Today is<a href="http://time.com/4923164/indigenous-peoples-day-columbus-day/"> Indigenous Peoples’ Day</a>, embraced by a growing list of cities, states and universities in the United States, as an alternative to Columbus Day, and meant to recognize the Native Americans who first inhabited the Americas.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-300x288.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26602 size-medium" width="300" height="288" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-300x288.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-768x737.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-1024x983.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-880x845.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144-1180x1133.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-517513144.jpg 1767w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
&nbsp;
In the more than 500 years after Columbus’ journey to the New World, millions of indigenous Americans died of exposure to Old Word diseases at the hands of European colonizers. While whole tribes and their culture were wiped out, the genetic legacies of some of these early Americans remain — particularly in Central and South America. Extensive mixing of historical populations – called “admixture” – resulted in new (admixed) genetic and cultural identities that define the people of the Americas today.
&nbsp;
<h6>The First People of the Americas</h6>
The first people to populate the Americas, migrated across the land bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska when the ice sheets receded some 15,000 years ago. Those people descended from populations that lived in northern and central Asia almost 30,000 years ago. Once they crossed into North America, they very quickly migrated south to populate all the Americas. Most Native Americans come from those early groups, although there is evidence of at least two later migrations — one group that contributed to the gene pool of Athabaskans found across western North America; and the other migration contributing to Eskimo-Aleuts.
&nbsp;
Most indigenous American ancestry comes from these first Americans, but there is evidence for at least two later migrations; one contributing to the gene pool of the Athabaskans found across western North America and another contributing in large part to the Eskimo-Aleuts who live along the arctic and sub-arctic shores of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. Their genes tell a story of migration, adaptation and diversity that is still being written today.
<h6></h6>
<h6>After Columbus</h6>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-155283000-300x146.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26603 size-medium" width="300" height="146" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-155283000-300x146.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-155283000-768x375.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/iStock-155283000.jpg 846w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The genetic landscape of the Americas was irrevocably altered after 1492. Millions of indigenous Americans perished as a result of exposure to Old World diseases and genocide at the hands of European colonizers. Fewer than a half or one third of the more than 2,000 languages that were once spoken in the Americas remain, and lost with them were the rich diversity of cultures, but some of those people’s genetic legacies remain.
&nbsp;
<h6>Indigenous People Today</h6>
Indigenous people are remain integral to the Americas today.
Some indigenous languages and language families still have over 1 million native speakers, including Mayan and Nahuatl (Aztec) in Central America, as well as Guarani, Aymara, and Quechua in South America. 
&nbsp;
While there are fewer native speakers of indigenous languages in North America than in Central or South America, several languages still have many native speakers: Navajo is spoken by nearly 200,000 people, while Cree and Ojibwe are each spoken by around 90,000 people. Other tribes have reinvigorated efforts to save and preserve their language and culture. 
&nbsp;
While 23andMe can reveal genetic evidence of Native American ancestry, it cannot identify specific tribal affiliations. Testing also shouldn’t be considered as a confirmatory test or proof of Native ancestry in a legal context. Beyond that testing may not be able to detect distant Native American ancestry in a customer’s family tree. 
&nbsp;

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Your genetics do not define you, but they can help inform your identity, and for Latinos — people who trace their ancestry to the ethnically diverse regions of Latin America — <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">DNA testing</a> often helps them discover unexpected insights into their roots.



In National Hispanic Heritage Month, 23andMe wanted to examine what testing can uncover for those with Latino ancestry. (We prefer the term Latino because it encompasses non-Spanish-speaking populations in Latin America, like those in Brazil.)







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-native-american-ancestry-amp-latinos">Native American Ancestry &amp; Latinos</h2>



The one thing that genetic testing won’t tell you is whether or not you are Latino or Hispanic. That’s because people from Latin America typically are a mix of European, African, and Native American ancestry.



You might also find Middle Eastern, East Asian, and Ashkenazi ancestry folded into your results. As much as it is<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/04/latin-america-s-lost-histories-revealed-modern-dna"> in the DNA</a>, that rich mixture of ancestry is also embedded in the art, music, and food that make up Latino culture.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="880" height="282" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/banner_2013_HAHM-1024x328-880x282.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26566" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/banner_2013_HAHM-1024x328-880x282.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/banner_2013_HAHM-1024x328-300x96.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/banner_2013_HAHM-1024x328-768x246.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/banner_2013_HAHM-1024x328.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" /></figure>







<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-puerto-rican-dna">Puerto Rican DNA</h2>



We are reminded of the history of the region because the DNA includes the signature of the Native American people who first populated the continent, as well as the Europeans — mainly from Iberia but from a mix of European countries — who settled here and the Africans who were brought here as slaves. So, for example, on average, people of Mexico have about 4 percent African ancestry, while for the average Puerto Rican, the percentage is much higher.



This can be surprising for some Latinos who do DNA testing, or it can remind them of their history, as we’ve heard from 23andMe customers who have shared their stories with us. For<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/23andme-helps-uncover-hidden-jewish-ancestry/"> Franciso Caravayo</a>, whose family came from Puerto Rico and were deeply Catholic, testing helped uncover that his family descended from<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Converso"> Conversos</a> — Portuguese and Spanish Jews who fled to Latin America to escape persecution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-mix-of-mexican-ancestry">The Mix of Mexican Ancestry</h2>



For many, testing just reminds them of their Latino ancestry and history, as a group of Latinos at Buzzfeed did so humorously a few years back. They had roots in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador, but their tests often revealed something unexpected. 



“It’s nice to know we’re all part of the world around us,” said Curley Vasquez.



<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LCc1N52zSLg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>



More recently, Carols Arias Vivas, a Mexican American college student, wrote about how his results reminded him of the Latino ancestry and history he already knew. However, he also noted that these results didn’t define his identity.



“To be completely honest, these results were not shocking,” he said in a student paper at the University of Pennsylvania. “After learning the history of colonization and the Slave Trade, it makes sense why my Latino ancestry composition has a mixture of European, African, and Indigenous makeup.”



DNA testing for Latinos reveals the rich mosaic of history that make up their heritage.



Explore the origins of your ancestry at <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">23andMe.com.</a>

Latino Ancestry

A Korean adoptee living in Tennessee as a kid, Ben rarely saw kids that looked like him.
<div id="attachment_26561" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26561" class="size-medium wp-image-26561" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Pickler-Ben-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Pickler-Ben-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Pickler-Ben.jpg 750w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Pickler &amp; Ben Host Kellie Pickler (left), with Ben and his brother Jeff, and Host Ben Aaron.</div>
“Growing up, I knew very few Asians, let alone Koreans, and always wondered if I actually still had family somewhere in this world,” said the 29-year-old Air Force sergeant.
He was happy and felt fortunate to have been adopted by such a loving family, but he always wondered.

Several hundred miles away, Jeff, now a 27-year-old public relations man, had been going through the same thing.
While his parents sent him to a Korean school each Saturday to try and keep him connected to his Korean ancestry, Jeff wondered about his origins.
“It may sound trivial, but I&#8217;ve never met someone who resembles me,” he said.
That all changed after the two men — half brothers — connected using 23andMe.
“By some weird chance, we joined 23andMe within a year of each other,” Jeff said.
Connected using 23andMe, the two emailed, texted, and talked on the phone, but they hadn’t met in person until this September when the talk show Pickler &amp; Ben brought them into the studio.
Check out their story <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFcZp2tktbk&amp;feature=youtu.be">here</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eFcZp2tktbk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

23andMe Connects Brothers

23andMe’s <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Ancestry Composition report</a> is an evolving analysis of your DNA that gets more precise over time. A new update offers more detail for people with African and East Asian ancestry.
The update comes thanks to the contributions of our customers and new sources of publicly available data, such as the 1000 Genomes Project. In addition, 23andMe’s own African Genetics Project has allowed for the addition of more diverse reference populations. This, in turn, enables more detailed Ancestry Composition breakdowns for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26486 size-full" title="Sub-Saharian African Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-Africa.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h2>Sub-Saharan Africa and Senegambian &amp; Guinean Ancestry</h2>
23andMe researchers have added nine new ancestral regions to Africa and four more to East Asia, creating the most detailed view for customers with African or East Asian ancestry. The most significant part of this update is the additional granularity for Sub-Saharan Africa. This now includes 13 distinct ancestral populations, said David Poznik, a 23andMe Senior Scientist and Population Geneticist.
“Before this update, our Sub-Saharan Africa region had just three subgroups, belying the tremendous genetic diversity within the continent,” David said. “Humans were diversifying In Africa for hundreds of thousands of years before anyone left to colonize other parts of the world.”

These changes are currently available for customers on the company’s latest genotyping chip version. Our team is working to make this update available for all customers soon.
The addition of these new reference populations follows 23andMe’s update earlier this year, which increased the number of countries and regions included in Ancestry Composition from 31 to 151. The company is constantly striving to help customers access, understand, and benefit from the human genome, and the updates are a step forward in achieving these goals.
Three rich data sources made the updates possible: the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/africa-project/">African Genetics Project</a>, for which 23andMe provided DNA kits to individuals with four grandparents born in the same African country; customer-supplied information; and the 1000 Genomes Project, a public repository of diverse human sequences.
For 23andMe, this is just the beginning of a series of updates that will increase the number of populations covered by Ancestry Composition over time. “The Global Genetics Project is an ambitious initiative that will fuel future updates,” said Poznik.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26482 size-full" title="Global Genetics Project" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png" alt="" width="2841" height="1509" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map.png 2841w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-300x159.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-768x408.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1024x544.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-880x467.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/full_world_map-1180x627.png 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2841px) 100vw, 2841px" />“We have a list of around 60 countries that we’ve identified as top priorities,” he said. “These are countries with fairly large populations but that aren’t well-represented in our database. We’re giving away kits to people with ancestries from these countries because we’re eager to collect data that will enable us to improve our product for other people from these regions.”
<h2>Let’s take a deeper dive into this newest update</h2>
23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition report enables our customers to dig into the genetic origins of their ancestors. It allows customers to learn from the DNA that makes them who they are today. 23andMe provides two types of insights that delve into different periods: ancestry composition percentages and recent ancestry locations. Your Ancestry Composition report estimates the percentage of your DNA traces to different regions. We do this by comparing thousands of chunks of DNA across your genome to reference populations, individuals with known ancestry from specific regions. By comparing customer DNA segments with reference data, we can find which matches your DNA most closely. For recent ancestor locations, we look for stretches of DNA you may share identically with other 23andMe customers from particular countries. Together, these insights give customers a more complete view of their ancestry.
Thanks to our customers, particularly those who participated in the African Genetics Project, our researchers were able to begin breaking down African ancestry in more detail. 23andMe can now estimate what percentages of your DNA derive from each of 13 populations across the African continent.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26487 size-full" title="East Asian and Native American Ancestry" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-300x225.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-768x576.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/AC-33-East-Asia.001-880x660.jpg 880w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />For details about these populations, visit our customer care webpage (Reference populations)
23andMe has also increased granularity in Southeast Asia, distinguishing four new populations: Chinese Dai, Vietnamese, Filipino &amp; Austronesian, and Indonesian, Khmer, Thai &amp; Myanma.
<h2>When will my report be updated? </h2>
Starting in July, 23andMe began making this update available to customers who were genotyped on the latest version of our genotyping chip (version 5).
Do you have an older version of our chip? Fear not—23andMe is actively working on supporting this update for customers genotyped on older chips. Existing customers will receive notifications on their reports when their results have been recalculated.
<h5>Ongoing Research 
</h5>
These new breakdowns were made possible by our customers&#8217; participation in research. In late 2016, 23andMe launched the African Genetics Project to improve diversity in research and provide better ancestry composition results for customers. More than 1,000 individuals participated in the initiative, leading to an influx of new reference data that helped to diversify our research database and has enabled 23andMe to improve results for customers with African ancestry.
23andMe is now undertaking the Global Genetics Project. As part of this effort, 23andMe is reaching out to thousands of individuals with recent heritage from over 60 countries in Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. Check out the landing page <a href="https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.23andme.com/global-genetics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1535037961314000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHEKE-k-xKQzlnPEpTtjXvcQwWQwg">here</a> to learn more.
Our reference panels include data from more than 10,000 people around the world, both from publicly available datasets (the Human Genome Diversity Project and the 1000 Genomes Project) and from many 23andMe customers who have consented to participate in research.
<h2>Updated List of Populations in Africa &amp; East Asia</h2>
Sub-Saharan Africa
Congolese
Southern East African
<ul>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Rwanda</li>
</ul>
Broadly Congolese &amp; Southern East African
Ethiopian &amp; Eritrean
<ul>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Eritrea</li>
</ul>
Somali
Sudanese
Broadly Northern East African
Senegambian &amp; Guinean
<ul>
<li>Guinea</li>
</ul>
Coastal West African
Nigerian
Broadly West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
East Asia &amp; the Americas 
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Chinese Dai
Vietnamese
Indonesian, Thai, Khmer &amp; Myanma
<ul>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
</ul>
Filipino &amp; Austronesian
<ul>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Northern Mariana Islands</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
</ul>
Broadly, Chinese &amp; Southeast Asian
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Japanese
Broadly Korean &amp; Japanese
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
<li>Mongolia</li>
</ul>
Broadly, North Asian &amp; Native American
Broadly, East Asian &amp; Native American
Endnote: All 23andMe customers will soon receive 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition update, which will include additional regions in Africa and East Asia.

New African & East Asian Details in 23andMe’s Latest Ancestry Composition Update

For National Cousins day we thought we&#8217;d share the story of Lisa Henry and Joyce Schur, who are  are so close that they always felt like more than just friends. After using 23andme they learned that they had that right. They are actually cousins.
<div id="attachment_26368" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26368" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lisa-and-Joyce-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26368 size-medium" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lisa-and-Joyce-300x169.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lisa-and-Joyce-768x433.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lisa-and-Joyce-880x496.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Lisa-and-Joyce.jpg 969w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Friends Lisa, on the left, and Joyce. The photo on the right is from 2016.</div>
Their story was recently covered by <a href="https://www.insideedition.com/pennsylvania-women-who-have-been-best-friends-childhood-discover-theyre-related-44987">Inside Edition</a>. The two Pennsylvania women shared their story with us earlier this year. It’s about two people grew up near each other, became friends, and crossed huge milestones in their life over 40 years – marriage, having children, and family struggles. Through it all they remained friends.
“We have been friend and neighbors since we where young girls, and so many times people have asked us if we were related because we do resemble one another and are very similar in our ways,” said Lisa. “We are now in our fifties and still best friends, but never would have known we are really related, if it weren&#8217;t for 23andMe.”
It took a bit to figure it all out. Lisa had been first to test, and it wasn&#8217;t until Joyce tired of hearing about all the neat things Lisa was learning from her 23andme results that she tested. Lisa was the first person Joyce called when she got her results. She wanted some help walking through her results. When she opened up her DNA Relatives, she immediately saw Lisa&#8217;s name.
&#8220;Oh my gosh, you are the sixth person on my list! I am looking at your picture!&#8221; Joyce said.
Recently they were at a function together and a man standing in line asked:
&#8220;Are you to related?&#8221;
Joyce turned to him and said, &#8220;Well, as a matter of fact &#8211; yes!&#8221;
Check out their story <a href="https://www.insideedition.com/pennsylvania-women-who-have-been-best-friends-childhood-discover-theyre-related-44987">here</a>.

Happy National Cousins Day

Editor’s note: We first ran a version of this blog post a few years back and thought we’d revisit the topic for this year’s July 4th.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-14170" width="1" height="1" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1-300x197.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1-271x149.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1-372x204.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/declaration_independence_70222_1-574x315.jpg 574w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1px) 100vw, 1px" />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="alignright wp-image-26317 size-medium" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Declaration-of-Independence.jpg 1254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

Through the magic of the Internet, you can now examine the yellowing letters of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin’s first ideas for a colonial confederation in his own handwriting and early<a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/images/frag1.jpg"> drafts of the U.S. Constitution</a> complete with strike-throughs and other edits.

For most Americans, especially on<a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2018/july4.html"> Independence Day</a>, looking at the handwritten notes of some of the country’s founders offers a visceral connection to the country’s beginning. Seeing their scratch marks on pages faded and wrinkled with age gives people a connection to their history. In some ways,<a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/"> exploring your ancestry</a> through your DNA stirs up a similar emotional response.
The “writing” in our DNA doesn’t just tell us about ourselves; it tells us about our connection to human history. 
Within each of us is a genetic record of our ancestry, including on what branch of the world’s family tree our paternal or maternal lines belong. While none of the Founding Fathers were customers of 23andMe, we do know a little about their DNA because of publicly-available records of testing done on their direct descendants. 23andMe customers can look back not just at their own ancestry, but they can also see if they share a maternal or paternal line with the likes of Benjamin Franklin,<a href="http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/brief-biography-thomas-jefferson"> Thomas Jefferson</a>,<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnadams"> John Adams,</a> and<a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=h000101"> Alexander Hamilton</a>.
Franklin’s maternal line, which traces from his mother to his mother’s mother and so on back in time, is <a href="https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2007/11/01/dna-analysis-of-5-people-who-helped-create-america/">Haplogroup V</a>. This branch of the human family tree is believed to have originated in Europe 12,000 years ago. Only about four percent of Europeans share this haplogroup, which is much more common among Finns, Sardinians, and Basques. Known for his wit and wisdom, Franklin also helped draft the Constitution and profoundly influence the character of the nation. 

Although he never became president he embodied what many believe to be the essence of what it means to be an American. Adams, a Harvard-trained lawyer who served as Vice President to George Washington and afterward the second US President, had the paternal haplogroup R1b1. This haplogroup also emerged out of Europe, but 30,000 years ago and is common among people of Irish, British, Dutch and German ancestry.

Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third US President, had the unusual paternal Haplogroup T, which is more common among people of the Middle East, although it is also found in England. Jefferson traced his paternal ancestry back to Wales where T is very rare. DNA has also factored into determining that the rumors that Jefferson fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings are probably true.

Finally,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton"> Alexander Hamilton</a>, Washington’s Secretary of Treasury and the guy on the $10 bill, had a paternal <a href="http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/g/a/gah4/HamDNA/Results.html">Haplogroup I1a</a>. This haplogroup is common among Finns, Norwegians and Swedes. 
As we consider our country’s forefathers this Independence Day, these influential men need not be distant historic figures. Rather, a closer look at our DNA may reveal that these men share something more.

Independence DNA

Soccer fans in the United States have a long tradition of enduring disappointment, but the US Men National Team’s elimination late last year from the World Cup left many wondering which team to cheer for at this year&#8217;s tournament in Russia.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26170" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-roots-2.png 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

It’s the first time since 1990 that the team has been eliminated. So fans in the United States won’t get the chance to watch their team hold Brazil to a single goal, yes that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDGxXrCb9xw">happened</a>. Or see the team notch an <a href="https://www.si.com/longform/soccer-goals/goal5.html#colombian">improbable victory over, say, Colombia</a>, as they did way back in 1994. 

So, apart from waiting until the next World Cup in 2022, or simply watching the women’s team play next year, what is a soccer nut to do?

Here’s an idea — why not pick a team based on your genetic ancestry?

23andMe makes this a breeze with a new in-product featured called “Root for your Roots.” This allows customers to use their DNA to connect with a team that’s playing in this year’s World Cup.

Starting this week, 23andMe customers who log into their report will see a new feature that will surface those countries in the tournament that they have the strongest DNA connections with. Based on our internal data, the majority of customers have direct DNA links to the following countries (in order of most prevalent):

<ol>
<li> UK,</li>
<li> Mexico</li>
<li> Poland</li>
<li> Germany</li>
<li> Russian Federation</li>
</ol>

But even if one of your strongest DNA connections isn’t with a team you are interested in rooting for, you can pick more distant matches or a “wildcard” team with whom you have no connection, maybe an underdog team such as  <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/sports/soccer/iceland-world-cup-qualifying.html">Iceland</a> or <a href="https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/04/27/how-tragedy-turned-to-talent-and-triumph-for-egypts-national-team/">Egypt</a>. 

23andMe linked up with <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup">Fox Sports</a>, the exclusive broadcaster of the World Cup in the U.S., and launched a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2r5jQfdV3k&#038;feature=youtu.be">“Root for Your Roots”</a> campaign last month. The World Cup is a truly huge global phenomenon that brings together international fans who all share the same love of what’s known as the “beautiful game.”
“We hope this collaboration becomes a new way for people to experience global events like the World Cup,” said Tracy Keim, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at 23andMe. “We are creating an authentic experience that can open our minds and bring people together to celebrate diversity, and our global teams rooted in our DNA.”
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png" alt="" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-26169" width="1024" height="565" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1024x565.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-300x166.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-768x424.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-880x486.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-1180x651.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-271x149.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1-372x204.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Root-for-your-Roots-1.png 1487w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />

World Cup Fans You Can Root for Your Roots

Overturning long-held beliefs about the past, new insights from ancient DNA have revealed exciting surprises about who we are as people and how we got here.
In just the last few years, the ability for scientists to extract and sequence DNA from bones that are tens of thousands of years old has changed our understanding of the human story. Perhaps there are few better to tell that tale than the population geneticist David Reich.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-199x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26087" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-199x300.jpg 199w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-768x1160.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-678x1024.jpg 678w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-583x880.jpg 583w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres-781x1180.jpg 781w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/jackethighres.jpg 1500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
In his new book, Who We Are and How We Got Here, Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, Reich explains the significance this new technical innovation has had in the study of human history and prehistory. He has packed into this book, not just an explanation of the difficulty in initially finding and sequencing DNA from these samples, but also what it means and how it has changed what we know about out our history.
“Basically, it’s a gold rush right now;” Reich said in a February 2016 interview with <a href="http://edge.org/conversation/david_reich-the-genomic-ancient-dna-revolution">The Edge</a>. “It’s a new technology, and that technology is being applied to everything we can apply it to, and there are &#8230; many gold nuggets strewn on the ground that are being picked up very rapidly. That’s what’s happening now.”
In his book, Reich describes ancient DNA researchers like himself as barbarians overturning the old and long standing approaches to studying human history.
<div id="attachment_26088" style="width: 968px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26088" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-26088 size-full" width="958" height="1146" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539.jpg 958w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-251x300.jpg 251w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-768x919.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-856x1024.jpg 856w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Reic_9781101870327_jkt_ap1_r1-e1521242394539-736x880.jpg 736w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px" />David Reich &nbsp;&nbsp; Photo: Bizu Tesfaye (Howard Hughes Medical Institute)</div>
“Ancient DNA has allowed us to peer deep into time and force us to question our understanding of the past,” he writes.
A professor of Genetics at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Reich opened his own ancient DNA lab at Harvard in 2013, with the help of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/15/svante-paabo-dna-neanderthal-genetics">Svante Paabo</a>, who was the first to use DNA extracted from ancient bones to sequence the Neanderthal genome. That has revealed the more than being just ancient cousins, early modern human and Neanderthal interbreed, and DNA fragments of those encounters live on today in all humans outside of Africa. Similar findings have been made around Denisovans, another ancient human cousin, and other “ghost populations” that have died out. And with each revelation comes a revision of human prehistory and mankind’s migration out of Africa and across the globe.
In his book, Reich also reveals in a chapter called “The Great Mixing” a refrain in of human history, that no matter how divergent the population, humans intermixed and that all populations today are mixed.
“The mixtures of highly divergent groups have happened time and time again,” he writes.
He uses examples <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08365">of populations in India</a>, that intermixed 2,000 to 4,000 years ago, as well as more recent mixing among <a href="http://www.cell.com/ajhg/pdfExtended/S0002-9297(14)00476-5">African Americans, Latinos and European Americans</a>. Some of that mixing also reflects the “deep history of inequality” among the different populations and sexes.
Toward the end of his book, Reich talks about his optimism that this work to highlight human connections, not their differences.
“[If] you actually take any serious look at this data, it just confounds every stereotype. It’s revealing that the differences among populations we see today are actually only a few thousand years old at most and that everybody is mixed,” he said in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/03/ancient-dna-history/554798/">a recent interview</a>.

Ancient DNA offers new insight into the human story

Editor&#8217;s note: We&#8217;ve included a full list of regions and countries that have been added to the Ancestry Composition report at the end of this post. 
DNA is both a blueprint for life and a record of it, allowing us to learn more about what is written in each of us as our understanding of genetics progresses.
23andMe is improving its interactive <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">Ancestry Composition report</a>, vastly increasing a person’s power to peer deeper into their genetic origins, connect them to different populations around the world, and to learn more about themselves.
<h6>Geographic Origins of Your DNA</h6>
This new update &nbsp;— which customers will begin seeing in the coming months — will compare you to more than 150 populations and regions across the globe to create a visualization of the geographic origins of your DNA.*
We all have a DNA story, and that story is part of the broader human story. It’s a history of people migrating out of Africa and venturing out to populate the globe and build new cultures. The footsteps of those ancestors can be seen in your DNA. Over millennia, as different groups of people separated from each other to move into new frontiers, small genetic changes occurred leaving us tiny clues about our history.
&nbsp;
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png" alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-26042 size-large" title="Ancestry Composition" width="894" height="1024" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-894x1024.png 894w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-262x300.png 262w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-768x879.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-769x880.png 769w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report-1031x1180.png 1031w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sample-Report.png 1464w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px" />
We can find these clues by looking at segments of DNA in your genome, comparing those segments to reference populations from Europe, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.
Traditionally, our Ancestry Composition report compared customers’ data to 31 different populations, allowing 23andMe to report the percentage of DNA that came from those regions. This helped connect individuals to their ancestry back 500 years before the advent of modern migration.
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. 
<h6>Recent Ancestors</h6>
If a person exactly matches with five or more individuals from one of those specific regions, that region is assigned as a &#8220;recent ancestor location.&#8221; We also report the “strength&#8221; of the match. This is determined by how much DNA a customer shares with people from that region, adjusted by how many people are in the reference population.

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We’re excited to roll out this update to an already incredibly powerful interactive tool for <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">exploring your ancestry</a>. Beyond dramatically increasing the number of regions, the update also includes improvements to the map. In addition it improve the experience of panning and zooming into the geographic regions you are linked to through your DNA. We’ve also relabeled some of the populations for accuracy and better understanding. For example Yakut has been relabeled as Siberian. Taken together, these changes to 23andMe’s Ancestry Composition report provide a better way to visualize your ancestry. As with all the features and reports we offer customers, this one includes details on the science behind the tool so they know how these estimates are made. 
 

<h6>The Human Story</h6>
Beyond what Ancestry Composition offers, we also have additional ancestry-related tools that are unique to the 23andMe experience. And those tools connect you to the broader human story and its deep history. 
These include the first-ever Neanderthal Ancestry report and 23andMe’s maternal and paternal haplogroup reports. The Neanderthal Ancestry report offers you another way to bring your own connection to the human story. It shows you how your own DNA includes tiny fragments of DNA from Neanderthals, our ancient human cousins. 
23andMe’s haplogroup reports connect you to your haplogroups, different lineages that descended from a common ancient ancestor. As our ancestors ventured out of Africa, they branched off in diverse groups that crossed and recrossed the globe over tens of thousands of years. Your connections to those ancient migrations can be traced by looking at your haplogroups. 23andMe’s haplogroup reports give you insight into these ancient ancestors. Together these two reports connect you to your deep ancestry, showing you how you connect with groups of people who migrated across the globe over millenia.
 

The update to our Ancestry Composition feature is another example of how much more you can learn by exploring your own DNA. New customers who purchased our Ancestry Service kit as of February 28th will see this new update when they get their results. We’ve been gradually rolling out the update to existing customers. All customers will begin seeing this 23andMe Ancestry Composition update in the coming months.
 

<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">Check it out</a>.
 
*<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-ancestry-composition">23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Composition</a> update with 120 additional regions will be coming soon to all 23andMe customers.
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<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">List of Regions and Countries Included in this Ancestry Composition Update</h5>
European
British &amp; Irish
<ul>
<li>Ireland</li>
<li>United Kingdom</li>
</ul>
French &amp; German
<ul>
<li>Austria</li>
<li>Belgium</li>
<li>France</li>
<li>Germany</li>
<li>Luxembourg</li>
<li>Netherlands</li>
<li>Switzerland</li>
</ul>
Scandinavian
<ul>
<li>Denmark</li>
<li>Iceland</li>
<li>Norway</li>
<li>Sweden</li>
</ul>
Ashkenazi Jewish
Sardinian
Italian
<ul>
<li>Italy</li>
<li>Malta</li>
</ul>
Iberian
<ul>
<li>Portugal</li>
<li>Spain</li>
</ul>
Balkan
<ul>
<li>Albania</li>
<li>Bosnia and Herzegovina</li>
<li>Bulgaria</li>
<li>Croatia</li>
<li>Greece</li>
<li>Macedonia</li>
<li>Moldova</li>
<li>Montenegro</li>
<li>Romania</li>
<li>Serbia</li>
</ul>
Finnish
Eastern European
<ul>
<li>Belarus</li>
<li>Czech Republic</li>
<li>Estonia</li>
<li>Hungary</li>
<li>Latvia</li>
<li>Lithuania</li>
<li>Poland</li>
<li>Russia</li>
<li>Slovakia</li>
<li>Slovenia</li>
<li>Ukraine</li>
</ul>
Broadly Northwestern European
Broadly Southern European
Broadly European
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
East Asian &amp; Native American
Japanese
Korean
<ul>
<li>North Korea</li>
<li>South Korea</li>
</ul>
Siberian
Manchurian &amp; Mongolian
<ul>
<li>Mongolia</li>
<li>Kazakhstan</li>
<li>Kyrgyzstan</li>
</ul>
Chinese
<ul>
<li>Hong Kong</li>
<li>Mainland China</li>
<li>Taiwan</li>
</ul>
Southeast Asian
<ul>
<li>Cambodia</li>
<li>Guam</li>
<li>Indonesia</li>
<li>Laos</li>
<li>Malaysia</li>
<li>Myanmar</li>
<li>Philippines</li>
<li>Singapore</li>
<li>Thailand</li>
<li>Vietnam</li>
</ul>
Native American
<ul>
<li>Argentina</li>
<li>Aruba</li>
<li>Belize</li>
<li>Bolivia</li>
<li>Brazil</li>
<li>Chile</li>
<li>Colombia</li>
<li>Costa Rica</li>
<li>Cuba</li>
<li>Dominican Republic</li>
<li>Ecuador</li>
<li>El Salvador</li>
<li>Guatemala</li>
<li>Honduras</li>
<li>Mexico</li>
<li>Nicaragua</li>
<li>Panama</li>
<li>Paraguay</li>
<li>Peru</li>
<li>Puerto Rico</li>
<li>Uruguay</li>
<li>Venezuela</li>
</ul>
Broadly East Asian
Broadly East Asian &amp; Native American
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Western Asian &amp; North African
North African &amp; Arabian
<ul>
<li>Algeria</li>
<li>Bahrain</li>
<li>Egypt</li>
<li>Jordan</li>
<li>Kuwait</li>
<li>Libya</li>
<li>Morocco</li>
<li>Saudi Arabia</li>
<li>Tunisia</li>
<li>United Arab Emirates</li>
<li>Yemen</li>
</ul>
Western Asian
<ul>
<li>Armenia</li>
<li>Azerbaijan</li>
<li>Cyprus</li>
<li>Georgia</li>
<li>Iran</li>
<li>Iraq</li>
<li>Lebanon</li>
<li>Syria</li>
<li>Turkey</li>
<li>Uzbekistan</li>
</ul>
Broadly Western Asian &amp; North African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Sub-Saharan African
West African
<ul>
<li>Cabo Verde</li>
<li>Cameroon</li>
<li>Ghana</li>
<li>Liberia</li>
<li>Nigeria</li>
</ul>
East African
<ul>
<li>Eritrea</li>
<li>Ethiopia</li>
<li>Kenya</li>
<li>Somalia</li>
<li>Sudan</li>
</ul>
African Hunter-Gatherer
Broadly Sub-Saharan African
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
South Asian
Broadly South Asian
<ul>
<li>Afghanistan</li>
<li>Bangladesh</li>
<li>India</li>
<li>Mauritius</li>
<li>Nepal</li>
<li>Pakistan</li>
<li>Sri Lanka</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>
Melanesian
Broadly Melanesian
<ul>
<li>American Samoa</li>
<li>Fiji</li>
<li>Samoa</li>
<li>Tonga</li>
</ul>
<h5 style="float: center; text-align: justified; width: 640; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></h5>

Ancestry Service — Page 13