosystems and change the global climate? This article provides a comprehensive overview of the history of humanity, from the emergence of Homo Sapiens to the mastery of fire and the development of complex language.
The Emergence of Homo Sapiens
Our story begins around 200,000 years ago with the emergence of Homo Sapiens. At the time, we shared our world with several other human species or hominins, including Homo Erectus and Homo Neanderthalensis. The scientific consensus is that we all came from a common ancestor, the first species of the Homo genus, which evolved approximately 2.5 million years ago.
The Extinction of Other Hominin Species
For the last 15,000 years, Homo Sapiens is the only human species left on Earth. The cause of the extinction of all other hominin species remains a topic of scientific debate. Some theories attribute their demise to rapid changes in local climate, while others lean towards a more aggressive explanation, backed up by evidence of mass graves and cracked skulls found at archaeological sites. Another possibility is that we all merged into one species through interbreeding.
The Early Days of Homo Sapiens
For many millennia, humans were just another link in the food chain, no more significant than other species in the ecosystem. However, things changed with the use of fire. The first evidence of hominin interactions with fire dates back to around 1.5 million years ago. We started out by adding fuel to naturally occurring fires to keep them burning, and eventually, we figured out how to start fires on our own.
The Mastery of Fire and its Impact on Humanity
The mastery of fire by hominin species had a profound impact on humanity. We used it for warmth, light, protection against predators and insects, and to cook our meals. Cooking food, as posited by anthropologist Richard Wrangham, required less energy for digestion, which allowed for more energy to be allocated to different functions of the brain. This, Wrangham believes, eventually led to the development of complex language.
The Development of Complex Language
According to Israeli scientist Noah Harari, the development of complex language wasn’t solely due to the mastery of fire. He argues that the ability to cooperate in large groups and share information was critical to the survival of early humans. Language allowed us to coordinate our activities and share knowledge, which in turn facilitated the development of complex societies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the history of humanity is a story of determination, cooperation, and ingenuity. From the emergence of Homo Sapiens to the mastery of fire and the development of complex language, our species has come a long way. We have overcome numerous challenges and adapted to a wide variety of ecosystems, becoming the dominant species on Earth. The future of humanity remains unknown, but our past serves as a testament to our resilience and ability to thrive in even the most challenging of circumstances.
Hey, i would love to hear your thoughts on what humanity’s goal should be as a whole when it comes to technology in every field? What is the end goal and where we are heading? Will money ever go away? Will robots work for all of humanity equally? No rich/poor ? What will that society look like? What kind of rules it will have? Without needing any jobs to do what will humans do?
It’s amazing to see that technological advancements of humanity came after branching out into new areas. The tribes of Africa left to become the Empires of Europe and Asia. European expansion into the New World brought about the Industrial Revolution. The race to space brought about the digital age. It stands to reason that the next advancement of human ingenuity will be the colonization of other worlds. Those who have not transitioned with humanity get left behind by it, as there are still 3rd world societies that have not made it past the tribal stages of humanity. While it is noble to consider our role in nature, it has become inevitably apparent that our destiny is to mold it to our needs. And I do not foresee that changing any time soon as we look to the skies for our next natural resources and forms of energy. We should embrace this, rather than fear it.
Biggest factor by far is Homo Sapiens was first species God breathed into and added several elements like free will, creativity, language, social empathy, ability to think abstractly and beyond our reality, and most importantly we are spirit beings and the ability to have a relationship with God and the spirit world(reality located in dimensions outside the dimensions in our universe but intertwined at a quantum level), not just flesh and brain.
The real history of humans is lost and forgotten because it’s filled with pain and suffering that we try to forget. and all the cover ups, hidden knowledge and forms of technology that people kept hidden because they would eventually profit from it.
Like how we could have had clean energy by now, but due to greed we all forgot that it’s possible. and now when clean energy will be used it will be for profit.
Forgotten history is real. oh yeah and all the various peoples who were assimilated, wiped out and subsequently forgot their ways of life and belief systems.
The history we know is euro centric and written by the men who engaged in that savagery.