ABSTRACT
Africa stands at the very beginning of the origin of humanity. Modern humans belong to what contemporary scientists have referred to as the primate family of hominins, a biological term meaning human or human-like creatures who walk upright on two legs and have enlarged brains. Most scholars believe that the type Homo neanderthalensis was an evolutionary dead-end. This is a type found only in Europe, but which until recent times was thought to have no direct descendants in modern humans. Few African historians have given attention to North Africa when considering the history of the continent. The polygenetic model suggests that humans emerged in different parts of the world, or developed directly from Homo erectus in different regions of the world. Homo habilis is associated with making tools, although the species seems to have retained the ability to climb trees.
