Human

Humans (Homo sapiens, meaning or ) are the most abundant and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipedalism, minimal body hair, and large, complex brains enabling the development of advanced technology, culture, and language. Humans are highly social beings and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which bolster human society. Curiosity and the human desire to understand and influence the environment have motivated humanity's development of art, science, philosophy, religion, mythology, and other fields of knowledge. Humans have a large and highly developed prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain associated with higher cognition. They are intelligent beings, capable of episodic memory, flexible facial expressions, self-awareness and a theory of mind. The human mind is capable of introspection (metacognition), private thought, imagination, volition, and forming views on existence. Humans can also mentally travel through time (chronesthesia), which signifies episodic foresight. These attributes have allowed them to achieve large technological advancements through reason and the transmission of knowledge to future generations.…

Humans (Homo sapiens, meaning or ) are the most abundant and widespread species of primates, characterized by bipedalism, minimal body hair, and large, complex brains enabling the development of advanced technology, culture, and language. Humans are highly social beings and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which bolster human society. Curiosity and the human desire to understand and influence the environment have motivated humanity's development of art, science, philosophy, religion, mythology, and other fields of knowledge. Humans have a large and highly developed prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain associated with higher cognition. They are intelligent beings, capable of episodic memory, flexible facial expressions, self-awareness and a theory of mind. The human mind is capable of introspection (metacognition), private thought, imagination, volition, and forming views on existence. Humans can also mentally travel through time (chronesthesia), which signifies episodic foresight. These attributes have allowed them to achieve large technological advancements through reason and the transmission of knowledge to future generations. In anthropology, the cumulative preservation and advancement of knowledge across generations is known as the ratchet effect. Humans are omnivorous, capable of consuming a wide variety of plant and animal material, and have used fire to prepare and cook food. They can survive for up to eight weeks without food, and three or four days without water. Humans are generally diurnal, sleeping on average seven to nine hours per day. Human childbirth is dangerous, with a high risk of complications and death. Both the mother and the father typically provide care for human offspring, who are helpless at birth. Genes and the environment influence human biological variation in appearance, physiology, immune system, mental abilities, body size, and lifespan. Though humans vary in many traits, any two humans are on average over 99% genetically similar, with the most genetically diverse populations from Africa. The greatest degree of genetic variation exists between males and females. The genetic difference between males and females is around 1% to 2%. On average, males have greater body strength and females generally have a higher body fat percentage. Females undergo menopause and become infertile potentially decades before the end of their lives. They also have a longer life span in almost every population around the world. The division into male and female gender roles has varied historically, and challenges to predominant gender norms have recurred in many societies. Humans evolved from other hominins in Africa several million years ago. Although some scientists equate humans with all members of the genus Homo, in common usage it generally refers to Homo sapiens, the only extant member. Homo sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago and migrated out of Africa, gradually replacing local populations of archaic humans. Early humans were hunter-gatherers, before the invention of agriculture and domestication of animals led to permanent settlement in the Fertile Crescent and other cradles of civilization. As food surpluses enabled populations to become larger and denser, forms of governance developed, the use of writing became necessary, and a number of civilizations rose and fell. Humans have continued to expand, with over 8.3 billion humans occupying almost all regions of Earth in 2026, and have even visited the Moon. This expansion, combined with industrialization, has led to environmental destruction and pollution that significantly contributes to the ongoing mass extinction of many other forms of life. ===Prehistory=== during the Upper Paleolithic, following the Southern Dispersal paradigm Until about 12,000 years ago, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers. The Neolithic Revolution (the invention of agriculture) first took place in Southwest Asia and spread through large parts of the Old World over the following millennia. It also occurred independently in Mesoamerica (about 6,000 years ago), China, Papua New Guinea, and the Sahel and West Savanna regions of Africa. The formation of permanent human settlements, the domestication of animals, and the use of metal tools were followed by a permanent food surplus, for the first time in history. Agriculture and a sedentary lifestyle led to the emergence of early civilizations. ===Ancient=== , Egypt An urban revolution took place in the 4th millennium BCE with the development of city-states, particularly Sumerian cities located in Mesopotamia. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, cuneiform script, appeared around 3000 BCE. Other major civilizations to develop around this time were Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilization. They eventually traded with each other and invented technology such as wheels, plows and sails. Emerging by 3000 BCE, the Caral–Supe civilization is the oldest complex civilization in the Americas. Astronomy and mathematics were also developed, and the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. There is evidence of a severe drought lasting about a hundred years that may have caused the decline of these civilizations, with new ones appearing in the aftermath. Babylonians came to dominate Mesopotamia while others —such as the Poverty Point culture, Minoans, and the Shang dynasty—rose to prominence in new areas. The Late Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BCE resulted in the disappearance of a number of civilizations and the beginning of the Greek Dark Ages. During this period iron started replacing bronze, leading to the Iron Age. In the 5th century BCE, history started being recorded as a discipline, which provided a much clearer picture of life at the time. Between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, Europe entered the classical antiquity age, a period when ancient Greece and ancient Rome flourished. Around this time, other civilizations also came to prominence. The Maya civilization started to build cities and create complex calendars. In Africa, the Kingdom of Aksum overtook the declining Kingdom of Kush and facilitated trade between India and the Mediterranean. In West Asia, the Achaemenid Empire's system of centralized governance became the precursor to many later empires, while the Gupta Empire in India and the Han dynasty in China have been described as golden ages in their respective regions. ===Post-classical=== of the three classes of medieval society from the 13th-century |thumb|right|upright Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Europe entered the Middle Ages. During this period, Christianity and the Church would act as a source of authority and education. In the Middle East, Islam became the prominent religion and expanded into North Africa. It led to an Islamic Golden Age, inspiring achievements in architecture, the revival of old advances in science and technology, and the formation of a distinct way of life. The Christian and Islamic worlds would eventually clash, with the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of France, and the Holy Roman Empire declaring a series of holy wars to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. In the Americas, between 200 and 900 CE, Mesoamerica was in its Classic Period, while further north, complex Mississippian societies would arise starting around 800 CE. The Mongol Empire would conquer much of Eurasia in the 13th and 14th centuries. Over this same time period, the Mali Empire in Africa grew to be the largest empire on the continent, stretching from Senegambia to Ivory Coast. Oceania would see the rise of the Tuʻi Tonga Empire, which expanded across many islands in the South Pacific. By the late 15th century, the Aztecs and Inca had become the dominant power in Mesoamerica and the Andes, respectively. ===Modern=== The early modern period in Europe and the Near East ( –1800) began with the final defeat of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, Japan entered the Edo period, the Qing dynasty rose in China, and the Mughal Empire ruled much of India. Europe underwent the Renaissance, starting in the 15th century, and the Age of Discovery began with the exploration and colonization of new regions. This included the colonization of the Americas and the Columbian Exchange. This expansion led to the Atlantic slave trade and the genocide of the Americas' indigenous peoples. This period also marked the Scientific Revolution, with great advances in mathematics, mechanics, astronomy, and physiology. on the Moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, as he and Neil Armstrong became the first humans to set foot on another celestial body The late modern period (1800–present) saw the Industrial and Technological Revolution bring such discoveries as imaging technology, major innovations in transport, and energy development. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, the Americas and Europe experienced a period of political revolutions known as the Age of Revolution. The Napoleonic Wars raged through Europe in the early 1800s, Spain lost most of its colonies in the New World, while Europeans continued expansion into Africa where European control went from 10% to almost 90% in less than 50 years and Oceania. In the 19th century, the British Empire expanded to become the world's largest empire. A tenuous balance of power among European nations collapsed in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War, one of the deadliest conflicts in history. In the 1930s, a worldwide economic crisis led to the rise of authoritarian regimes and a Second World War, involving almost all of the world's countries. The war's destruction led to the collapse of most global empires, leading to widespread decolonization. Following the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the remaining global superpowers. This led to a Cold War that saw a struggle for global influence, including a nuclear arms race and a space race, ending in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The current Information Age, spurred by the development of the Internet and artificial intelligence systems, sees the world becoming increasingly globalized and interconnected.

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