Early Human Migration

People Move
out of Africa
(main idea)
Olduvai
Gorge
LESSON 1 – OUT OF AFRICA: WHY EARLY HUMANS SETTLED AROUND THE WORLD

MIGRATION
• Migration: The act of moving from one place
to another with the intent to live in another
place permanently or for a longer period of
time.

FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
Early Human Migration
 The Ice Ages
- What are the ice ages?
- About 1.6 million years ago many places began to
experience freezing weather. These freezing times are
called ice ages.
- How do you think early humans adapted to this ice age?
LESSON 1 – OUT OF AFRICA: WHY EARLY HUMANS SETTLED AROUND THE WORLD

Push vs. Pull Factors

• Push factors: Negative reasons for
wanting to leave a place (emigrate).
Examples of push factors are a lack of food
or water, natural disasters, a lack of jobs,
and wars.
• Pull factors: Positive reasons for wanting
to move to a place (immigrate). Examples
of pull factors are more food and water, a
better climate, higher wages, and freedom.
Source: “What is Human Migration?” 2005. National Geographic Society. Available online at:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/09/g68/migrationguidestudent.pdf

FOCUS MIDDLE SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY © COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, NEW YORK, NY
 When did early humans settle
new lands?
• Draw arrows on your world map showing the
following migrations of early humans:
– Ancestors of modern humans began migrating 2
million years ago  the entire process took hundreds
of thousands of years
– 100,000 years ago = began to migrate from East
Africa to southern and northern Africa and southeast
Asia.
– From there to Australia and Europe
– Finally from northern Asia to North America and
finally South America.
– By 9,000 B.C.E., humans lived on all continents of the
world except Antarctica
 How did they get there?
• People moved out of
Africa as the Earth’s
climates changed. (main
idea)
What is a land bridge?
Beringia
It is a strip of land
connecting two continents.
Beringia: between China
and North America
Indo-Australia: between
Indonesia and Australia Indo-Australia
 Early Humans Adapt to New
Environments
• Why did humans build
shelters?
– Because they
migrated to colder
climates.
• Types of shelters? cave

– Caves, underground
pit houses, tents
made of animal
skins and bones,
wooden, stone Pit
structures house
More Early Human Houses
 Early Human Clothing
• How did people adapt
to new environments?
– They made new
clothing and new
types of tools.
• How did they make
clothing?
– They sewed animal
skins together to
make clothing for
protection.
 Push/Pull Activity
1. Read the “Early Humans Settle Around the World”
article
2. On the next page, read each situation and
determine the reason for the migration and whether
it was because of a push or pull factor.
3. Make sure you are able to explain your answers.
4. We will go over this activity as a class in 15
minutes.
 RAFT Activity
• Complete for homework, if needed
• Role, Audience, Format, Topic
• R = you are an early human writing a journal entry in
the year 15,000 B.C.E.
• A = your relatives or archaeologists that will dig up
your journal thousands of years from the time you write
it
• F = journal entry (Dear Journal, Dear Diary, etc.)
• T = explain where you live and why you and your
family might migrate based on push and pull factors
(include where you would go, how you would get there,
why it’s a smart idea to migrate, how you would have to
adapt to your new environment etc.)