Diversity of mtDNA lineages in Portugal

[Euclides]

Diversity of mtDNA lineages in Portugal: not a genetic edge of European variation

L. PEREIRA1, 2, M. J. PRATA1, 2 and A. AMORIM1, 2


The analysis of the hypervariable regions I and II of mitochondrial DNA in Portugal showed that this Iberian population presents a higher level of diversity than some neighbouring populations. The classification of the different sequences into haplogroups revealed the presence of all the most important European haplogroups, including those that expanded through Europe in the Palaeolithic, and those whose expansion has occurred during the Neolithic. Additionally a rather distinct African influence was detected in this Portuguese survey, as signalled by the distributions of haplogroups U6 and L, present at higher frequencies than those usually reported in Iberian populations. The geographical distributions of both haplogroups were quite different, with U6 being restricted to North Portugal whereas L was widespread all over the country. This seems to point to different population movements as the main contributors for the two haplogroup introductions. We hypothesise that the recent Black African slave trade could have been the mediator of most of the L sequence inputs, while the population movement associated with the Muslim rule of Iberia has predominantly introduced U6 lineages.

[Nordhammer]

European sequences must have originated during the Upper Palaeolithic and suffered a considerable post-glacial expansion; about 15% of the sequences reflect a restricted Neolithic input, from the Near East toward the West of Europe, and only 1% of the sequences represent more recent influences of Asian and African mtDNA pools.

Another peculiarity of the Iberian mitochondrial pool is the presence of sequences belonging to the U6 group (Richards et al. 1998), signalling a North African influence that has not been detected elsewhere in other European populations.

In Portugal, as well as generally in Iberia, many migration waves from both North and sub-Saharan African populations are well documented. The geographical proximity of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula certainly afforded many opportunities for mutual population contacts. Among them, we stress the movement of Berbers and Arabs that took place during the very recent Muslim rule of Iberia (from the 8th century to the end of the 15th, in some regions). In addition, many sub-Saharan individuals entered the region during the slave trade period, from its very beginning (middle 15th century) until its total ban in the late 19th century.

With respect to the L sequences, it is widely accepted that they have a sub-Saharan origin, excepting some L3* lineages that, as analysis of Figure 4 suggests, might indeed have a non-African origin. The presence of L sequences in North African regions does not allow us to exclude the possibility that population influxes from this region, namely the above referred
Berber/Arab movement,have introduced a significant fraction of L sequences into Iberia. However, it seems more likely that most of the L lineages found nowadays in Portugal have been carried by African slaves, since the country was actively involved in the Transatlantic slave trade. Nine out of 17 L sequences found in this study showed matches with widespread African sequences, and with regard to the 8 remaining sequences the absence of matches can be due to the present bias in the description of sub-Saharan mtDNA variability. Broad areas corresponding to Ivory Coast, Angola and Mozambique, which represented very important sources of African slaves, remain uncharacterised.

There were more African slaves in Portugal than in any other European country: in 1550, Lisbon boasted 10000 resident slaves in a population of 100000, and Portugal as a whole probably had over 40000 (Thomas, 1998). In the mid-sixteenth century the birth of slaves' children was stimulated in Portugal for internal traffic purposes. Inter-breeding between autochthonous individuals and African slaves certainly occurred and the predominant mating must have been between slave African females and autochthonous males, due to social pressures and also for legal reasons: offspring of slave females would be slaves, whereas offspring of slave males would not. Therefore, breeding between slave African males and white females, besides being socially repressed, would not bring any economic profit. If the pattern of genetic admixture was markedly sex influenced, the signature of this recent African influence would be expected to be very different in the maternally inherited gene pool and in the paternally inherited one. In a recent study based on Y chromosome biallelic markers (Pereira et al. 2000) we have reported the absence of typical sub-Saharan haplogroups in the Y chromosome Portuguese pool. This finding, and the detection of L sequences at 7.1% in the mitochondrial pool, both seem to support the above-mentioned pattern of admixture with African slaves.

Sharing the features of mtDNA diversity generally registered in Europeans (all European haplogroups were detected), Portugal has in addition received significant North and sub-Saharan African influences. Frequencies of haplogroups specific to these regions were higher than those reported for other European populations: 7% of North African sequences were detected (restricted to North Portugal and representing almost 3%of the total sample), and sub-Saharan African sequences were found to be spread throughout the country, with frequencies between 5% and 9.8%.

[+Suomut+]

...In the mid-sixteenth century the birth of slaves' children was stimulated in Portugal for internal traffic purposes. Inter-breeding between autochthonous individuals and African slaves certainly occurred and the predominant mating must have been between slave African females and autochthonous males, due to social pressures and also for legal reasons: offspring of slave females would be slaves, whereas offspring of slave males would not. Therefore, breeding between slave African males and white females, besides being socially repressed, would not bring any economic profit. If the pattern of genetic admixture was markedly sex influenced, the signature of this recent African influence would be expected to be very different in the maternally inherited gene pool and in the paternally inherited one. In a recent study based on Y chromosome biallelic markers (Pereira et al. 2000) we have reported the absence of typical sub-Saharan haplogroups in the Y chromosome Portuguese pool. This finding, and the detection of L sequences at 7.1% in the mitochondrial pool, both seem to support the above-mentioned pattern of admixture with African slaves...

They had the sort of society back then (and perhaps even today) that were I there they would have caused me to throw-up every day. Well, it seems apparent, though, based on the above, the 'black man with the White woman' scenario was not very common for whatever reasons and I can think of a few...the main one being probably the White men (including the perverted, race-mixing ones) were proficient at 'hogging' ALL the women.

EXCELLENT WORK NORDHAMMER!

[Nordhammer]

They had the sort of society back then (and perhaps even today) that were I there they would have caused me to throw-up every day. Well, it seems apparent, though, based on the above, the 'black man with the White woman' scenario was not very common for whatever reasons and I can think of a few...the main one being probably the White men (including the perverted, race-mixing ones) were proficient at 'hogging' ALL the women.

EXCELLENT WORK NORDHAMMER!

Thanks to Euclides for providing the source.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Today, there is just as much to be disgusted about, even more. Now it is not only the men racemixing and betraying their people, but also the women. According to statistics, women are worse.

Recent events with a certain Skadi member have shown me this. There is no loyalty anymore, it's every man for himself, or in this case, every woman for herself.

Death to Lilith.

[PeterMW]

This paper contradicts Mynydd's outspoken attack on my position in 'Il Fronte Romanesco', that the Iberian peninsula has received more than its fair share of non-Europid admixture. Thanks for posting it. I hope that being banned doesn't stop him from viewing the forum!

[Siegfried]

Some quotes on the Portugese I found on Racial Reality:

The influence of the Negroes, however, has been grossly exaggerated, with figures such as "100,000 in the sixteenth century" or "10 percent of the nation's population in the year 1600" being severely inflated. What can be truthfully said is that during the slave trade, a few tens of thousands of Negroes were brought to the metropolis of Lisboa. From there many were shipped to Brasil or to other European countries. Those who remained in Portugal were either sold to wealthy city-dwelling Portuguese, or distributed to the owners of large plantations in the south to provide farm labour, where almost all who survived eventually were absorbed by the population, leaving no trace whatever ... Lisboa has been a magnet for Negroes from the colonies as well, and Negroid features seen in a few seemingly Caucasoid individuals are certainly the result of miscegenation between colonial Negroes and the Portuguese; these traits are not present in the native Portuguese population.
-Carlos Machado, My Portugal

Non-Mediterranean elements in the Portuguese population are rare and of little importance. A few Nordics are scattered throughout but are particularly concentrated in the north. Traces of Dinaric blood, as we have already seen, may likewise be found on the northern coast. ... On the whole, the absorption of Negroes by the Portuguese has had no appreciable effect on the racial composition of the country. Portugal remains, as it has been since the days of the Muge shell-fish eaters, classic Mediterranean territory.
-Coon, The Races of Europe

In a sample of 542 Portuguese people from all over the country, sub-Saharan mtDNA L sequences were detected at a frequency of ~5% (2.2 in the North, 4.3 in the Center, and 8.6 in the South). This gives the Portuguese an estimated total of 2.5% Negroid ancestry, which ranges from a comparatively large, but not racially significant, 4.3% in the South to a mere 1.1% in the North.
-González et al., Am J Phys Anthro, 2003

Many Portuguese males were leaving the country for the colonies, for Brasil especially, and the population of the nation dwindled to 1.5 million. A labour force was needed to work the farms, and since black Africans had begun to be imported in 1441 as domestic servants, this influx continued in numbers such that by 1550, the towns of Evora and Lisbon had a 10-percent black population. This lot of African slaves was not a happy one, and the black females were not afforded the same protection as the white slaves obtained through earlier conquests were. Consequently, young mestiço girls of mixed descent became prized as mistresses, though not necessarily as wives.
The mortality rate amongst the slaves was high, as they were not afforded proper medical attention. A large number, since they were already familiar with Portuguese culture and the language, were subsequently deported to Brasil, where their presence was needed far more than in Portugal itself. Manumission was possible, and many chose to flee the country upon being freed. However, a portion did remain in Portugal, and miscegenation meant that within a dozen or so generations, a considerable number of the 35,000 black Africans who had once lived in Portugal were blended into the mainstream of the Portuguese population. This sort of thing was not peculiar to Portugal alone; in fact, it occurred in nearly all of the slave-owning European nations, including Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Britain. The percentage of blacks was highest for Portugal, but the actual numerical figure was higher for Britain. However, in no nation in Europe (including Portugal) was the absorption of blacks significant enough to change the ethnography of the country.
-João Ferreira, The History of Portugal

[emphasis by S.A.]

[Johannes de León]

just a few notes:

In the mid-sixteenth century the birth of slaves' children was stimulated in Portugal for internal traffic purposes.

that encouragement happened towards Brazil... at least i have no knowlegde of any document that proves the contrary...

Therefore, breeding between slave African males and white females, besides being socially repressed, would not bring any economic profit.

just want to add that if that happen, the slave would be severely punished (probably killed).

Also, keep in mind that slaves who remained in Portugal were taken to the south (Alentejo) and to the coast line under Lisbon... a very very small negroid population were taken to the countryside, and even less to the north, i've attached a picture were you can see this better, the yellow parts are the ones with more negroid population dating to that time, the one in gray also has some negroid populution, but they were a real minority, so... we don't have to bother ourselves to much with that!

http://www.forums.skadi.net/showthre...6376#post96381 ----> this post has lots of contradictions to what you said... and since i'm portuguese, i must say that almost all of them are quite right!

I've also attached a map to show you where i live... just for you to know that i belong to that part in Portugal that has not been under any "moorish empire"... the same about negroids...

[PeterMW]

I've also attached a map to show you where i live... just for you to know that i belong to that part in Portugal that has not been under any "moorish empire"... the same about negroids...

I dispute this last claim. How can there have been no "moorish empire" in the N. of Portugal, when to the North in Galicia there was a Berber revolt in 750, because of their treatment by the Arabs. Moreover in 997, Al Mansur reconquered some of the lost Galician territories and sacked Santiago de Compostella. Anyway, do you have conclusive proof that ALL your ancestors came from the "less Negroid" N. of Portugal ? They might have migrated there 5 generations ago from the Alentejo. The only areas of the Iberian peninsula to have escaped "moorish" influence completely are Asturias and the Basque region.

[Johannes de León]

I dispute this last claim. How can there have been no "moorish empire" in the N. of Portugal, when to the North in Galicia there was a Berber revolt in 750, because of their treatment by the Arabs. Moreover in 997, Al Mansur reconquered some of the lost Galician territories and sacked Santiago de Compostella. Anyway, do you have conclusive proof that ALL your ancestors came from the "less Negroid" N. of Portugal ? They might have migrated there 5 generations ago from the Alentejo. The only areas of the Iberian peninsula to have escaped "moorish" influence completely are Asturias and the Basque region.

Probably you are right... i have no knowledge on that subject... and since i've never seen any map that shows almost *exactly* what the moorish empire borders were... but at least in the map in my history book, these region doesn't have any moorish empire... i don't know the date that the map is referring about... if you have any, i will be glad if you showed me... it's always good to learn more...

Anyway, do you have conclusive proof that ALL your ancestors came from the "less Negroid" N. of Portugal ?

in matter of fact i have ... my grand father lives on an house that was built by direct ancestry on the 16th/17th centuries (the portuguese golden age) and have passed generation through generation... but my most ancient roots are galician, as you can see by my family name (Johannes de León)... in native portuguese there is no such letter as Y...

[PeterMW]

I thought you might like to follow these links to info about Sephardic influences in Galicia and N. Portugal:

http://www.webtourist.net/dest/ribad...ormation.phtml

http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/transiberia/cohen.htm

http://www.sefarad.org/publication/lm/042/7.html

http://www.cryptojews.com/cryptoJewsinPortugal.htm

I hope Mynydd can still read this stuff, even though he's banned. So much for the Holy Inquisition!