Ancestry DNA Matches from Africa - Are These Questions Ok to Ask Them or Nah?

[Skooby]

From what I can determine the roll out is probably still going on, because so far 23andMe has only assigned me to the Country of Ghana. I know from testing with AncestryDNA that I should have more countries assigned to me, because over 70% of all of my DNA is from Cameroon/Congo (38%) and Ivory Coast/Ghana (32%). So I assume that 23andMe will also be assigning me to Liberia and Cameroon and possible Cabo Verde, which should be a substitute for Senegal which is the Country that Ancestry has.

This must be it, because mine just says West African.

 

[BigMan]

The first thing that you need to know is that AncestyDNA's database is much, much deeper than 23andMe's. So Ancestry test results are probably more accurate.

Second of all you can not take the countries on these DNA test literally. The results are really for regions, rather than Countries. The significance of that is that Africans lived in Kingdoms, but when the Europeans colonized Africa and created Countries the lines of the Countries cut across Kingdoms. So you have to think about these test results in terms of region rather than Countries. So getting a high result for Ivory Coast/Ghana will mean that you not only have DNA in Ivory Coast and Ghana, but you also will have DNA in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.

AncestryDNA Regions

Liberia and Sierra Leone came into play, because the Mande people went on something called the Mane Invasion into Liberia and Sierra Leone when the Kingdom of Mali went into decline. The Mande people were already in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Mauritania and Senegal before the Mane Invasion because of the their military, Dyula (Juula or traders) and Marabouts, but that invasion took them into Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Finally, your test results from 23andme has not assigned a region yet. It just shows you the region that are out there. Eventually they will put you in a region like they did for me, which in my case is Ghana.

I’m pretty sure I have at least Mande and Akan descent

I’ll share my results here when I get them

 

[Samori Toure]

I’m pretty sure I have at least Mande and Akan descent

I’ll share my results here when I get them

I don't have proof of this, but I think that the Mande and Akan groups are distantly related, which is probably from the time that the Akan people were in the Kingdom of Ghana. I don't know the significance of this, but the Mande people language groups is called Mandekan.

There is also a lot of intermarriage between those groups, especially in the Ivory Coast, where the Akan and Mande people are the two largest ethnic groups. So if you are an African American, Jamaican or from some of the other areas in the Caribbean then you are going to be descended from those groups in that region, as well as the Wolof, Fulani, Gur, Berber, Senufo, Kru, etc. Other groups you will be distantly related to are the Hausa and Yoruba people of Nigeria.

 

[BigMan]

I don't have proof of this, but I think that the Mande and Akan groups are distantly related, which is probably from the time that the Akan people were in the Kingdom of Ghana. I don't know the significance of this, but the Mande people language groups is called Mandekan.

There is also a lot of intermarriage between those groups, especially in the Ivory Coast, where the Akan and Mande people are the two largest ethnic groups. So if you are an African American, Jamaican or from some of the other areas in the Caribbean then you are going to be descended from those groups in that region, as well as the Wolof, Fulani, Gur, Berber, Senufo, Kru, etc. Other groups you will be distantly related to are the Hausa and Yoruba people of Nigeria.

My family is from all over so I predict a lot of diversity in my results

 

[JahFocus CS]

subs, I need to read through this thread, tons of knowledge being dropped

My father had some continental African matches and the countries they have ties to supports what I suspected about having Fulani ancestry

 

[invalid]

Ancestry DNA: 83% SS African

23&Me: 80.2% SS African

For 23&Me, the list of country’s under West Africa are simply the test populations for that region and not necessarily what you match with. If it is was a direct match, a circle would not only be colored dark, multiple dark circles would designate the frequency of the match.

23andMe list all the same county’s for each participant but from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t appear to be that many African American testers who have their circles colored in under the African populations which makes me believe that their matching capabilities are just not as strong as say ancestry.

We should see if we can sticky a thread where everyone that has gotten tested can share their Gedmatxh kit numbers.

 

[Samori Toure]

For 23&Me, the list of country’s under West Africa are simply the test populations for that region and not necessarily what you match with. If it is was a direct match, a circle would not only be colored dark, multiple dark circles would designate the frequency of the match.

23andMe list all the same county’s for each participant but from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t appear to be that many African American testers who have their circles colored in under the African populations which makes me believe that their matching capabilities are just not as strong as say ancestry.

We should see if we can sticky a thread where everyone that has gotten tested can share their Gedmatxh kit numbers.

You actually did just as good of a job explaining the direct match and match strength than 23andme did. Except it needs to be emphasized that they are only talking about recent ancestors; as in the last few hundred years, which for Africans in the diaspora is essentially the period right before and during the slave trade. Here is their explanation:

"...With this new update, we still make those estimates but add another layer of insights with clues to the location of much more recent ancestors. We can do this by looking for exact DNA matches between a customer and over 130,000 individuals of known ancestry from 120 regions across the globe. If a person exactly matches with five or more individuals from one of those specific regions, that region is assigned as a “recent ancestor location.” We also report the “strength” of the match, which is determined by how much DNA a customer shares with people from that region, adjusted by how many people are in the reference population... ."

23andMe Expands Ancestry Composition With Another 120 Regions - 23andMe Blog

In my results I have two (2) circles painted black beside Ghana, which means that I have exact matches from five (5) or more people in Ghana. The strength is obviously not the strongest match, which would likely be 5, but for someone in the diaspora it is pretty amazing seeing that Ghana is actually the location that recent ancestors were in and it is even more amazing to realize that I have relatives that are still there right now; even if very distant.

 

[invalid]

In my results I have two (2) circles painted black beside Ghana, which means that I have exact matches from five (5) or more people in Ghana. The strength is obviously not the strongest match, which would likely be 5, but for someone in the diaspora it is pretty amazing seeing that Ghana is actually the location that recent ancestors were in and it is even more amazing to realize that I have relatives that are still there right now; even if very distant.

That’s great. I have just one colored circled out of all my populations and that’s against the UK.

Do they give a specific time period for “recent ancestors”? Sounds very vague to say a few hundred years. For instance I have colonial Virginia ancestry with an oral
history that claims our ancestors came from Kongo & Soyo. The evidence to support that is anglicized Portuguese surnames that dominated many of my earlier family lines. But these families were dominant in the 17th & 18th centuries so I’m not sure if they fall under recent ancestry since it’s been a little bit more than a few hundred years. Also, have a good amount of Brazilian matches since majority of the Africans who came from Kongo went to Brazil.

 

[Samori Toure]

That’s great. I have just one colored circled out of all my populations and that’s against the UK.

Do they give a specific time period for “recent ancestors”? Sounds very vague to say a few hundred years. For instance I have colonial Virginia ancestry with an oral
history that claims our ancestors came from Kongo & Soyo. The evidence to support that is anglicized Portuguese surnames that dominated many of my earlier family lines. But these families were dominant in the 17th & 18th centuries so I’m not sure if they fall under recent ancestry since it’s been a little bit more than a few hundred years. Also, have a good amount of Brazilian matches since majority of the Africans who came from Kongo went to Brazil.

From what I recall reading recent ancestors is based upon a few hundred years, while deep ancestry tests for thousand of years. National Geographic does deep ancestry testing.

 

[JahFocus CS]

just saw the rollout of the "updated" ancestry algorithm on 23andMe to my parents' accounts.

it says "Cabo Verde: We predict you had ancestors that lived in Cabo Verde within the last 200 years." now in the West African segment. I think their categorization algorithm is messed up here though, cuz in the "Scientific Details" section it says "Although we've detected West African DNA in your ancestral breakdown, we have not identified more specific locations that your recent ancestors may have called home."

at the prospect of possibly having ties to Cape Verde tho (ol' "eu não sou negro" nikkas )

 

[BigMan]

just saw the rollout of the "updated" ancestry algorithm on 23andMe to my parents' accounts.

it says "Cabo Verde: We predict you had ancestors that lived in Cabo Verde within the last 200 years." now in the West African segment. I think their categorization algorithm is messed up here though, cuz in the "Scientific Details" section it says "Although we've detected West African DNA in your ancestral breakdown, we have not identified more specific locations that your recent ancestors may have called home."

at the prospect of possibly having ties to Cape Verde tho (ol' "eu não sou negro" nikkas )

i don't think this is a real phrase

 

[JahFocus CS]

i don't think this is a real phrase

I translated "me no Black" to Portuguese on Google Translate

 

[Big Brown Areola]

That’s great. I have just one colored circled out of all my populations and that’s against the UK.

Do they give a specific time period for “recent ancestors”? Sounds very vague to say a few hundred years. For instance I have colonial Virginia ancestry with an oral
history that claims our ancestors came from Kongo & Soyo. The evidence to support that is anglicized Portuguese surnames that dominated many of my earlier family lines. But these families were dominant in the 17th & 18th centuries so I’m not sure if they fall under recent ancestry since it’s been a little bit more than a few hundred years. Also, have a good amount of Brazilian matches since majority of the Africans who came from Kongo went to Brazil.

Olá irmão.

 

[Big Brown Areola]

i don't think this is a real phrase

Yes it is, it means "I'm not black".

 

[BigMan]

Yes it is, it means "I'm not black".

never heard it in real life and im pretty sure they use "preto" instead of negro
the me no black papi is a coli joke