Early humans migrated within Africa and later expanded into other regions as they adapted to new environments and developed new subsistence systems
Early Hominin Migrations
Human species were migratory from the beginning, moving as small populations of gatherers and hunters within eastern and southern Africa.
By following game and the availability of seasonal vegetation from place to place, these small groups of nomads learned about their landscape, interacted with each other, and met their subsistence needs.
Their daily needs came through interaction with a changing environment. With the emergence of Homo erectus around 1.89 million years BP (before the present), hominins expanded their territories and began to exhibit increasing control over their environment and an ability to adapt, evidenced by the development of new subsistence systems, including cultivation, pastoralism, and agriculture, and an upsurge in migration within Africa and, eventually, into Asia and Europe. This expansion into new geographical regions was a hallmark of the later human species.
Learn more about early human migrations