Prehistoric era of Australia is the time period from the date of arrival in Australia of the first people up to their first encounter with Europeans in 1606, when recorded history begins in Australia. According to various estimates, Prehistory of Australia went from 40 to 70 thousand years.

Arrival people in Australia

The general opinion of historians, a man arrived in Australia no later than 40 thousand years ago – this time include traces of man discovered in the Upper Swan, Western Australia. In Tasmania, which was then connected to the mainland by a land bridge, a man fell at least 30,000 years ago.

There are also more bold predictions about the time of appearance of the first people in Australia. Thus, the analysis of ancient pollen from the south-eastern Australia indicates an increase in fires, dating from about 120,000 years ago. Individual researchers attributed these fires to human activity, calling into question their dating. Charles Dortch dating stone tools found at Rottnest, about 70000 years ago. In general, researchers are dating, more than 40,000 years, with skepticism.

Human migration to Australia occurred in the final stages of the Pleistocene, when sea level was much lower than the modern. Repeated glaciation in the Pleistocene led to the sea level during the last glacial maximum in Australasia has been more than 100 meters below the current one. At this time, the continental coast stretched much further, covering the Timor Sea, so that Australia and New Guinea formed a single continent known as Sahul, connecting land by an isthmus, which took place on the waters of the current Arafura Sea, Gulf of Carpentaria and the Torres Strait. Despite this, sea and in those days was a significant barrier to travel, so it is assumed that the first humans came to Australia, swimming across short distances from island to island. Offered two hypothetical route of this migration: one – the chain of small islands between Sulawesi and New Guinea, and the second – in the north-west Australia via Timor.

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Australia was inhabited by about 50,000 years ago, the remnants of the indigenous population are the Australian Aborigines. The documented history of Australia begins with its discovery by Europeans in the XVII century. In 1788 in Australia, founded the first British colony, and in 1901 the Australian colonies formed the Commonwealth of Australia.

Australia before the arrival of Europeans

Australia was supposedly settled 40 to 50 thousand years ago. The oldest remains of a man on the continent, the so-called Mungo man, approximately 40 thousand years. Population estimates at the end of the XVIII century, before colonization, yield between 315 and 750 thousand people. This population was divided into approximately 250 people, many of which were in conjunction with each other. Each nation speaks its own language, and some even in several languages, so that there were more than 250 Australian Aboriginal languages. About two hundred of these languages have died out by now.

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