That’s a good point about mutation spreading over time. MOR!Harry suggests that the magic gene might have been installed, rather than evolving naturally. In canon, we know that that Circe (presumably no later than c.700 BCE) was a witch, which is still a pretty low lower bound (2700 years) on how long magic has been around.
We also know that Wizarding exists worldwide, and that there are some cultural differences between Wizarding societies around the world. For example, carpets are more popular than brooms in Asia as a means of flying transport; the correlation with Muggle myth and folklore suggests that Magical cultures diverged over a thousand years ago. This makes it unlikely that magic was spread by European explorers; presumably there is an older (Atlantean?) magical diaspora, which may or may not have been part of the original human diaspora.
It still seems surprising that in no society, anywhere in the world, did wizards manage to persuade the Muggles to accept them, perhaps as wise-women and medicine men, and thus become at least more common than an incredibly rare minority. The fear of practicioners of magic is by no means universal to Muggle cultures.
That’s a good point about mutation spreading over time. MOR!Harry suggests that the magic gene might have been installed, rather than evolving naturally. In canon, we know that that Circe (presumably no later than c.700 BCE) was a witch, which is still a pretty low lower bound (2700 years) on how long magic has been around.
We also know that Wizarding exists worldwide, and that there are some cultural differences between Wizarding societies around the world. For example, carpets are more popular than brooms in Asia as a means of flying transport; the correlation with Muggle myth and folklore suggests that Magical cultures diverged over a thousand years ago. This makes it unlikely that magic was spread by European explorers; presumably there is an older (Atlantean?) magical diaspora, which may or may not have been part of the original human diaspora.
It still seems surprising that in no society, anywhere in the world, did wizards manage to persuade the Muggles to accept them, perhaps as wise-women and medicine men, and thus become at least more common than an incredibly rare minority. The fear of practicioners of magic is by no means universal to Muggle cultures.