Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Funny you should ask that, because my father was from Greece. His family has been there since time began.
My mother's family came over in 1875, well documented, from Genoa, Italy. Course, my great grandmother, grandmother and mother all married non-Italians which diluted the nationality.
What is meant by "background" for my ethnic groups?
By "background" I meant in the sense that it's possible that a low single digit percentage is commonplace for people with Mediterranean ancestry. Similar to the sense in which you would describe "background radiation".
The term Sub-Saharan has been around a long time to differentiate between the earliest Africans and North Africans of middle eastern descent.
It's just that the term can create confusion sometimes. The OP's case are a perfect example of that. If her Sub-Saharan ancestry did in fact come from her Italian side then it's very likely that her 3% African ancestry is Moorish. If that's the case then she would most likely have North African ancestry instead of having ancestry from the other parts of Africa.
Last edited by gwillyfromphilly; 08-06-2013 at 12:57 AM..
The Sub-Saharan region, from my understanding, is below Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria which would be considered Moorish. Sub-Saharan is definitely what we would term today as African-American or Black.
African Americans who are the descendants of the slave trade are of West African descent. They do not have ancestry from all over Sub-Sahara Africa. Not sure if you already knew that or not.
It's just that the term can create confusion sometimes. The OP's case are a perfect example of that. If her Sub-Saharan ancestry did in fact come from her Italian side then it's very likely that her 3% African ancestry is Moorish. If that's the case then she would most likely have North African ancestry instead of having ancestry from the other parts of Africa.
Moors invaded the Iberian peninsula, Spain and Portugal, but not Sicily or Italy.
Sicily was invaded by Arabs from Syria in 652 and Southern Italy sometime later.
Moors and Arabs are not the same thing, but both are Muslim.
It's just that the term can create confusion sometimes. The OP's case are a perfect example of that. If her Sub-Saharan ancestry did in fact come from her Italian side then it's very likely that her 3% African ancestry is Moorish. If that's the case then she would most likely have North African ancestry instead of having ancestry from the other parts of Africa.
Ancestry.com makes it pretty plain that the Sub-Saharan region is below those thought of as Moorish (Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria). That would make the Sub-Saharan peoples African-American in today's terms I should think unless I misunderstood totally (but don't think I did). Ancestry.com even has a map of this to show you Sub-Saharan, and it isn't the Muslim areas of today at all.
I wonder if anyone else has seen this Ancestry.com site for dna and can interpet it better than I?
I found a study that supports my thoughts about 3% being background for Southern Europeans / mediterraneans. It's an interesting read, if a little technical. If it can be summed up in a sentence, there appears to have been a recent (roughly corresponding to the Roman occupation of North Africa) migration of sub-saharan peoples into the Mediterranean region that was "averaged" into arabic, mediterranean and european populations.
Also, African-Americans who can trace their ancestry to the slave trade from regions along the West African coast would most definitely be considered sub-saharan.
I found a study that supports my thoughts about 3% being background for Southern Europeans / mediterraneans. It's an interesting read, if a little technical. If it can be summed up in a sentence, there appears to have been a recent (roughly corresponding to the Roman occupation of North Africa) migration of sub-saharan peoples into the Mediterranean region that was "averaged" into arabic, mediterranean and european populations.
Also, African-Americans who can trace their ancestry to the slave trade from regions along the West African coast would most definitely be considered sub-saharan.
The studies themselves may be technical but the abstracts are pretty straight forward. The interesting part is that they give estimates as to when the sub-Saharan genes entered the population groups.
With all the marriages since then wouldn't 3% be just a little too much Sub-Saharan showing up genetically in today's time? That was, after all, a very long time ago that the migration happened.
Ancestry.com makes it pretty plain that the Sub-Saharan region is below those thought of as Moorish (Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria). That would make the Sub-Saharan peoples African-American in today's terms I should think unless I misunderstood totally (but don't think I did). Ancestry.com even has a map of this to show you Sub-Saharan, and it isn't the Muslim areas of today at all.
I wonder if anyone else has seen this Ancestry.com site for dna and can interpet it better than I?
With all the marriages since then wouldn't 3% be just a little too much Sub-Saharan showing up genetically in today's time? That was, after all, a very long time ago that the migration happened.
It would be very interesting to know the country of origin of your African Ancestry. For example, being from Nigeria vs. being from South Africa is a big cultural difference. It sort of like having Greek ancestry vs. having German ancestry.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
