Maternal
Introduction
H dominates in Europe,
reaching peak concentrations along the Atlantic coast. It is also common in
many parts of the Near East and Caucusus Mountains, where the haplogroup can
reach levels of 50% in some populations. H originated about 40,000 years ago in
the Near East, where favorable climate conditions allowed it to flourish. About
10,000 years later it spread westward all the way to the Atlantic coast and
east into central Asia as far as the Altay Mountains.
About 21,000 years ago
an intensification of Ice Age conditions blanketed much of Eurasia with
mile-thick glaciers and squeezed people into a handful of ice-free refuges in
Iberia, Italy, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Several branches of haplogroup H
arose during that time, and after the glaciers began receding about 15,000
years ago most of them played a prominent role in the repopulation of the
continent.
H1 and H3 expanded
dramatically from the Iberian Peninsula, along the Atlantic coast and into
central and northern Europe. Other branches, such as H5a and H13a1, expanded
from the Near East into southern Europe. After a 1,000-year return to Ice Age
conditions about 12,000 years ago, yet another migration carried haplogroup H4
from the Near East northward into Russia and eastern Europe.
Haplogroup H achieved
an even wider distribution later one with the spread of agriculture and the
rise of organized military campaigns. It is now found throughout Europe and at
lower levels in Asia, reaching as far south as Arabia and eastward to the
western fringes of Siberia.
Royal
Lines
Because it is so
common in the general European population, H also appears quite
frequently in the continent's royal houses. Marie Antoinette, an Austrian
Hapsburg who married into the French royal family, inherited the haplogroup
from her maternal ancestors. So did Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose
recorded genealogy traces his female line to Bavaria.
Paternal
Introduction
E arose in the eastern
part of Africa about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. Since then, migrants have
carried it throughout the continent and into neighboring regions of Europe and
the Near East.
Within Africa,
haplogroup E is extremely common and widespread, reaching levels of 75% or more
among Arabs and Berbers in Morocco, Senegalese in western Africa and
Bantu-speaking groups in South Africa and Kenya.
E1b1a
and the Bantu Expansions
South of the Sahara,
the E1b1a branch of E dominates. The
haplogroup originated about 20,000 years ago in the pockets of western Africa
that were habitable at the time, when much of the continent was extremely dry
due to Ice Age climate conditions.
E1b1a is most common
today among speakers of Bantu languages and those related to them; it reaches
levels of up to 90% among the the Mandinka and Yoruba of western Africa. Its
distribution can be used to trace the path of the expansion of Bantu-speakers
throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, which began about 4,000 years ago.
Spurred by the development of agriculture and iron-working in the region, the
expansion spread haplogroup E1b1a – and the Bantu languages – throughout much
of sub-Saharan Africa.
One migration path
crossed the central African forests and into eastern Africa, and then stretched
southward from Tanzania into southeastern Africa about 1,500 years ago. A
second migration path began in the Congo basin and then stretched southward
along the Atlantic coast into Angola, Namibia and Botswana. E1b1a reaches 50%
or higher in Bantu-speaking populations descended from these two broad
migrations (e.g. Hutu, Sukuma, Herero, !Xhosa). E1b1a is also the most common
haplogroup among African-American male individuals. About 60% of
African-American men fall into this haplogroup primarily due to the Atlantic
slave trade, which drew individuals from western Africa and Mozambique, where E1b1a
is accounts for the majority of men.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.