Surprising genetic similarity between Poles and Latvians

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Poles are more closely autosomally related to Latvians than any other Slavic group:

Genetic distance between Latvians and:

0) Latvians - 0,0000
1) Lithuanians - 0,0000
2) Poles - 0,0011
3) Central Russians - 0,0014
4) Belarusians - 0,0015
5) South Russians - 0,0018
6) Ukrainians - 0,0019
7) Slovaks - 0,0026
8) Czechs - 0,0029
9) Croatians - 0,0036
10) Slovenes - 0,0037
11) Bosnians - 0,0038
12) Serbians - 0,0054
13) Bulgarians - 0,0059
14) Macedonians - 0,0066
15) Montenegrins - 0,0073
16) North Russians - 0,0096

In case of Lithuanians, Poles are second and Belarusians first among Slavic groups:

Genetic distance between Lithuanians and:

0) Lithuanians - 0,0000
1) Latvians - 0,0000
2) Belarusians - 0,0008
3) Poles - 0,0011

4) Ukrainians - 0,0020
5) Central Russians - 0,0021
6) South Russians - 0,0022
7) Czechs - 0,0026
8) Slovaks - 0,0030
9) Croatians - 0,0036
10) Slovenes - 0,0042
11) Bosnians - 0,0042
12) Serbians - 0,0052
13) Bulgarians - 0,0058
14) Macedonians - 0,0065
15) Montenegrins - 0,0077
16) Norh Russians - 0,0098

Source:

A. Kushniarevich et al., "Genetic Heritage of the Balto-Slavic Speaking Populations", Table B in S1 File.
Matrix of mean population pairwise Fst for Balto-Slavic populations calculated from autosomal SNP data.
 
In terms of phenotypes I think that there is also a large overlap between Poles and these 15,000 Latvians:

 
Cool. It would be interesting to figure out when did it happen? Was it during Slavic expansion and heavy mixing, or was it a slow process during times of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
 
Hm.
So, this is not Poles to Latvians (ahead of all Slavs), but Latvians to Poles (ahead of all Slavs).

Other valid close choises for Latvians are Lithuanians (done, ahead of Poles), Estonians (not in study), Belarussians (below Poles), Russians (below Poles).
Why Poles ahead of them others? I will think :)
 
OK, I thought.
No idea :)
The links for Poles and Latvians are many, and quite surely CW was great Mother for both folks.
There were West Balts as substrate for both Poles and Latvians BUT there was East Balts as substrate for Belorussians which should be more important link.
There were Polish immigrants or colonists in Latvia in different times, but was it bigger than Belorussian?

So, many reasons for Poles to be similar to Latvians (and vice versa) but no real reason for Latvians to be less similar to Belarussians.
 
Did they sampled Poles from all Poland or mostly from North-East?
 
Very interesting data,I'm not surprised about this.
Territory of Poland share history with that area much more than with any other.
 
I wonder how this looks from opposite direction.
Of Balto-Slavic people Poles are our (Latvian) second closest population after Lithuanians (that is fair enough, except for Belarus).
But I am fairly confident we (Latvians) are not second closest to Poles.
I would expect for Poles smthg like:
Belarussians 0.0002
Ukrainians 0.0003
Russians 0.0005
Latvians, Lithuanians 0.0011

Nothing to be surprised really.
 
I wonder how this looks from opposite direction.
Of Balto-Slavic people Poles are our (Latvian) second closest population after Lithuanians (that is fair enough, except for Belarus).
But I am fairly confident we (Latvians) are not second closest to Poles.
I would expect for Poles smthg like:
Belarussians 0.0002
Ukrainians 0.0003
Russians 0.0005
Latvians, Lithuanians 0.0011

Nothing to be surprised really.

Genetic distance between Poles and:

0) Poles - 0,0000
1) Belarusians - 0,0000
2) Ukrainians - 0,0002
3) South Russians - 0,0004
4) Czechs - 0,0005
5) Slovaks - 0,0006

6) Central Russians - 0,0010
7) Lithuanians, Latvians - 0,0011
9) Croatians - 0,0013
10) Slovenes - 0,0015
11) Bosnians - 0,0017
12) Serbians - 0,0023
13) Bulgarians - 0,0030
14) Macedonians - 0,0031
15) Montenegrins - 0,0043
16) North Russians - 0,0087

Source: the same
 
Genetic distance between Poles and:

0) Poles - 0,0000
1) Belarusians - 0,0000
2) Ukrainians - 0,0002
3) South Russians - 0,0004
4) Czechs - 0,0005
5) Slovaks - 0,0006

6) Central Russians - 0,0010
7) Lithuanians, Latvians - 0,0011
9) Croatians - 0,0013
10) Slovenes - 0,0015
11) Bosnians - 0,0017
12) Serbians - 0,0023
13) Bulgarians - 0,0030
14) Macedonians - 0,0031
15) Montenegrins - 0,0043
16) North Russians - 0,0087

Source: the same
I'm surprised Poles are closer to South Russians than to Slovaks or Czechs.
 
Interesting but a bit misleading until tomenable posted poles to other countries which made better sense. Im not suprised though that lithuanians and Poles are highly related genetically as many poles I know look very baltic. Im also suprised to see poles closer to southern russians than they are to czechs and slovaks, possible later expansions from southern russia into poland maybe?
 
In the study that was sourced only samples from North east Poland were sampled for autosomal dna, would be a more informitive study if southern and wester poles had also been sampled autosomally
 
Interesting but a bit misleading until tomenable posted poles to other countries which made better sense. Im not suprised though that lithuanians and Poles are highly related genetically as many poles I know look very baltic. Im also suprised to see poles closer to southern russians than they are to czechs and slovaks, possible later expansions from southern russia into poland maybe?
Is this where a second tribe Polans (Polanie) by Kiev was? Welcome to Eupedia srdceleva.
East_Slavic_tribes_peoples_8th_9th_century.jpg
 
I'm surprised Poles are closer to South Russians than to Slovaks or Czechs.

"South Russians" are genetically Ukrainians who identify as Russians. Maybe that is why.

Otherwise how to explain that Central Russians are already much farther away from Poles.

In the study that was sourced only samples from North east Poland were sampled for autosomal dna

So maybe that's why Czechs and Slovaks are 0,0005 and 0,0006 rather than even closer.

But are you sure that only North-East Poles were sampled? Where did you find this info?
 
thank you for the welcome Lebrok. Very interesting there could possibly be a link between the two tribes, it would explain some things, though the term polan could just be a common name for a tribe that lives in fields.
 
if you go to the study and look at the figure on page 4/19 you will see a map signifying where there samples for y dna, mt dna, and autosomal dna came from. Autosomal is indicated with a triangle. In poland you will see its from the north east. Also in slovakia the samples seem to be taken from very far west, which may also account for the genetic distance between poles and slovaks
 
wow never knew poles were also sent to persia. Polish people either forced or willingly ended up in so many places in the world spreading the slavic genes to the masses lol!
 

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