We are used to thinking about ourselves as the only humans, becasue for the last 10,000 years our species has indeed been the only human species around.
The Real Meaning of the word human is "an animal belonging to the genus Homo.
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| Australopithecus |
Humans first Evolved in East Africa about 2.5 Million years ago from an earlier genus of apes called Australopithecus, which means Southern Ape.
About two million years ago, some of these archaic men and woman left their homeland to journey through and settle vast areas of North Africa, Europe and Asia. The Result was several Distinct Species, to each of which scientists have assigned a Latin name
- Homo neanderthdensis (Man from Neander Valley)
- Homo Erectus (Upright Man)
- Homo Soloensis (Man from the solo Valley)
- Homo Denisova
- Homo Rudolfensis (Man from Lake Rudolf)
- Homo Eragster (Working Man)
- Homo Sapiens (Wise Man)
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| Homo Erectus |
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| Homo neanderthdensis |
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| Homo Denisova |
Homo Erectus survived for close to 2 million years, making it the most durable human species ever. This record is unlikely to be broken even by our own species, and it is doubtful whether Homo Sapiens will still be around a thousand years from now, So 2 Million is really out of our league.
The member of some of these species were massive and others were dwarves some were fearsome hunters and others meek plantgotheres some lived only on a single island, while many roamed over continents. But allk of them belonged to the Genus Homo. They were all human Beings.
The world was home, at one and the same time to several human species. The earth of a hundred millennia ago was walked by at least six different species of Human.