Africa Research Paper

Africa is a continent that has a lot of rich history. It was normally overlooked by people because they thought it wouldn’t provide any insight into the past. In reality, it provided much more. It showed a lot of information that has helped scientist figure out where people come from and their ancestry. There is a lot of evidence that provides different views on Africa. Africa is extremely large and due to its size, it has a lot of varying climate. At the northern part of Africa there is the Mediterranean Sea and at the southern tip you can find penguins. This shows diverse climates. Because of these climates, Africans had many struggles. In the Sahara, it is hard to farm due to the inadequate soil. In other areas, like in Egypt, farming

Africa is said to be the cradle of civilization. Meaning, that Africa was where people evolved and developed. In the 17th and 18th century, scientist began to study skulls by size and weight and made a racial hierarchy by the 20th century. The purpose of the hierarchy was to show European superiority. In the 1980s, scientists believe that they had found how humans had evolved during time. They created three distinct types of humans: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo abilis, and Homo erectus. These were just names that described how humans were evolving and getting closer to the current type. The evolution showed how humans had adapted to different circumstances. As soon as the Homo eretus appeared, humans started to migrate. It was believed that around 100,000 years ago, humans started to migrate. They most likely followed the coastline and moved

This meant they needed to figure out how to get food and communicate. Scientists found that agriculture has been around for 10,000 years, but as stated previously, humans have been around for more than 100,000 years. This shows that humans had to manipulate the environment to survive. Africans learned how to hunt for food and improving their land. As they evolved, they also created tools to become farmer. They created sticks that allowed them to plant seeds and grow food. Their location also helped with farming. Near the Nile River, farming was plentiful. This was because the annual flood brought fertile land for food growth. Along with farming, Africans also tried to domesticate animals. Africans domesticated animals to help with farming and making their lives simpler. For example, Camels were domesticated in Arabia for transportation and carrying food from one place to the next. Alongside farming, humans were also learning how to communicate. Language might have started slowly but then glottochronology occurred. Glottochronology is the predictable rate at which languages change. Africa was home to four of the world’s language families and has come to have a fifth one too. This shows that Africa had languages very early on. With languages and agriculture techniques Africans were able to migrate and adapt to new environments by evolving their techniques and themselves. Africans would evolve to have lighter skin if