Humans, specifically anatomically modern Homo sapiens, have existed for approximately 200,000 to 315,000 years. Fossil evidence shows the earliest anatomically modern human remains date back about 200,000 years in Africa, with some fossils and genetic data suggesting modern Homo sapiens evolved around 300,000 to 315,000 years ago
. The genus Homo, which includes earlier human ancestors like Homo habilis, emerged about 2.8 million years ago, and hominins (the group including humans and their closest extinct relatives) appeared around 7 million years ago
. Modern humans first originated in Africa and later migrated out to other continents
. In summary:
- Anatomically modern Homo sapiens: ~200,000 to 315,000 years ago
- Genus Homo emergence: ~2.8 million years ago
- Hominins emergence: ~7 million years ago
This timeline places human existence as a very recent event in Earth's history, representing only a tiny fraction of geological time
