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Modern humans belong to the species Homo sapiens, which first emerged at least 300,000 years ago, but possibly as far back as 1 million years ago. And our history goes back much further: the first members of the Homo genus emerged nearly 3 million years ago in Africa.
As technology advances, scientists have been able to piece together how early modern humans arose and migrated around the world, sometimes breeding with close human relatives, such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Even today, humans are still evolving, including in Nepal, where people who have adapted to live in the low-oxygen conditions at high altitudes tend to have more children than those who haven't. Humans may also be evolving through our culture, an idea that learned behaviors we pass on are the "mutations" that can aid survival. Read on to learn more about humans evolved in the past — and continue to do so.
Discover more about human evolution
—Human evolution: Facts about the past 300,000 years of Homo sapiens
—Our mixed-up human family: 8 human relatives that went extinct (and 1 that didn't)
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1.5 million-year-old Homo erectus face was just reconstructed — and its mix of old and new traits is complicating the picture of human evolution
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Science history: Anthropologist sees the face of the 'Taung Child' — and proves that Africa was the cradle of humanity — Dec. 23, 1924
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'It is the most exciting discovery in my 40-year career': Archaeologists uncover evidence that Neanderthals made fire 400,000 years ago in England
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