Race and Evolution

There is no biological basis for racial classification. While we can all discern different races at a glance by skin color, biologists and geneticists do not make the same distinctions. Most people still have some sort of conception that as humans migrated around the world, some significant genetic change took place and that this change resulted in races, which are almost like subspecies. This is not true for one simple reason: there hasn't been enough time. (OK, two reasons: humans are wildy promiscuous.)

The chart on the left combines a phylogenetic tree of hominid evolution and a very small graphical representation (right at the top of the chart) of the diaspora of H. sapiens out of Africa. The point of combining these two diagrams is to illustrate the vast difference in the two time scales.

You shouldn't use this chart as a reference to trace our ancestory (although I've been as careful as possible). Instead, see the big picutre: H. sapiens is all one species.