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315,000 Years Ago
The earliest known humans emerge and live on the African continent.
All human beings today belong to the Homo sapiens species, and it is widely accepted amongst researchers, historians, and scientists, that all of human history began on the continent of Africa. The exact location in Africa is a topic of constant debate as remains have been found in various locations throughout the continent, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco, though researchers suggest it was most likely in the Horn of Africa. The oldest known remains of our species to date has been found in Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and dated about 315,000 years ago.
250,000 Years Ago
Modern humans begin to disperse and migrate out of Africa.
Early modern humans expanded to Western Eurasia and Central, Western and Southern Africa from the time of their emergence. Evidence of migration out of Africa, via a partial skull, was discovered in the Apidima Cave in southern Greece and is dated more than 210,000 years old. There were several waves of migrations, many via northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula about 130,000 YA (Years Ago), though most of these early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 YA.
c. 200,000 - 130,000 Years Ago
Mitochondrial Eve, the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend, lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mitochondrial Eve (the name alludes to the biblical Eve) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor of all living humans. In other words, she is defined as the most recent woman from whom all living humans descend in an unbroken line purely through their mothers and through the mothers of those mothers, back until all lines converge on one woman. In 1987, geneticists compared the mitochondrial DNA (genetic information passed from mothers to their offspring) of people from different populations around the world and find that they all link in an unbroken line to Mitochondrial Eve. This does not mean that she was the first woman, nor the only living female of her time, nor the first member of a "new species." It only means that she is the most recent female ancestor to which all living humans are linked. She was believed to have lived in either East Africa or Botswana.
c. 10,000 BC - 6,000 BC
Due to a tilt in the Earth’s axis, the Sahara transforms from a humid region rich with grasslands and water, to an arid desert, prompting Saharan Africans to migrate to the Nile Valley.
The earliest Egyptians were indigenous Africans who were drawn to the Sahara when it was a humid region rich in grasslands and with plentiful water. There was a widespread Saharan Neolithic culture. However, during this same period (c. 10,000 - c. 6,000 BC), the Earth's axis tilted, causing the Saharan climate to slowly transform from humid to arid, prompting Saharan Africans to migrate to the Nile Valley to take advantage of its fertile floodplains.
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Home / Full timeline / Army General Colin L. Powell is named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country.

Army General Colin L. Powell is named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country.; ?> Army General Colin L. Powell is named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country.

1989 (Aug 10)

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Army General Colin L. Powell was named chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the country. Powell, age fifty-two, became the first Black American to occupy the position and the youngest man to lead the Joint Chiefs. Powell, the son of West Indian immigrants, was born in the Harlem section of New York City on April 5, 1937. He received a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1958 and an M.B.A. from George Washington University in 1971. In 1975-76, he attended the National War College. Powell was commissioned a second lieutenant in the army in 1958 and was promoted to full general in 1989. He was also a staff officer at the Pentagon (1974-75); brigade commander, 101st Airborne Division, (1976-77); senior military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense (1977-81); deputy commander of Fort Carson, Colorado (1981-82); deputy commander at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (1982–83); senior military assistant to the secretary of defense (1983-86); commander, Fifth Corps U.S. Army, Europe (1986-87); and deputy assistant and assistant to the president for national security affairs (1987-89). Prior to being named chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he was commander in chief, Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Georgia. After the Iran-Contra diplomat scandal in 1987, Powell, then a lieutenant-general and national security advisor to President Ronald Reagan, restored order to the National Security Council (NSC). John Poindexter, a previous NSC advisor, had been implicated in the arms deal with Iran, with some of the profits allegedly illegally sent to rebels (Contras) in Nicaragua. After becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Powell directed the American invasion of Panama, which led to the arrest of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, on drug trafficking charges. Former secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger, under whom Powell served in the Pentagon, once described the general as "the quintessential soldier. He has a remarkable understanding of the great issues of our times, the problems in world affairs, and how our government operates."

References:

  •  • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
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