Ancestry Test?

[Samori Toure]

Appreciate the heads up. Exactly the information I was looking for. As far as the African Ancestry test you were referring to, would that require me getting my mother and father tested as well? I'm a few states away from them. Would make things a bit more difficult.

You don't need your parents for the African Ancestry test, because you already carry your mom and dad's DNA. Ancestry separates and tests each line separately. So they test the X chromosome that your mother has and then they tests Y chromosome that your father gives you. Be prepared for stuff that you might not know until you test, because the Y chromosome is passed from father to son. So if you are an African American and some slave master attacked one of your paternal grandmothers; then there is a chance that your Y chromosome will not be from Africa.

http://www.africanancestry.com/home/

 

[Mister_DoItNice]

You don't need your parents for the African Ancestry test, because you already carry your mom and dad's DNA. Ancestry separates and tests each line separately. So they test the X chromosome that your mother has and then they tests Y chromosome that your father gives you. Be prepared for stuff that you might not know until you test, because the Y chromosome is passed from father to son. So if you are an African American and some slave master attacked one of your paternal grandmothers; then there is a chance that your Y chromosome will not be from Africa.

http://www.africanancestry.com/home/

I really appreciate all the information man. You were a big help. I checked out the African Ancestry website shortly after I typed my previous comment. Man $300 for the maternal and paternal is no joke. I think I'll do it anyway though because that site seems pretty legit. It's crazy that we have to do all this to find out where we came from.

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

So is there actually real science behind this that will bring results or just a bunch of companies trying to take people's cash?

Some African dude it to see if it was legit and his came back accurate with his family history.

 

[Mister_DoItNice]

If any of you guys are interested, ancestry is doing a special on their AncestryDNA kits. Regular price is $100, they're currently discounted to $79 plus shipping. I just ordered one. Is it worth it to subscribe to their additional family tree service?

 

[Samori Toure]

If any of you guys are interested, ancestry is doing a special on their AncestryDNA kits. Regular price is $100, they're currently discounted to $79 plus shipping. I just ordered one. Is it worth it to subscribe to their additional family tree service?

Don't forget; Ancestry is only going to show you the Countries that your DNA is presently in. You need to upload to Gedmatch to get the exact ethnic groups. For example my genetic matches in Cameroon on Gedmatch came back to the Bamoun (Tikar); Hausa; Fulani and Fang-Beti people. I also matched the Bakongo people who are in the two Congos and in Angola.

I don't know why, but I had always assumed that the Hausa and Fulani people were only in modern day Nigeria, but after taking the DNA and doing more research; I learned that those two groups are actually located all over West Africa. Interesting stuff.

 

[The Coochie Assassin]

23andme did my autosomal and paternal lineages for free back in 2012 i think right now its only $99...I wouldn't dare pay $300-$600 for it tho, that's a rip off

 

[Primetime21]

Gotta do my homework to see which is the most legitimate test, Did some research and haven't heard great things about African Ancestry

 

[Numero Deux]

For anyone getting into this, here's a good place to start:

http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2014/11/the-best-dna-tests-for-african.html

This helps too:
http://dna-explained.com/2015/02/05/autosomal-dna-2015-which-test-is-the-best/

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/

 

[Mister_DoItNice]

Don't forget; Ancestry is only going to show you the Countries that your DNA is presently in. You need to upload to Gedmatch to get the exact ethnic groups. For example my genetic matches in Cameroon on Gedmatch came back to the Bamoun (Tikar); Hausa; Fulani and Fang-Beti people. I also matched the Bakongo people who are in the two Congos and in Angola.

I don't know why, but I had always assumed that the Hausa and Fulani people were only in modern day Nigeria, but after taking the DNA and doing more research; I learned that those two groups are actually located all over West Africa. Interesting stuff.

Cool I'll keep that in mind. I'll hold off on the family tree sub.

 

[RubioTheCruel]

Took the Ancestry.com one, results were interesting to say the least.

Spoiler

 

[Samori Toure]

23andme did my autosomal and paternal lineages for free back in 2012 i think right now its only $99...I wouldn't dare pay $300-$600 for it tho, that's a rip off

It is high, no doubt about; but I wouldn't call it a ripoff because they test the maternal and paternal lines separately. Moreover, African Ancestry has a larger database of test subjects in Africa, which means that they can match you to the closest actual tribes within your ethnic group. So you can be Fulani, but you may not have the actual group of Fulani's that your DNA matches. I think what African Ancestry is saying is that they can get you closer to the actual group that your ancestors were in when they were enslaved; but it will also carry other African ethnic groups as well, because the slaves mixed once they were in the Caribbean and in the USA, so African Americans are not just going to have one ethnic group.

I don't know but that is what it sounds like African Ancestry is saying, but I could be wrong. What I will say is that when you read up on the Bantu people you will be impressed, because they moved all the way from Egypt to all over West, Central and South Africa. If you have Fang or Bakongo DNA then you will also likely match groups like the Zulu, Luhya, Swahili, Xhosa and Pedi peoples, etc., in Central and South Africa. I didn't know much about the Bantu people until I started research and them and then I learned that Eyptians Pharoahs King Tut and Ramesses III were Bantu people and their closing living relatives are in Central Africa (Uganda) and in South Africa.

http://www.dnatribes.com/dnatribes-digest-2012-01-01.pdf
http://www.dnatribes.com/dnatribes-digest-2013-02-01.pdf

 

[Samori Toure]

Took the Ancestry.com one, results were interesting to say the least.

Spoiler

Here were mine:

REGION APPROXIMATE AMOUNT
Africa 86%

• Cameroon/Congo 38%
• Ivory Coast/Ghana 32%
• Nigeria 7%
• Trace Regions 9%
• Benin/Togo 3%
• Mali 2%
• Senegal 2%
• Africa North 1%
• Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers< 1%

Europe 12%

• Trace Regions 12%
• Great Britain 7%
• Ireland 3%
• Scandinavia 1%
• Iberian Peninsula < 1%
• Europe West < 1%

Pacific Islander1%

• Trace Regions 1%
• Polynesia 1%

West Asia< 1%

• Trace Regions< 1%
• Middle East< 1%

Show all regions

Very surprised that so many African Americans are from Cameroon. You almost never heard about that region being a big slave exporter, but they must have been because two big slave ports were near them (Bight of Biafra in modern day Nigeria and Bimbia in Cameroon).

 

[Prynce]

Im gonna get mine next month

 

[Skooby]

My 23andme results: 81.4% African, 16% European, 1.2% Asian & Native American and 1.3% Unassigned.

Ancestry results: Africa 83%...some of the breakdown:

Cameroon/Congo 25%
Ivory Coast/Ghana 20%
Nigeria 15%
Benin/Togo 13%


Europe 14%...some of the breakdown:

Europe West 5%
Ireland 5%
Italy/Greece 2%

 

[Rayzah]

For anyone getting into this, here's a good place to start:

http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2014/11/the-best-dna-tests-for-african.html

This helps too:
http://dna-explained.com/2015/02/05/autosomal-dna-2015-which-test-is-the-best/

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/

so the first link praises the 23andme site, but the second 2 say that site is a step below the others.. However all those sites say African ancestry is the worse while people are in here recommending it