Africa
During a time of dramatic climate change 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. Like other early humans that were living at this time, they gathered and hunted food, and evolved behaviors that helped them respond to the challenges of survival in unstable environments. We most likely evolved from Homo heidelbergensis, the common ancestor we share with Neanderthals, who are our closest extinct relatives. Cro-Magnon 1. Cro-Magnon 1 is a middle-aged, male skeleton of one of the first modern human fossils ever found, at Cro-Magnon, France in 1868. Most anthropologists today hold with the theory that modern humans evolved in Africa. This theory has come to be known as the Out-of-Africa model and was first proposed by Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews. In this model, humans evolved from more primitive hominids into more or less the modern humans we are now and began migrating out of Africa around 200,000 years ago. Paleontologists believe that hominids first emerged in this valley approximately 3-4 million years ago. Evidence of this can be found in fossils found in the valley. It may be the valley's climate, or the difficult terrain that helped preserve these fossils over many millions of years. The first cities emerged in northern Africa and The Middle East.  These cities formed because of the rise of agriculture. Agriculture  made it so humans did not have to migr … ate, having a sedentary life  style with more food led to larger villages which eventually led to  cities. Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest agriculture was practiced around modern day Iraq (Middle East), probably around 8000 years ago. The earliest town to develop that … we know of was Mohenjo-daro. There is general agreement that Homo erectus, the precursor to modern humans, evolved in Africa and gradually expanded to Eurasia beginning about 1.7 million years ago. Anatomically modern humanshumans that more or less looked like usarose in Africa at least 130,000 years ago. By 100,000 years ago, several species of hominids populated the Earth. H. sapiens uslived in Africa, H. erectus in Southeast Asia and China, and Neandertals in Europe. Around 50,000 years ago, there was a sudden explosion of human migration out of Africa, and by about 30,000 years ago, we were the last ones standing The first fossils of early modern humans to be identified were found in 1868 at the 27,000-23,000 year old Cro-Magnon rock shelter site near the village of Les Eyzies in southwestern France. They were subsequently named the Cro-Magnon people. They were very similar in appearance to modern Europeans. It would be a mistake to assume that from the time modern Homo sapiens began migrating out of Africa that all people in that continent were modern humans. The video below presents evidence of pockets of archaic humans surviving in West Africa until at least 13,000 years ago. Early Modern Homo sapiens. All people today are classified as Homo sapiens. Our species of humans first began to evolve nearly 200,000 years ago in association with technologies not unlike those of the early Neandertals. It is now clear that early Homo sapiens, or modern humans, did not come after the Neandertals but were their contemporaries. It would be a mistake to assume that from the time modern Homo sapiens began migrating out of Africa that all people in that continent were modern humans. The video below presents evidence of pockets of archaic humans surviving in West Africa until at least 13,000 years ago. Until now, researchers believed that homo sapiens, the direct descendants of modern man, evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago and gradually migrated north, through the Middle East, to Europe and Asia. Other scientists have argued that human beings originated in Africa before moving to other regions 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. Homo sapiens discovered in Middle Awash, Ethiopia, from 160,000 years ago were believed to be the oldest 'modern' human beings. Around 50,000 years ago, modern humans suddenly started leaving Africa. Over the course of the next 20,000 years, Homo sapiens pushed other hominid species to extinction and established populations in Australia, Asia, and Europe. By 100,000 years ago, several species of hominids populated the Earth. H. sapiens uslived in Africa, H. erectus in Southeast Asia and China, and Neandertals in Europe. Around 50,000 years ago, there was a sudden explosion of human migration out of Africa, and by about 30,000 years ago, we were the last ones standing
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-sapiens http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/where-did-humans-first-emerge-94523 http://www.answers.com/Q/Where_did_the_first_humans_emerge http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2.html http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_4.htm http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_4.htm http://www.deccanherald.com/content/124271/did-first-humans-emerge-middle.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2.html
where did the first humans emerge