The Evolution of Man

Back in history, a scientist known as Charles Darwin discovered that man evolved and developed from a very simple form.  In 1859, he published his ideas on the theory of evolution in a book titled The origin of species by natural selection. This idea produced instant battles in scientific meetings. This idea provoked anger and criticism from the church. In the book of life and letters of Charles Darwin, there is an account of one such battle between Bishop of Oxford and Huxley who supported Darwin. 

The bishop asked Huxley if he was related to an ape by either of his grandparent’s side. Upon hearing this, Huxley turned to his neighbor and said the Lord hath delivered him into his hands. He then asserted that a man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandparents. “If there is an ancestor I should be ashamed recalling then it would be a man.” 

Evolution can be defined as the process of change in human over a number of years. This theory states that all living things evolved million years ago from simple living cells to the complex plants and animals. This evolution took place in distinct stages namely: mutation, isolation, adaptation and natural selection.

This theory has earned the support of many scientists, mainly paleontologists, who study how man evolved from primitive origins.

Scientists believe that man evolved from an ape which was discovered in Fayum depression in Egypt. It was small about 4 kgs and was named Aegyptopithecus meaning Egyptian ape. This ape still evolved to Drayopithecus whose remains were found at Rusinga Island on Lake Victoria in 1948 by Mary and her spouse Louise Leaky. This creature dated back to about 20 million years.

Since it is a process of change it evolved from drayopithecus to kenyapithecus or Ramapithecus to Australopithecus to homo habilis (handyman) to homo Erectus (able man) to homo sapiens and finally to homo sapiens sapiens.

There are other theories like creation which state that God created everything within 7 days and mythical whose main point is that God created the first people. The religious and mythical theories went unchallenged for many years. Statistics prove that an ape does 90% just like a human but luck is 10% and that’s the thinking part. It is up to people to choose whether they believe in creation, mythical or evolution. Do you think you evolved?