How Did We Get Here?

An interactive map of human migration

Legend:

Colours represent the first human arrival in a given area.

Information

This map displays areas of the world based on their earliest date of human habitation. The divisions of this map are based on country subdivisions (e.g. States, provinces, counties, etc) which allows it to convey more information than if it were based on countries alone. If any part of a country subdivision was first inhabited by humans at one time, that entire subdivision is labelled as being first inhabited at that time.

Anthropology is more of an art than a science. It is only relatively recently that humans began writing down history; most of what has happened to our species has gone unrecorded. Without tangible written records for almost everything represented in this map, information has to be found through other sources. Obviously, human remains can shed a great deal of light on human presence in an area, but they do not tell the whole story. Oftentimes one needs to consider genetic information, environmental information and even ecological information to get the full picture. Sources often contradict each other, especially the further in the past one goes, and in some cases, no sources are available at all. The gaps in information can sometimes only be filled with a person’s judgment. This map does not aim to be fully accurate, as full accuracy is practically impossible, instead, it aims to be an easy to understand visual representation of early human migration.

Maps

Areas still mostly inhabited by their original inhabitants

Areas first inhabited by other homonins