Origin of Man

   The history of the origin of man starts with the identification of what man himself is.

Man Is a social animal. He is a mammal of the same species with the animals. This is why man is being referred to as higher animal. Biologically, man shares certain characteristics with animals. But he is different because he develops his culture , and passes it to his generation as rules or ideas in the society. Literally, the word man is used to refer to both male and female human beings.
The story of the origin of man is a subject of endless controversy. No single source  is exhaustive, there is no universal acceptance as regards the story.

   However , we shall discuss in this write up three sources of the story of origin of man, namely:  scientific evolution, beliefs or religion, and myths or legends.

Myth: myths or legends exist about  almost all aspects of human living. Various stories is passed from one generation to another. But one thing should be noted from the outset, that the story of the origin or the origin of the earth itself.
Myth has it that man and the gods as related in certain days though the gods are superior to human beings. The following is the myth of the origin of man that comes from the "Yorubas".

   The Yoruba people of Nigeria have a creation myth which says that Ile- Ife (now a university town in Oyo state)  is the original home of man on earth. Myth has it  that, it is the cradle of mankind.

  The supreme Being, God,  is called 'Olodunmare' or Olorun' in Yoruba culture. He is the creator. He sent 'Obatala' also known as 'Orinsanla' (as god of whiteness) to create the earth  with the assistance  of  sixteen elders or lesser gods, among whom were  oduduwa, sango, IFA etc.  Obatala was to lead this group. He was given a calabash full of sand , a palm fruit and a bird.

    The leader of the group thought that he could do the job better if he took some palm wine. He therefore, decided to drink palm wine. He therefore, decided to drink  palm wine, at the gate of heaven . he drank in excess and became intoxicated. He  into a long and deep sleep. He could , therefore, not discharge his assignment.

   Oduduwa, who heard olodumare's instruction to 'Orisanla' took the calabash of sand and other materials having discovered the weakness of the leader. He proceeded to create the earth.

   At first, the earth was a spread of ocean, oduduwa spread the sand then planted the palm fruit on the land that Developed therefrom. Hence, palm  tree because the first tree on earth, while the bird became the first set of animals on earth, while oduduwa himself became the leader of man and gods. It all started at ile Ife. This is the story of the creation of the earth. Since 'Orinsanla' failed to accomplish his principal duty of creating the earth, olodumare gave him another assignment : moulding man. 'Ogun' , the god of iron had to make human bones. After the moulding, the high God, ' Olodumare' breathed the breath of life, and man was created.

Oduduwa then became the ruler of the earth. He became the king of Ife.

    Olodumare sent other divinity such as 'IFA' , 'sango', and others to maintain peace on earth. IFA is the diviner, while sango is the god of retribution.

      There are however, other myths: such as that of the Chinese , the Greek, the mende of sierra Leone and the ashante of Ghana.

   The Ashante tribe of Ghana believe that man came from a certain hole  and since been living on earth, while the hole has now become a shrine.

  The Greek myth had it that Prometheus the titan god was sent to create a race of man. He made man out of clay, while the Greek god Zeus, breathed life  into them.

Prometheus came and lived among these people ; he taught them how to live in the society. He also taught them how to fetch their food.

  The mende people of sierra Leone creation story had it that one  ngewocolo who was living in a cave created man. He was said to be a powerful spirit that could command nature.

  We have been able to see that each society has different creation myth peculiar to it. One thing is common to all these mythologies: man was created, he did not evolve.

Religion: One idea is associated with religion, and that is " belief" . many thongs do not happen in our presence, not even in the presence of our forefathers; we just have to believe them.

   At the very centre of every religion, is the story of creation  of earth and man, and the omini competence of the supreme being. But along with religion is belief. They are a concurrent pair of ideas.

  The story if the origin of man in Yoruba fashion has identified God or (Olodumare' as the ' initiator or director of the whole affairs. He is the only maker of life. Every man kneels in the presence of olodumare to  choose his destiny known as Ori or Ayanwo. In igbo belief, the supreme Being (chukwu )  created man and assigned to each man his 'chi' which is the Yoruba equivalence of 'Iri' or ' Ayanmo'.

  The most comprehensive  source of account of origin of man is given by the holy bible.

The first book in the Bible Genesis in chpt 1 verse 1 has this to say: " In the beginning. God created the heaven  and the earth". Verse 2 continues '....... Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters'.

About the creation of man, verse 26 , of chpt 1  of Genesis Has this to say, ' and God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have Dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air........'

   In verse 27 , we have it thus, so God created man in his own image, in the image of God , he created him; male and female, he created them'.

   The Bible says: God created man out of clay, and he breathed a breathed a breath of life into his nostrils. Chapter 2:7 ' and the lord God formed man of the dust of the ground , and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living Eve, the first woman woman was made of the man's ribs and God breathed a breath of life into her, and she equally became a woman.

    This biblical story of man's origin  seems the most accurate and the mist comprehensive of all myths and stories. It is widely accepted or believed in many quarters.

   These two beliefs about the origin of man are still held today in the various indigenous and Christian societies in the world. Another avenue for the account of origin of man is science.

   Science : the claim of palaeontologist is that man descended from the same ancestors in form of large apes such as chimpanzee, the gorilla and monkey. Palaeontologist are those who study the origin  of man from fossils. This claim is embodied in the popular work of evolution done by Charles Darwin in 1859.

   Darwin claimed that man evolved from a continuous transformation of various biological organisms. In other words, evolution in a very simple term, means that life progressed from one celled organism to its highest state the human being , by means of a series of biological changes taking place over a million years. From its simplest form, evolution asserts that the first speck of life on earth arose by itself from inanimate matter. You can imagine this from your simple  example of metamorphosis.

  From the  king line of inanimate matters developed varieties of swamp plants. After this evolved the amphibians and reptiles. In most cases, scientists contend that the first set of organism were tadpoles and other water creatures. The fish were said to be a Developed set of tadpoles and the first set of vertebrates and later to reptiles.

    Transformation of this nature continued to the level of the most related animals such ad gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzees. They are called primates.

  A physical examination of the 'anatomy of monkey and gorilla shows that they resemble man in most  respects. They are hairy and this prevent s them from cold

   Their heads and eyes are of human nature