Why is Ethiopia The Cradle of Humanity? – It's Where we all have cousins.

We may all be united by this globally unique place. Anyone who is fascinated by unfamiliar cultures, history and scenic beauty will love the southwestern Ethiopian region known as the Lower Omo River Valley. It’s been a UNESCO World Heritage site for nearly 40 years.

The ‘Out of Africa’ model is the most widely accepted theory regarding when humans like us, Homo sapiens, first successfully moved out of Africa and populated Asia, Europe and the western Pacific including Oceania.

According to DNA and fossil evidence, earlier attempts around 2-300,000 and 115 – 130,000 years ago had largely failed. Then about 60-70,000 years ago, when sea levels were lower than now, there was another major migration. Our ancestors crossed what is now the seabed of the Red Sea at the Straits of Bab Al Mandeb. We can all be grateful that they took that opportunity. This is now the narrow strait between southwestern Yemen and Djibouti on the northeast coast of the African continent. Now, Bab Al Mandeb means Gate of Tears due to its turbulent waters.

The Out of Africa theory says that we Homo sapiens are all descended from the people who left Africa about this time.

It is thought that only about 150 to 1,000 people migrated out of a continental population of 2 – 5,000 individuals. Within a few millennia, their descendants reached Arabia, Persia and India. From India they reached Oceania about 60,000+ years ago. The migration into Europe and north Asia was about 50,000 years ago. Migrations across to the Americas were about 20 - 50,000 years ago.

For tens and hundreds of thousands of years, humans have moved through and beyond this region in many directions.

The earliest anatomically modern human remains have been found along the banks of the Lower Omo River and dated at 195,000 years old although scholars believe that modern humans date from more like 300,000 years ago. The DNA and fossil evidence are still being discovered.

DNA evidence shows that all living humans are descended from an individual woman from the Lower Omo River Valley. She is the matriarch whose descendants successfully migrated out of Africa. All current African ethnic groups are believed to descend from her kin who migrated into the heartland of Africa.

This is why Ethiopia is known as The Cradle of Humanity. We all have very distant cousins amongst the people of the Lower Omo River Valley.

There is more language and genetic diversity amongst the tribes of the Lower Omo River Valley than anywhere on earth among peoples whose lifestyle, in harmony with nature, is little changed from antiquity and in such a concentrated area. Up to 45 languages are spoken in this region representing three of Africa’s four language groups.

Fifteen tribal groups live on the banks and in the hills along the lower reaches of the Omo River. Until recent decades, the region was considered too isolated for exploitation. Today, hydroelectric dams and the large-scale irrigation of sugar and cotton plantations threaten the survival of these ancient peoples.

The terrain of the Lower Omo River Valley is mainly bushy savannah flats and hills bordered to the north and east by mountain ranges. The annual, sediment-rich floods and year-round flow of the Omo River sustain the people of this iconic human mosaic.

Tribal populations range from 1,500 Karo to 250,000 Konso people. Many have their own languages and cultures that set them apart from their neighbours. These differences are frequently seen in individuals through their colourful accessories, body painting and tattoo designs, tribal scarification marks and hair styles.

The tribes have different lifestyles including fishing the Omo River, maintaining herds of cattle and raising crops using the flood retreat technique. Some are nomadic within their territory and some are less so.

Religiously, the Lower Omo Valley tribes are Christian, Muslim or Animist.