and Tristan da Cunha to the southwest; Cape Verde, the Bijagós
Islands, Bioko, and São Tomé and Príncipe to the west; and the Azores
and the Madeira and Canary Islands to the northwest.
Africa is now widely recognized as the birthplace of the Hominidae, the
taxonomic family to which modern humans belong. Archaeological
evidence indicates that the continent has been inhabited by humans
and their forebears for some 4,000,000 years or more. Anatomically
modern humans are believed to have appeared as early as 200,
years ago in the eastern region of sub-Saharan Africa. Somewhat later
those early humans spread into northern Africa and the Middle East
and, ultimately, to the rest of the world.