quote · Legacy record
All modern humans are related to what scientists call "Mitochondrial Eve." This refers to our common matrilineal ancestor. She lived approximately 200,000 years ago and depending on how you estimate the length of a generation, we are only 5,000 to 10,000 generations from one another. To put it another way, each of us is a cousin of one another at most 10,000 times removed. And yes, Mitochondrial Eve lived in Africa, so, in a very real way, we are all Africans.
All modern humans are related to what scientists call "Mitochondrial Eve." This refers to our common matrilineal ancestor. She lived approximately 200,000 years ago and depending on how you estimate the length of a generation, we are only 5,000 to 10,000 generations from one another. To put it another way, each of us is a cousin of one another at most 10,000 times removed. And yes, Mitochondrial Eve lived in Africa, so, in a very real way, we are all Africans.
Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
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- Desmond Tutu
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1931 to 2021; Wikidata Q43033, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43033 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 127496; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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