Africa is called the birthplace of the human race because scientists have found fossilized bones of human ancestors in eastern and southern Africa that are the oldest of any in the world.
They believe that humans gradually moved out of Africa to populate the rest of the world.
The earliest Homo sapiens, or modern human, found in Ethiopia can be dated back to about 200,000 years ago.
Most scientists believe that the human species originated from the African continent.
Fossil remains of several species of early apelike humans believed to have evolved into modern man, such as Australopithecus afarensis from about 3 million years B.C. have been discovered.
It is believed that cattle was domesticated in North Africa by about 6000 B.C., before agriculture had become widespread.
