South Asia-related ancestry
This is a confidence group for Balochistan ancestry. It includes Balochistan, Sindh and Pashtun populations. As an intermediate sized population grouping for Balochistan, it is likely that your ancestry includes all three populations, or your ancestry from these regions is small and the exact origin is uncertain.
Pakistan lies at a crossroads. The midway point between the Iranian Plateau, the Central Asian steppes, and the Indian subcontinent, the country has forever been home to a plethora of different ethnic groups. Situated across its southwestern mountains and plains, Balochistan is a perfect example of how this cradle of genetic diversity can lead to a unique cultural and regional outlook.
Home to (amongst other groups) the Balochi, Makrani, and Brahui people, the genetic signature of this region owes much of its origins to the sometimes ancient ties this area had with the lands surrounding the western Indian Ocean. Closely related to neighbouring Pakistani groups, Balochistan's location towards the historical Persian and Islamic centres of power has influenced its history. Genetic markers relating to Iranian, Indian, West Asian and African people can all be found here, reflecting the generations of migration, trade, and invasions that the region has witnessed. Political boundaries here often don’t reflect the reality of the historical territories of various states and tribes that exist here, and so it is common to also find the Balochistan signature in parts of Western Iran, Sindh, and Southern Afghanistan. Ruled over at various points in time by Greek, Persian, and Indian states, the people of Balochistan are a product of thousands of years of multiculturalism and globalisation.
Unknown to many people, the southwestern Pakistani province of Sindh was once the heart of one of the world’s first great civilisations. Today, all that remains of the Indus Valley Civilisation are windswept and long abandoned cities, only visible through decades of archaeological work. With no enduring monuments left behind like the towering pyramids of Egypt to speak of, the original inhabitants of Sindh still hold many secrets. 3700 years have passed since their great civilisation disappeared, and since then many people from across Asia have shaped the genetic and cultural makeup of this ancient region.
The gateway between Iran and India, the genetic signature of Sindh today is most similar to the nearby Pashtun and Punjabi people. Here, an expansive history of migration and invasion can be read through the DNA of the region’s inhabitants. The original people of the Indus Valley Civilisation probably reached this area via a southern coastal route out of Africa, and after their collapse, a group dubbed the ‘Ancestral North Indians’ appear to have moved in from further west, intermingling with pre-existing populations. More recently, Greek, Indian, Persian, Mongol and British armies have all claimed this region for themselves. Today, the Sindhi live in Pakistan alongside many other related ethnic groups that call the country their home, including Pashtuns, Balochis, and Kalash.
First settled as far back as 50,000 years ago, the rugged mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan today are inhabited by many different ethnic groups. Of these, few are as widespread as the Pashtun, who form a sizeable majority across the south of Afghanistan and a notable minority in Central Pakistan. Until recently, anthropologists had to rely on ancient oral traditions and tantalising archaeological evidence to piece together the ancestry of the many groups in the region, an endeavour that has been revolutionised in recent times with the great advances made in genetic analysis.
Genetically similar to neighbouring Indian populations to the southeast, the Pashtun homeland lies at a juncture between the Central Asian steppes, the Indian subcontinent, and the Iranian plateau. As such, the Pashtun genetic signature contains markers commonly associated with many surrounding peoples. This is not surprising - Afghanistan and Pakistan have seen countless migrations and invasions over the years, and Indian, Persian, Greek, Arab, Central Asian, and Mongol incursions have left varying levels of both cultural and genetic legacies from across Eurasia. The Pashtun of Pakistan and Afghanistan today are more closely related to each other than to other ethnic groups in their own countries, a throwback to the often shifting borders that accompanied these historical population movements.