How and when was man formed?

When we talk about the first man, we could mean the earliest hominids, archaic Homo sapiens, which are almost modern but could in some ways be considered intermediate species, or fully modern humans. The consensus of scientists is that man, whether we mean the earliest hominids, archaic Homo sapiens or fully modern Homo sapiens, came from Africa.

Perhaps the oldest known hominid fossil is Sahelanthropus tchadensis, discovered in Chad, West Central Africa. This has been dated, using relative chronological methods, to between 6 and 7 million years ago. This fossil must be close to our very earliest hominid ancestors, since DNA comparison of humans and chimpanzees has indicated a common ancestor approximately 7 million years ago.

Some African fossils that may be archaic Homo sapiens, are sometimes referred to as Homo sapiens rhodesiensis. Various speciments have been dated to between 200,000 and 400,000 years ago.

The earliest modern Homo sapiens man has been dated to around 200,000 years ago. This has been confirmed by two separate DNA methods, using 'non-recombining' sections of the genome.