Christians left the Roman Catholic
church and started new churches. They
were known as Protestants. The Protestants
of France were called Huguenots.
Many Huguenots suffered cruel treatment
because of their religion.
The Huguenots were also known as
French Calvinists. This was because they
followed the teachings of the Protestant
leader John Calvin. Many Huguenots
were poor people, but others were
wealthy nobles. A few became powerful
leaders of the Protestant movement in
France.
A period of wars between Huguenots
and Catholics began in about 1560. On
the night of August 24, 1572, Roman
Catholics killed almost all the
Huguenot leaders in Paris. This was
called the Massacre of Saint
Bartholomew’s Day. Catholics killed
thousands of Protestants all over France
during this time.
In April 1598 King Henry IV gave the
Huguenots some rights. In 1685, however,
King Louis XIV took away the
Huguenots’ rights. More than 400,000
Huguenots then left France. Some went
to England. Others went to the Netherlands
or America. Protestants did not get
the same rights as Catholics in France
until the beginning of the French Revolution
in 1789.
#More to explore
Calvin, John • Protestantism
Human Origins
The study of human origins, or beginnings,
involves figuring out how and
when human beings began to exist. Sci-
After the Huguenots lost their rights in
1685, they had to meet in secret.
92 Huguenots BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
entists have many different theories
about human origins. In fact, they form
new theories about this all the time. But
scientists agree that humans developed
over many millions of years from early
ancestors that were like apes. The process
by which one type of living thing
develops into another type is called evolution.
Modern humans evolved in stages from
a series of ancestors, including several
earlier forms of humans. The bodies of
these ancestors changed over many
years. In general, their brains became
much larger. Their jaws and teeth
became smaller. Human ancestors also
began walking upright on two feet and
using tools. As this happened, the shape
of their legs, feet, hands, and other body
parts changed.
Fossils
Scientists have a fairly small amount of
evidence to use in studying human origins.
Most of this evidence comes from
fossils, or the remains of living things
preserved in the ground. The study of
The earliest forms of humans evolved from apelike animals. Modern humans evolved from
these early humans.
Neanderthal fossils were found in Israel.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Human Origins 93
fossils is called paleontology. In Africa,
Asia, and Europe scientists have found
the bones and tools of human ancestors
who lived millions of years ago. And
scientists continue to find new clues as
to how humans developed.
Apes and Humans
Humans did not evolve from apes.
Instead, modern humans and apes both
developed from the same apelike ancestor.
The ancestors of humans became
separate from the ancestors of apes
between about 8 million and 5 million
years ago. After that each group developed
on its own.
Modern humans and apes are still
closely related. In fact, most scientists
consider humans and great apes—
chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and
orangutans—to belong to the same scientific
family.
But there are a number of important
differences between humans and apes.
For this reason scientists have divided
the family into three smaller groups: the
Ponginae, Gorillini, and Hominini.
Orangutans belong to the Ponginae
group. Gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos
belong to the group called the
Gorillini tribe. Humans belong to the
Hominini tribe. The term hominin
refers to modern humans and all their
ancestors from the time they began
developing separately from those of
apes.
It took millions of years for modern humans to evolve from an apelike ancestor. Great apes
evolved separately from the same apelike ancestor.
94 Human Origins BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Hominins
Today only one species, or type, of
hominin exists—modern humans. In
the past two or more species of hominin
often lived at the same time. Scientists
do not always agree about which species
are the direct ancestors of other species.
But all hominins are closely related.
Australopithecines
Some of the earliest hominins are
known as australopithecines. There were
several different species of this group.
Fossils show that they lived in Africa
from roughly 4 million to 2.5 million
years ago. One of the most famous such
fossils is “Lucy”—a partial skeleton
found in Ethiopia. These bones are
about 3 million years old.
The australopithecines had some apelike
features. For instance, their brains were
much smaller than modern human
brains. They could also climb trees easily.
But, like humans, they walked on
two feet. Scientists know this from
studying leg, knee, foot, and pelvis fossils.
In addition, they found a set of
footprints preserved in the ground in
Tanzania.
Humans
Early forms of humans first existed
about 2 to 1.5 million years ago. All
species of humans belong to a scientific
group within the hominin tribe called
Homo. The scientific names of all
human species begin with the word
