The Toba Volcano: A Near-Extinction Event?
The Toba catastrophe theory suggests that a supervolcano eruption around 74,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sumatra may have caused a global catastrophe that nearly wiped humans off the planet, leaving only a few thousand individuals. While this theory has been disputed, evidence shows that humankind underwent a "genetic bottleneck" around 60,000 years ago, indicating a sudden population crash. Despite this, humans bounced back and the past 40,000 years of human history have seen significant technological growth and cognitive development, leading to the advent of agriculture and civilizations. Today, the human population stands at 8 billion.