Places to live
Through the ages, people have settled the climate is mild,where food and fresh air are available and where land can be farmed. Transportation is also important by land,sea or air. About 10% of land is ice-bounded and 20% of dry land is deserted. And in these harsh conditions very few people can survive.
The first people
All things on earth have developed over million years as they became suited or adapted to the constantly changing environment. All creatures are related. Humans are closely related to apes. The earliest human-like people are from Africa One was female found in 1974 in Ethiopia. She was nicknamed 'Lucy'. Her fossilised bones are more than 3 million years old and was 1m tall.
On the move
From 1 million years ago, groups of ancient humans began to develop separately in Africa, Asia and Europe. Modern humans had probably appeared in Africa by 100.000 years ago. They have in the move ever since, spreading into and settling new lands and eventually exploring the oceans and reaching remote islands. Prehistoric hunters from Southeast Asia populated Australia, probably more than 40,000 years ago. North Asian hunters crossed into North America at a time when the two continents were joined by a bridge. These gerat historic movements of people into new lands are called migration.
City life
Once people had learned to farm,about 12,000 years ago,they no longer had to hunt their food. They could settle in one place, trade and build towns. Over the ages, towns grew into big cities as more and more people arrived from the countryside. Today's cities are enormous and often crowded. In Japan, about 35 million people live in the region around Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki. Where space is limited, people build upwards, landscapes of skyscrapers, as in Singapore.
Through the ages, people have settled the climate is mild,where food and fresh air are available and where land can be farmed. Transportation is also important by land,sea or air. About 10% of land is ice-bounded and 20% of dry land is deserted. And in these harsh conditions very few people can survive.
The first people
All things on earth have developed over million years as they became suited or adapted to the constantly changing environment. All creatures are related. Humans are closely related to apes. The earliest human-like people are from Africa One was female found in 1974 in Ethiopia. She was nicknamed 'Lucy'. Her fossilised bones are more than 3 million years old and was 1m tall.
On the move
From 1 million years ago, groups of ancient humans began to develop separately in Africa, Asia and Europe. Modern humans had probably appeared in Africa by 100.000 years ago. They have in the move ever since, spreading into and settling new lands and eventually exploring the oceans and reaching remote islands. Prehistoric hunters from Southeast Asia populated Australia, probably more than 40,000 years ago. North Asian hunters crossed into North America at a time when the two continents were joined by a bridge. These gerat historic movements of people into new lands are called migration.
City life
Once people had learned to farm,about 12,000 years ago,they no longer had to hunt their food. They could settle in one place, trade and build towns. Over the ages, towns grew into big cities as more and more people arrived from the countryside. Today's cities are enormous and often crowded. In Japan, about 35 million people live in the region around Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki. Where space is limited, people build upwards, landscapes of skyscrapers, as in Singapore.
