The Entwined African and Asian Genetic Roots of the Medieval Peoples.

[real expert]

The Entwined African and Asian Genetic Roots of the Medieval Peoples of the Swahili Coast (Brielle et al. 2022)

Abstract


The peoples of the Swahili coast of eastern Africa established a literate urban culture by the second millennium CE. They traded across eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean and were among the first sub-Saharan practitioners of Islam. An open question has been the extent to which these early interactions between Africans and non-Africans were accompanied by genetic admixture. We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 80 individuals in five medieval and early modern (1300-1800 CE) coastal towns, as well as people from an inland town postdating 1650 CE. Over half of the ancestry of most coastal individuals came from African ancestors; these African ancestors were primarily female. A slightly smaller proportion of ancestry was from Asia. This Asian component was approximately eighty to ninety percent from Near Eastern males and ten to twenty percent from Indian females. Peoples of African and Asian origins began to mix by around 1000 CE, a time when archaeological evidence documents changes on the coast that are often interpreted as marking the large-scale adoption of Islam. Before roughly 1500 CE, the Near Eastern ancestry detected in the individuals was mainly Persian-related, consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle, the oldest history told by the Swahili themselves. After this time, the sources of Near Eastern ancestry became increasingly Arabian, consistent with the archaeological and historical evidence of growing interactions between the Swahili coast and parts of southern Arabia. Subsequent interactions of Swahili coast peoples with other Asian and African groups further changed the ancestry of present-day peoples relative to the ancient individuals we sequenced, highlighting how Swahili genetic legacies can be more clearly understood with ancient DNA.

We first analyzed mitochondrial haplogroups transmitted entirely by females, restricting to non-first-degree relatives. All but one individual carries an L* haplogroup, which today is almost wholly restricted to sub-Saharan Africans [41–43]. The one individual with a non-L haplogroup is from Mtwapa and carries haplogroup M30d1, which is largely restricted to South Asia [42]. The mtDNA haplogroup distribution of sampled coastal individuals is consistent with female ancestry deriving almost entirely from African or Indian sources, with a higher proportion of African female ancestors. We also expanded our mtDNA analysis to include ancient coastal and island individuals with low coverage or who did not pass quality control on the autosomes but did have sufficient mtDNA coverage. With this larger group of individuals, all but two have L* haplogroup indicative of sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to the M30d1 haplogroup, common in South Asia, we identified a male individual with haplogroup R0+16189, which is common in Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa [44].

We also examined male-transmitted Y chromosome sequences, which tell a different story than female-transmitted mitochondrial DNA. Two of three non-first-degree related males from Manda belong to haplogroup J2, while the third belongs to G2; both haplogroups are characteristic of Near Eastern ancestry (plausibly Persian) and are largely absent in sub-Saharan Africa [45–47]. The Kilwa individual also carries a J2 haplogroup. Fourteen of the twenty male Mtwapa individuals belong to J-family haplogroups, and two belong to R1a haplogroups, all of which are typically non-African lineages. The four remaining individuals belong to E1 family haplogroups, characteristic of sub-Saharan Africa. The Y chromosome haplogroup distribution is consistent with the male ancestry of sampled individuals from Mtwapa deriving mostly, but not entirely, from the Near East. The Y chromosome haplogroup distribution in Mtwapa differs qualitatively from that in Manda and Kilwa in that it includes more J1’s than J2’s, but is still consistent with the male ancestry of sampled individuals from Mtwapa deriving mostly, but not entirely, from the Near East.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.10.499442v1.full

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Real expert: I downloaded that paper yesterday. The results are in my opinion, the first evidence of what happened as Islam spread into East Africa and the asymmetrical admixture from different source populations based on male and female. This DNA evidence is also consistent with what the historical record shows regarding the Arab-Muslim slave trade. That area of East Africa was a large center of the slave trade across the Indian Ocean with Professor Thomas Sowell (Harvard PhD in Economics) discusses in his youtube video on Slavery in Africa. There is a short 3-4 minute video by the Smithsonian on Youtube entitled the Indian Ocean slave trade was likely larger than the Transatlantic slave trade and it not only gets into the male/female admixture in East Africa, but also how the practice of castration of male sub-Saharan African men was the common practice as slaves were sent to the Middle East, Persia, the Ottoman empire etc vs. woman who would serve the harems and concubines or if met the eye of a rich elite, maybe wife. Yes, this same pattern is documented in the Americas in Central and South America where European Men were the source of the ancestry and Native American women the source of the female. In African-American populations, the 20-25% European admixture is like 80% from European Male sources. However, the systematic castration of Men did not happen per research by The Senegalese born Economist/Anthropologist Tidiane N’Diaye who has done some extensive research on the the Arab-Muslim slave trade (his term not mine).

As N'Diaye notes, the large Arab-Muslim slave trade, although it was not only Arabs (also Berbers, Persians, Asians, Ottomans), took between the 7^th and 16^th century, 10 million black Africans as slaves and today only 17 million descendants from these populations, because of the castration of the males (females were taken as parts of the Harem/Concubines as noted above). The European Trans-Atlantic slave trade took between 9.6 to 11 million, and there 70 million descendants in from these slaves. His research has won awards from the French Academic Academies.

N'Diaye did an interview with a newspaper called the Global Africa news on 19 June 2019 where he discussed his award winning research on this subject.

https://africaglobalnews.com/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade/

In the context of USA and education the way it has been taught the last 10 to 15 years, most young millennials and woke American young people think that Slavery started with European powers taking slaves from West Africa to North and South America. They didn't take anything. The terms of that slave trade were set by the rich Powerful West African kingdoms who supplied slaves to the Europeans who got them from those same West African powerful kingdoms. As Professor Thomas Sowell noted, the terms of the conditions of the European-Transatlantic slave trade were set by the powerful West Africans. The notion of Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries of venturing into the interior of Africa and taking slaves is false. Of course the oldest civilization with a written language (Sumerians) documented slavery in their text in circa 3300 BC. While the European Transatlantic slave trade is clearly taught, it seems the woke secular left in the USA and it seems in Europe (at least parts of Europe) have not wanted to tackle the far more devasting Arab-Muslim slave trade.

While the paper does briefly touch on the Slave trade from that region (in the 19th century), it in my view is the first research to provide evidence consistent with what N'Diaye documents in his research.

As I said, I frequent Professor Thomas Sowell's youtube videos and the issue of Slavery in the USA and how it is politicized today in USA education and politics is always a point of discussion. I have made a point to cite the Arab-Muslim/Indian Ocean slave trade, citing much of what I cited above and once this paper is published, will cite it and point it out to readers.

Cheers.

 

[I1a3_Young]

Did a double-take on the R1a but the rest looked as expected.

 

[Angela]

Real expert: I downloaded that paper yesterday. The results are in my opinion, the first evidence of what happened as Islam spread into East Africa and the asymmetrical admixture from different source populations based on male and female. This DNA evidence is also consistent with what the historical record shows regarding the Arab-Muslim slave trade. That area of East Africa was a large center of the slave trade across the Indian Ocean with Professor Thomas Sowell (Harvard PhD in Economics) discusses in his youtube video on Slavery in Africa. There is a short 3-4 minute video by the Smithsonian on Youtube entitled the Indian Ocean slave trade was likely larger than the Transatlantic slave trade and it not only gets into the male/female admixture in East Africa, but also how the practice of castration of male sub-Saharan African men was the common practice as slaves were sent to the Middle East, Persia, the Ottoman empire etc vs. woman who would serve the harems and concubines or if met the eye of a rich elite, maybe wife. Yes, this same pattern is documented in the Americas in Central and South America where European Men were the source of the ancestry and Native American women the source of the female. In African-American populations, the 20-25% European admixture is like 80% from European Male sources. However, the systematic castration of Men did not happen per research by The Senegalese born Economist/Anthropologist Tidiane N’Diaye who has done some extensive research on the the Arab-Muslim slave trade (his term not mine).

As N'Diaye notes, the large Arab-Muslim slave trade, although it was not only Arabs (also Berbers, Persians, Asians, Ottomans), took between the 7^th and 16^th century, 10 million black Africans as slaves and today only 17 million descendants from these populations, because of the castration of the males (females were taken as parts of the Harem/Concubines as noted above). The European Trans-Atlantic slave trade took between 9.6 to 11 million, and there 70 million descendants in from these slaves. His research has won awards from the French Academic Academies.

N'Diaye did an interview with a newspaper called the Global Africa news on 19 June 2019 where he discussed his award winning research on this subject.

https://africaglobalnews.com/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade/

In the context of USA and education the way it has been taught the last 10 to 15 years, most young millennials and woke American young people think that Slavery started with European powers taking slaves from West Africa to North and South America. They didn't take anything. The terms of that slave trade were set by the rich Powerful West African kingdoms who supplied slaves to the Europeans who got them from those same West African powerful kingdoms. As Professor Thomas Sowell noted, the terms of the conditions of the European-Transatlantic slave trade were set by the powerful West Africans. The notion of Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries of venturing into the interior of Africa and taking slaves is false. Of course the oldest civilization with a written language (Sumerians) documented slavery in their text in circa 3300 BC. While the European Transatlantic slave trade is clearly taught, it seems the woke secular left in the USA and it seems in Europe (at least parts of Europe) have not wanted to tackle the far more devasting Arab-Muslim slave trade.

While the paper does briefly touch on the Slave trade from that region (in the 19th century), it in my view is the first research to provide evidence consistent with what N'Diaye documents in his research.

As I said, I frequent Professor Thomas Sowell's youtube videos and the issue of Slavery in the USA and how it is politicized today in USA education and politics is always a point of discussion. I have made a point to cite the Arab-Muslim/Indian Ocean slave trade, citing much of what I cited above and once this paper is published, will cite it and point it out to readers.

Cheers.

Out of juice, but good post.

 

[real expert]

Real expert: I downloaded that paper yesterday. The results are in my opinion, the first evidence of what happened as Islam spread into East Africa and the asymmetrical admixture from different source populations based on male and female. This DNA evidence is also consistent with what the historical record shows regarding the Arab-Muslim slave trade. That area of East Africa was a large center of the slave trade across the Indian Ocean with Professor Thomas Sowell (Harvard PhD in Economics) discusses in his youtube video on Slavery in Africa. There is a short 3-4 minute video by the Smithsonian on Youtube entitled the Indian Ocean slave trade was likely larger than the Transatlantic slave trade and it not only gets into the male/female admixture in East Africa, but also how the practice of castration of male sub-Saharan African men was the common practice as slaves were sent to the Middle East, Persia, the Ottoman empire etc vs. woman who would serve the harems and concubines or if met the eye of a rich elite, maybe wife. Yes, this same pattern is documented in the Americas in Central and South America where European Men were the source of the ancestry and Native American women the source of the female. In African-American populations, the 20-25% European admixture is like 80% from European Male sources. However, the systematic castration of Men did not happen per research by The Senegalese born Economist/Anthropologist Tidiane N’Diaye who has done some extensive research on the the Arab-Muslim slave trade (his term not mine).

As N'Diaye notes, the large Arab-Muslim slave trade, although it was not only Arabs (also Berbers, Persians, Asians, Ottomans), took between the 7^th and 16^th century, 10 million black Africans as slaves and today only 17 million descendants from these populations, because of the castration of the males (females were taken as parts of the Harem/Concubines as noted above). The European Trans-Atlantic slave trade took between 9.6 to 11 million, and there 70 million descendants in from these slaves. His research has won awards from the French Academic Academies.

N'Diaye did an interview with a newspaper called the Global Africa news on 19 June 2019 where he discussed his award winning research on this subject.

https://africaglobalnews.com/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade/

In the context of USA and education the way it has been taught the last 10 to 15 years, most young millennials and woke American young people think that Slavery started with European powers taking slaves from West Africa to North and South America. They didn't take anything. The terms of that slave trade were set by the rich Powerful West African kingdoms who supplied slaves to the Europeans who got them from those same West African powerful kingdoms. As Professor Thomas Sowell noted, the terms of the conditions of the European-Transatlantic slave trade were set by the powerful West Africans. The notion of Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries of venturing into the interior of Africa and taking slaves is false. Of course the oldest civilization with a written language (Sumerians) documented slavery in their text in circa 3300 BC. While the European Transatlantic slave trade is clearly taught, it seems the woke secular left in the USA and it seems in Europe (at least parts of Europe) have not wanted to tackle the far more devasting Arab-Muslim slave trade......

.....

Cheers.

Indeed. The global focus and discourse on slavery have concentrated on the Trans-Atlantic trade whereas the Arab/ Trans-Saharan slave trade is being largely ignored and not really taught. In fact, the Arab slave trade predates Islam and lasted for over a millennium.The truth of the matter is, the Arab slave trade enslaved far more and continued far longer than the Atlantic slave trade


This picture sums up the brutality of the Arab slave trade. A slave boy in Zanzibar has to wear a beam chained to his ankle as punishment for a small insult.

He was probably castrated too. It makes you sick to the stomach reading the details about how the gruesome producer was performed on little boys. They castrated the black slaves in the most inhumane manner. With that being said, not all enslaved African males were castrated since the Arabs used and needed lots of strong men and soldiers for their Armies. In contrast to the Trans-Atlantic trade the Arab slave trade dealt primarily with women, particularly African women: a ratio of two women for each man.

Here's an article that affirms your comment.

The poor children of the black countries seem to meet death here, at the last stage of a long, hopeless and painful journey. The long journey accomplished with insufficient food and scarce water, the contrast between the rich natural resources and the humid atmosphere of their homeland and the dry and anemic air of the desert, the fatigue and the privations imposed by their masters and by the circumstances in which they find themselves, all this has gradually ruined their young strengths. The memory of their homeland that has disappeared along the way, their fear of an unknown future, the endless journey under the blows, hunger, thirst and deadly exhaustion have paralyzed their last faculties of resistance. If the poor creatures lack strength to get up and walk again, they are simply abandoned, and their minds slowly fade under the destructive effect of the rays of the sun, hunger and thirst.1

The Arab slave trade was characterized by appalling violence, castration, and rape. The men were systematically castrated to prevent them from reproducing and becoming a stock. This inhumane practice resulted in a high death rate: six out of 10 people who were mutilated died from their wounds in castration centers. The Arab slave trade also targeted African women and girls, who were captured and deported for use as sex slaves.

According to the work of some historians, the Arab slave trade has affected more than 17 million people. In the Saharan region alone, more than nine million African captives were deported and two million died on the roads.

https://jcpa.org/article/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade-lifting-the-taboo/

 

[D.L.M]

Trans-Atlantic was the worst slavery in history. Far worse than the Arab slave trade.

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Trans-Atlantic was the worst slavery in history. Far worse than the Arab slave trade.

I respectfully disagree

 

[D.L.M]

I respectfully disagree

Well I was talking about the treatment of the slaves. The lifestyle of Africans descended from Atlantic Slave Trade is of course better in the New World in comparison with the Islamic countries.

 

[Palermo Trapani]

Well I was talking about the treatment of the slaves. The lifestyle of Africans descended from Atlantic Slave Trade is of course better in the New World in comparison with the Islamic countries.

Well treatment is still something that as we get more research on the Arab-Muslim slave trade (The European-Transatlantic has been well studied) that one seems pretty rough if you were a man. For women, is was much the same for both slave trades. Powerful/Rich males using that power over the enslaved women. The Female to male ratio was 2-1 in the Arab-Muslim slave trade and to prevent the males from being able to reproduce with the women from their homelands, the men were made to use the biblical term "eunuchs".

The West African Anthropologist N'Diaye documents this fact (others have as well including the Smithsonian video on the Indian Ocean slave trade that I mentioned) very clear and straight detail.

Professor Thomas Sowell in his youtube video "The Hidden Truth of Slavery" which is a 15 minute segment taken from his larger video Black Rednecks and White Liberals (2 hours 19 minutes where this 15 minute segment is taken from) points out the same fact.