Exactly how wasn’t known anywhere before1875, however most humans through history seem to have had some idea of there being a connection between sex and pregnancy. I remember reading about isolated island peoples having other ideas, like the Trobriand people who believed that an ancestral spirit entered the woman’s body and that sex had nothing to do with it. However this article claims those reports are half-true at best; the Trobriand people apparently considers sex necessary for the formation of the fetus, even if it’s not the primary cause. There’s also some speculation that humans became aware of the relationship between sex and pregnancy after the domestication of dogs because of their shorter gestation period. Ultimately, we’ll never know…
Exactly how wasn’t known anywhere before1875, however most humans through history seem to have had some idea of there being a connection between sex and pregnancy. I remember reading about isolated island peoples having other ideas, like the Trobriand people who believed that an ancestral spirit entered the woman’s body and that sex had nothing to do with it. However this article claims those reports are half-true at best; the Trobriand people apparently considers sex necessary for the formation of the fetus, even if it’s not the primary cause. There’s also some speculation that humans became aware of the relationship between sex and pregnancy after the domestication of dogs because of their shorter gestation period. Ultimately, we’ll never know…