"The diversity of Africans, includes ancient Egyptian and Berber speakers, is
real and largely indigenous. An evolutionary perspective helps use understand
why Modern Homo sapiens have lived in Africa longer than anywhere else, according
to most scholars. The length of time means that more random genetic mutations,
the ultimate source of genetic variation, have accumulated in Africa. Furthermore,
Africa is climatically and ecologically diverse. This favors diversification by
Darwinian selection. The continent is large, which allows for greater movements
and fissioning of populations. This promotes genetic variation, since small portions
of larger populations rarely accurately represent the range of genetic variations
in a larger group, whether it is ancestral or exists at the same time. <...> Admixture
with non-Africans probably does not explain the bulk of variation from Algeria
to South Africa, although Northern Africa was more affected in this regard. At
the DNA level great African continent-wide diversity preceded the minor European
and Near Eastern migrations of later Holocene times...Even 'new' 'non-African'
genes would be subject to the human and physical environment of Africa and hence
would become reworked, thereby becoming part of the African biohistory, just as
recent tropical African genes have been processed in Greece, Sicily and Portugal.
In any case, it is important to reiterate that Africa equals diversity. Evolutionary
theory predicts and extrapolations from molecular analyses and skeletal remains
all indicate an early and ongoing diversity in the indigenous populations of Africa.
The implication of this is the terms like 'Negro,' 'Caucasian,''Hamite,' etc.
are misleading and unscientific as applied to Africa." Keita, S.O.Y. 1996. "The
Diversity of Indigenous Africans." In Theodore Celenko, (ed.), _Egypt in Africa_,
(Indianapolis Museum of Art: Indianapolis):103-104.
