You can try to fight if you wanna, but it’s not gonna change me
‘Cause it’s plain to see, Africans are my people
And if it’s not plain to see then your
I’m talkin’ primeval; the DNA in my veins that reasonable people find believable
But it might even blow your transistors;
Africa is the home of our
Which means human beings are all brothers and sisters
So check the of
And in the fossil record
And then try to tell me that we’re not
The fossil record has gaps but
And it complements the evidence in your
So I came to let you know about your ancestral home
How Australopithecus afarensis might have looked
I’m a African, I’m a African
And I know what’s happenin’
I’m a African, I’m a African
Archaeologists know what’s happenin’
You a African? You a African?
Do you know what’s happenin’?
I’m a African, I’m a African
Geneticists know what’s happenin’
Yeah, it’s plain to see, you can’t change me
‘Cause I’ma be a for life
Yeah, it’s plain to see, you can’t change me
‘Cause I’ma be a Homo sapien for life
Homo erectus skull (by Thomas Roche / Wikimedia Commons)
Yeah, the red is for the in my arm – it runs in the veins
Of all my from the same African mom
And the which I guess I lost
A that offset the costs
At least in the North, after
My family passed through some
We started as Africans, and then became Eurasians
And then one final migration made us Canadians
But it’s back to my origin, ‘cause I understand
For every colour of man, Africa is the motherland
So I’m comin’ back, that’s my
I’m only speakin’ the facts, which I invite you to learn
We came from Africa first;
‘Cause that’s where modern chimps and gorillas live
So the green is for the envy in the eyes of intelligent design
Advocates and scientific illiterates
I’m a African, I’m a African
And I know what’s happenin’
I’m a African, I’m a African
Archaeologists know what’s happenin’
You a African? You a African?
Do you know what’s happenin’?
I’m a African, I’m a African
Geneticists know what’s happenin’
Yeah, C-A-N-A-D-A
Asia, U-K, U-S-A
R-U-S-S-I-A
No, it ain’t ‘bout where you stay
It’s ‘bout the motherland
C-H-I-N-A
A-U-S-T-R-I-A
Oz, Tazmania, and Ukraine
No, it ain’t ‘bout where you stay
It’s ‘bout the motherland
M-O-N-G-O-L-I-A
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
Sweden, Denmark, and Norway
No, it ain’t ‘bout where you stay
It’s ‘bout the motherland
C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A
Costa Rica, I-N-D-I-A
First nations in A-L-A-S-K-A
No, it ain’t ‘bout where you stay
It’s ‘bout the motherland
All living humans share a common ancestor who lived in Eastern Africa approximately 200,000 years ago.
Archaeology and genetics are the main sources of evidence for our early human origins. What’s the difference between archaeologists, palaeoanthropologists and anthropologists? Find out more here!
The video below explains more about how the genetic evidence for our recent common ancestry. If you prefer to read about this, look at this article by the Human Genome Project,
Africa is often referred to as the “Motherland” in Afrocentric music. This is equally true for all living humans.
Mitochondria are the cells power houses. So called ‘Mitochondrial Eve‘ was the woman from who all of today’s living humans most recently descended. This video explains more.
Human ethnic groups have all diverged in only the last 50,000 years or less, so the differences between our skin colour, hair texture, and facial structure is literally “superficial”
The most recent common ancestor (or MCRA) of all living humans is the person through who, through any and all genetic lines, can be connected to everyone alive today.
Dozens of early human fossils have been found, a nice inventory can be found here. The talk by Louise Leakey below will tell you more about how fossils are found and how we interpret them
Meaning ‘upright man’, H. erectus originated in Africa about 2 million years ago and lived successfully until about 800,000 years ago. They were the most far reaching hominid in their time and the first to move out of Africa. They were characterised by larger brains and significant use of stone tools, including hand axes and cleavers. They were the first species to walk fully upright, they also used fire and hunted big game. There is also evidence for some form of speech.
This species lived about 4 to 3 million years ago in Africa. Considered a close relative and possibly a direct ancestor of modern humans, this hominid had a slight build, a relatively small brain and a social life that was probably similar to that seen in modern apes. The most famous afarensis skeleton is known as ‘Lucy‘
All human beings are connected by descent in a “family tree” that has its roots in Africa.
Spaces between known fossils constitute “gaps” in the record, but the fossils show continuous lines of evolution
In the nucleus of each cell, the DNA molecule is packaged into thread-like structures called chromosomes. Each chromosome is made up of DNA tightly coiled many times around proteins called histones that support its structure
The only living species in the Homo genus, modern humans originated approximately 250,000 – 200,000 years ago in Africa. As of Nov 2011 there are estimated to be about 7 billion of us on Earth. Unlike previous species of Homo we are the only ones to be widespread on every continent (except Antarctica).
Blood is red because of the oxidation of haemoglobin, an iron containing oxygen transport molecule
Because all humans share a recent common ancestor, we are all distant cousins with one another
Melanin is a pigment found in most animals. In humans it helps determine our skin colour and it is produced by ‘melanocytes’ in the skin. To find out why people have different skin colours, watch this excellent video by researcher Nina Jablonski.
All humans had dark skin until approximately 30,000 years ago. The mutations that lead to white or “caucasian” people probably occurred in Northern Europe and spread because of the additional Vitamin D absorbed from weaker sunlight by paler skin.
There have been several glacial periods on earth. The most recent one ended about 15,000 years ago
An adaptive radiation is the evolutionary diversification from a single ancestral population of descendant populations into more and more numerous types, each adapted to their local environment. An example of such an event occurred in the Cretaceous period, when early mammals evolved into carnivores, primates and ungulates.
Unlike the state of Israel, Africa has not yet adopted a “right of return” policy for people who can prove African heritage (i.e. everyone).
Charles Darwin made this prediction several decades before the first hominid fossils were found in Africa: “It is therefore probable that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct apes closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee; and as these two species are now man’s nearest allies, it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.” Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
Dear Baba,
Please add my name to the list of Contributors. My students found me as the face of Australopithecus afarensis at about 52 seconds in your video. It’s an honor that I will add to my C.V.
Regards, John
Executive Producers: Adam Speers, Aron Rollin and Baba Brinkman
First Assistant Director: Jamie O'Halloran
Make-Up: Beth Roberts-Miller
Producer/Director: Felix Harrison
Project Manager: Caitlin Albery Beavan
Public Relations: Multitude Media
Science Consultant: Djuke Veldhuis
Africans: Mark Pallen, Chris Stringer, Charlene Roché, John Hinton, Gad Saad, Irene Brinkman, Levon Kendall, Chris & Jay Lovatt, Kypros Zenonos, Jessica Loper, Abby Sterbuck, Filip Comley, Will Price, Phil Ball, Morgan Yew, William Starling, Anastasia Kyriacou, Nasrin Farhead, Merry Clarkster, John Trimble
I am in the video! Add me to the credits!
Beautiful video.
GS
Dear Baba,
Please add my name to the list of Contributors. My students found me as the face of Australopithecus afarensis at about 52 seconds in your video. It’s an honor that I will add to my C.V.
Regards, John