In 1859, Chales Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species from which the theory of evolution through a process called natural selection was first introduced. It gained much controversies and reaction against it as it implied men were descended from monkeys. Today, the theory of evolution is widely accepted.
The discoveries of fossils of human-like beings are evidence that man indeed was descended from primitive creatures called hominids.Darwin explained his theory of natural selection that “as many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be .From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form” (1859, preface). This theory is backed up by the theory of adaptation in which members of species adapts to the conditions they are faced with.
These processes were undergone by our ancestors that eventually gave birth to the modern man. While the theory of evolution is now weidely recognized, the direct lineage of both man and ape is still unknown.Although there are already fossils that point to the evolution of man, concrete evidence is still missing. Neanderthal man, for example, was first thought to have interbred with Homo sapiens, but now, evidence shows that DNA sample that led to this conclusion was contaminated with modern human DNA. Another significant issue is why humans have evolved at an accelerated pace compared to other species.
There is little doubt that humans had undergone the process of evolution, but the issue that needs to be address is how and from whom.
