Which DNA testing companies shed the most detailed light on African ancestry? What makes Africa the most genetically diverse continent? Why is it so important for scientists to understand the genetic heritage of those with African roots? Read answers here.
In the late 1990s, scientists began opening up the rich record of our human origins encoded in our chromosomes. Some of the early visionaries played with the idea of applying DNA to questions of personal ancestry. Many researchers were especially interested in the unique character of African genetics that was coming to light in the scientific literature.
But before we talk about how to explore African origins today via DNA testing, let’s review some history.
African migration history
The global African diaspora that started in the early 1500s saw the enormous forced migration of ultimately 12.5 million native Africans to distant trans-Atlantic points. Written records show that over the next 400 years, populations along the west coast of Africa were carried away from modern-day Senegal in the north to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the south. It is thought that 2 million more did not survive the inhumane conditions of the ocean crossing. Most of those who did survive were taken to ports in the Caribbean, Central and South America, with 3-5% disembarking in North America.
Long before these more recent massive African population migrations, significant ancient events developed within the African continent that would shape the genetic character of the entire planet. Inquiries through the viewpoints of anthropology, archaeology, and genetics support that for tens of thousands of years Homo sapiens lived throughout Africa. The DNA of all of us today traces us back to these early ancestors. Although there were many groups of people living on the African continent, only some of those lineages have survived to the present day.
Over time, as groups splintered from one another and expanded geographically, they became quite isolated and over thousands of years did not share genetic material. So each random DNA mutation that independently arose in those isolated groups stayed within their close population. Over time each individual group amassed highly distinctive genetic signatures. The result today is that modern Africans, who are the descendants of these ancient isolated tribes, comprise the most genetically diverse continental population of any on the planet.

Map depicting the way early modern humans (Homo sapiens) are thought to have spread across the globe. It also shows the geographical spread of Homo erectus and the Neanderthals. The dates are approximations. Public domain image.
At one point in human history, a small group of intrepid travelers moved out of eastern Africa into Asia. Everyone alive today that has ancestry from somewhere other than Africa is a descendant of these ancient migrants, a small group that had possibly as few as 100 members. Amazing, yes? Changes in climactic conditions which advanced the expansion of the Sahara Desert further cemented this geographic separation of traveling peoples, making it difficult for them to turn back. Another great influencing factor on human population dynamics during this long prehistoric era was an extreme environmental event called the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Global temperature averages were 15 degrees lower than today. Much of North America, Europe and Northern Asia were covered in thick ice sheets; conversely, conditions in the rest of the world became overly dry and inhospitable. Groups of people survived these harsh conditions in refuge areas, and were unable to interact with other populations for extended periods due to ice and desert barriers. These events set the stage for the emergence of the genetic features that are characteristic of today’s diverse world populations.
Now, many millennia later, population dynamics influenced by our environment and also by social factors still shape the biology of our human condition and are detectable in our genetics. For Africans today, in addition to being deeply rooted in ancient diversity, the modern diaspora has served to further diversify the genetic makeup of the community. The ushering in of the genomic era has allowed for a more widespread characterization of Africans around the world, demonstrating that today the experience of the people of the African diaspora is one of mixture.
Several studies have found that people who self-identify as African American can have a large degree of variation of mixing between European, Native American and African ancestry. One study showed 10-fold variance in the contribution of European DNA to self-identified African Americans between cities in South Carolina (3.5%) to the level seen in Seattle (35%), and everything in-between throughout other regions in the United States. Variation of mixing in Latin America is also evident, with individuals in Puerto Rico having a much larger contribution of African DNA than individuals living Mexico, for example.
Another striking genetic trend among descendants of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is European male and African female sex bias. It is reported that 30% of self-identified African Americans that query their Y-chromosomes find, often to their surprise, that they are linked to a European lineage on their paternal line. This reflects practices of sexual exploitation of enslaved women perpetrated by white enslavers, cases of which are receiving greater acknowledgment today in large part due to genetic tools that have given largely indisputable evidence of this.
While these genetic findings certainly illuminate history and ancestry that is not necessarily captured in written accounts of the day, they have further significance to the contemporary descendants of the African diaspora, namely as genetics related to health. All populations of the world experience health disparities, elevated rates and death for the same diseases when compared to other groups. For example, African Americans in particular are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer, colon cancer, Type II diabetes, hypertension, and other conditions. While there is an environmental or lifestyle component to these diseases, African Americans may have genetic risk factors that give them a propensity for developing these health problems over those with different ancestry. As we move into an era of personalized precision medicine, if African Americans are to fully benefit, it is critical to understand how DNA plays a role in risk for disease in this population. Uncovering the ancestry of the African diaspora, which includes the deep diversity of antiquity and extensive modern mixing with other populations, will give more information and stronger tools for improved health.
DNA testing for African ancestry: What are the options?
AfricanAncestry.com was founded by Dr. Rick Kittles in 2003 with the purpose of extending the access of genetic tools to the African community. The database was constructed under the guidance of historians, anthropologists and archaeologists to target essential populations for making a robust reference for members of the African diaspora. They are still in business, but their test offers only YDNA and mtDNA testing, and that only at minimal levels. So yes, they may be able to tell you a country of origin for one of your direct lines based on their dataset, but they do not provide any DNA matching for genealogy purposes.
If you want to review the DNA you received from both sides of your family, that is called autosomal DNA, and there are two excellent options for individuals with African American heritage:
- 23andMe recently reported an extended understanding of the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the Americas. New observations of genetic trends among descendants of the African diaspora show that to this day there are geographic centers in the Americas of certain Western African populations that correspond to slave-era shipping records. Researchers also used techniques to estimate the time frame that individuals with chromosome segments in common were likely to share a common ancestor. Their time estimate results are generally supportive of various embarkment ports and dates that were documented in West Africa over the 400 year period of the slave trade. These new inquiries are powered by 25,000 23andMe research participants who have four grandparents with roots across the Americas and Africa, and the Ancestry Composition algorithm used by 23andMe in ethnicity tests for public clients. Where AfricanAncestry.com gives specific information for just the direct maternal and direct paternal lineages, 23andMe incorporates genetic information from all chromosomes to give an overall picture of ethnicity mixture from all ancestral lines. As this new resource becomes available to the public, clients with African heritage will have another robust tool available to explore and understand their complex and remarkable ancestry. In July 2023, 23andMe included 19 new Afro-Caribbean genetic groups from distinct islands or island chains. They noted that about 27% of customers with more than 5% African ancestry will see a match in one or two of these 19 new groups, and 75% of customers with four grandparents from the Caribbean will see a match.
- AncestryDNA has also stepped up research into African American and Afro Caribbean roots, offering insight into the recent migrations of these communities over the last 200 years or so in the form of dozens of migration groups. The map below illustrates some of those communities; read more about them here.

Overview of all AncestryDNA African American communities from 1925-1950. This image shows the exodus of many African Americans from the South to areas in the North and West. This event is commonly known as the Great Migration. Source: Ancestry.com.
Another option
In addition, MyHeritage also reports several African ethnicities in its DNA tests, among them Central African, Ethiopian Jewish, Kenyan, Maasai, Nigerian, North African, Sephardic Jewish, Sierra Leonean, Somali and West African. Here’s an interactive map showing the most common ethnicities in Africa, according to MyHeritage DNA users’ data. (Here’s a tip for you: Get an inexpensive second opinion on your ethnic origins from Africa–or anywhere else. If you’ve taken an autosomal DNA test from another company, download your raw data and upload it for free to MyHeritage. Then pay $29 to unlock their DNA tools, including the ethnicity report.)
With these important developments, individuals with African ancestry can gain confidence that DNA science is beginning to keep pace with the varied and particular needs of all world populations. The increased focus on developing tools specific to the African population will allow clients to bridge connections to personal ancestry even in the sweeping absence of written records. As the science continues to develop, better information and stronger tools for improved health of individuals of African descent will be elucidated—and so will our understanding of the lasting cultural legacy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in the Americas.
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