My Genetic Roots - My Ancestors.

Since a couple of years ago I have been interested in my family history. My father is of Aruban descent, and my mother from Curaçaon descent. Both have told my very little about my family history and also of the history of the islands. Because of this I took various DNA tests to see where my ancestors came from, and how they shaped the culture that I was brought up with.

Of course I take all these DNA tests with a grain of salt, since no DNA company can be accurate regarding your autosomal results. Perhaps in the future it will be more and more accurate. But due to the history of the islands where I come from, I believe the components to be accurate, where as the percentage I'm not so sure about it.

My results

Maternal haplogroup: L3e2b1a2

My oldest female ancestor, from my mother side came from South-East Africa, this mtdna is mostly found amongst in Zambia, and to a lesser extent also in Angola and Mozambique. I was surprised at this, since I suspected my mtdna to be West-Central African. 

Paternal Haplogroup: J2a-L556

Oldest male ancestor from my dads side was a Dutch-Sephardic Jew with roots in Spain and Portugal. I was surprised since I didn't had a Sephardic surname, but a Dutch one. The amount of Sephardic Jews were very large in the Dutch Caribbean, most notably Curaçao, and Aruba, Bonaire. So it's not that surprised. At one point almost 50% of the European population was Sephardic Jewish. There is a genetic group on Facebook about the genetics in Iberia, and there are Spanish users who share the same haplogroup as me. 

Autosomal DNA results (all my ancestors included) 

Autosomal means your whole DNA results, it includes all of your ancestors instead of 1. For example, the maternal and paternal haplogroups (mtDNA and yDNA) represent only 1 ancestor. While the autosomal represents all of your ancestors. Note: It's possible that a DNA test doesn't detect a certain ancestry that you thought you would have, it doesn't mean that you don't have it. It's possible that the amount of a certain DNA would be 'washed' away. We don't always inherit precisely 50% from each parent. Even siblings are genetically different from each other. 

Anyhow, it seems that my African ancestors came from various countries in Africa, I got roots in Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Congo, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia, Angola, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Cabo Verde, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mozambique, Kenya/Tanzania and many other countries. But most of my ancestors came from Congo and Ghana/Benin. So most of my African ancestry is Central African and West African, with Southern African ancestry, East African, and North African as well. I'm happy to say that I got ancestors from the whole continent.

My European ancestors came from the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway. Most of my European ancestry is from the Dutch.

My West-Asian/Middle Eastern ancestry can be traced to the Levant due to my Sephardic ancestry. Same goes for my North African ancestry and my Iberian/Italian. Since Sephardics are a mix of Iberian and MENA.

My Amerindian ancestry can be traced back to Venezuela, where the Caquetios lived at the same time when they also lived in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao. Perhaps I may have Guajira ancestry as well, if so than that can be traced back to Colombia.

Genetically speaking, I am predominantly Black with a significant amount of European, with some MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) and Amerindian. Till this day I am still trying to find more and more about my roots. 

Here below you can see my map of where my ancestors came from.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=16alPjJfijf1TVH96IT5Esq6lhGg&ll=7.982125139732808%2C16.090850850000038&z=2





My Extended Family

My extended family seems to be more mixed racially than me and my sister, my family consists of people from many different backgrounds racially and ethnically. Some are Predominantly Black like me and my sisters, alot of them are either mulatto or triracial or quadracial. And some are predominantly white, and some predominantly Asian. My father seems to be more mixed race than my mother. Both identify as 'Hende di color' which means colored person, instead of Black or Negro. Since these two words have been associated with slavery. But genetically speaking, both have predominant African ancestry.


DNA Relatives. 

Having DNA relatives could help you discover more about your family history and your ancestors. I have many DNA relatives from different backgrounds. From almost every Caribbean island, and from certain Latin American countries, some European countries, and Canada and United States of America.