Early Human Migration
Trace the incredible journey of early humans as they migrated across continents over hundreds of thousands of years, adapting to every environment on Earth.
Long before Homo sapiens left Africa, earlier hominin species had already begun the process of global migration. Homo erectus spread from Africa to Asia nearly two million years ago, eventually reaching as far as Java and China. Later hominin species, including Homo heidelbergensis, colonized Europe. By the time modern humans began their own migrations, they entered a world already inhabited — sparsely — by distant evolutionary cousins.
The migrations of Homo sapiens, beginning roughly 70,000 years ago, were unprecedented in their speed and reach. Within 50,000 years, modern humans had colonized every habitable continent, from the tropical forests of Southeast Asia to the frozen landscapes of Siberia and eventually the Americas. This expansion required extraordinary adaptability: new tools, new hunting strategies, new clothing and shelter designs for each environment encountered.
The evidence for these migrations comes from multiple sources: fossil finds, stone tool traditions, and increasingly, ancient DNA. Paleogenetics has revealed a complex web of movements, mixings, and replacements — far more complicated than the simple arrows on a textbook map. Human migration was not a single journey but an ongoing process of expansion, adaptation, and interaction that continues to this day.