When did our human species leave Africa?

Our human species, homo sapiens, lived exclusively in Africa up until about 100,000 years ago. Only about 1,000 centuries ago did the first humans leave Africa. Many legends (including the Book of Exodus in the Bible) refer to humans leaving Africa and the fossil record provides evidence that this occurred not so long ago, in evolutionary terms (and timelines).

The consensus among paleontologists is that humans left Africa from the region of Egypt, crossing the Sinai peninsula into what is now known as the Middle East. From there, humans spread out into Anatolia (modern day Turkey), Europe and Asia.

Approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, humans reached the Western Hemisphere. North America could be entered via the Bering Straits land-ice bridge (during the last ice age) and humans gradually traveled all the way to the southern portion of South America. Other postulated ways in which humans may have reached South America have included seafaring across the Pacific Ocean.

At any rate, since divergent paths were estimated to have been taken by humans and great apes approximately 7 million years ago, it is only relatively recently that humans left their original habitat - in Africa - just 100,000 years ago.