Can DNA testing determine which African country? (American, find, percentage)

[hunterseat]

Can African American or biracial (w/African descent) people find out exactly which country their ancestors are from?

[tangelag]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Can African American or biracial (w/African descent) people find out exactly which country their ancestors are from?

Here's some info:

Pinpointing DNA Ancestry in Africa

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Can African American or biracial (w/African descent) people find out exactly which country their ancestors are from?

Not really. They can narrow it down to regions, but not specific countries.

This is Ancestry.com's regions within Africa:

Africa North
Benin/Togo
Ivory Coast/Ghana
Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers
Africa Southeastern Bantu
Senegal
Nigeria
Mali
Cameroon/Congo

23andMe:

West African
East African
Central & South African
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
North African

FTDNA:

East Central Africa
North Africa
West Africa
South-Central Africa

Keep in mind there is no DNA which is totally unique to one area of Africa, so the results will only ever be an estimate, and the percentages can vary.

[hunterseat]

Good article. I happen to be reading Tony Hillerman's mysteries about the Navajo people and the different clans and peoples within. Seems very similar.

I ask because I was looking at scholarship forms for my son who's biracial. You can plug in your info and the database matches you with possible scholarships. I figure I can put down all his many ethnicities (poor kid) and there are all the African countries listed. I'm not sure if I was on the right track or not. Might just go with "American"

[hunterseat]

Thanks PA2UK!! Still would be interesting!

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Good article. I happen to be reading Tony Hillerman's mysteries about the Navajo people and the different clans and peoples within. Seems very similar.

I ask because I was looking at scholarship forms for my son who's biracial. You can plug in your info and the database matches you with possible scholarships. I figure I can put down all his many ethnicities (poor kid) and there are all the African countries listed. I'm not sure if I was on the right track or not. Might just go with "American"

Wanted to note on scholarships that there are scholarships as well for people of various European ancestry and Asian ancestry and that your son doesn't just have to have black/African ancestry for scholarships. One that I always tell people is that you don't have to be black to get UNCF scholarships all the time. I went to an HBCU which is a UNCF "member school" and all students at that college/university and all the other member schools are eligible for scholarships due to attending that institution. The year I graduated from college, Morehouse College (where MLK Jr. attended) had a white valedictorian who had received UNCF scholarships. Recently they had their first hispanic valedictorian as well.

Also to ensure you look at a scholarship reference book if you are looking for school funding for him and not just online databases like FastWeb or a state's system that provides hits to grants and scholarships. The reference book will provide much more options than an online site for scholarships.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Can African American or biracial (w/African descent) people find out exactly which country their ancestors are from?

''

In all likelihood they came from several various African countries.