Last month I ordered a genetic kit of the Genographic Project from National Geographic. I got my kit in less than two weeks together. The package included a video about genetic research on human expansion and migration. You can use the kit to order either a test on your paternal ancestry or your maternal one. I chose to check out first thing the paternal part because I thought that could give more details.
I scrapped slightly in my mouth with two buccal swabs and sent them back to the Genographic project. On their site I can see the samples have been analysed and they are now being re-checked by two analylists. In a couple of weeks I hope to get basically the haplogroup as indicated in my Y-chromosome.
I would probably not have done this test if I were not Venezuelan: I am the average mixed person. I know who the parents of my grandparents were, but most of the rest in the past is difficult to find out. I know some came to Venezuela from the Canary Islands. I know one probably came from Northern Spain. I know another one was perhaps Central European. I certainly know my grandmother on my mother's side had Indian blood as she looked very Indian, as my sister. Perhaps her ancestors were the Indians that populated the Tacarigua Lake, from where a lot of my people came. Unfortunately, records in Venezuela have been mostly destroyed. I know one of my ancestors from my dad's side was called a "zambo", a mixture of a Black with an Indian. I just don't know where the maternal or paternal ancestors came from.
My guess is that the paternal line will turn out to be West European and the maternal one Native American, but it could be anything: African and African, African and West European, etc.
That is why this test will bring me something really new.
I was thinking it would be very interesting if National Geographic or other groups could carry out a comprehensive research among Venezuelan Indians. We know some things about the Indian migrations that took place in what would become Venezuela, but nothing very sure. We know more or less where the Arawacs were and how the Carib groups were expanding when the Spanish invasion arrived. It would be interesting to find out the genetic distance between Arawaks as still represented by the Wayúu and a couple of other minor groups and the Caribs, as still represented by the Pemones and the Yeq'wana. It would be very interesting to find out how related Warao Indians - with a language considered an isolate - are with the other groups still present in Venezuela. But then: scientists hav had difficulties getting permission from Indian groups, who were afraid - with good reason - of being cheated again. Now, with a government that sees everything coming from the United States and Europe as "evil", such a project would be less likely to happen. It is a pity. We could find out interesting information about how our history.
After I am done with the paternal ancestry, I will check out the maternal one. Did I come from I? J? X? Something else?
I scrapped slightly in my mouth with two buccal swabs and sent them back to the Genographic project. On their site I can see the samples have been analysed and they are now being re-checked by two analylists. In a couple of weeks I hope to get basically the haplogroup as indicated in my Y-chromosome.
I would probably not have done this test if I were not Venezuelan: I am the average mixed person. I know who the parents of my grandparents were, but most of the rest in the past is difficult to find out. I know some came to Venezuela from the Canary Islands. I know one probably came from Northern Spain. I know another one was perhaps Central European. I certainly know my grandmother on my mother's side had Indian blood as she looked very Indian, as my sister. Perhaps her ancestors were the Indians that populated the Tacarigua Lake, from where a lot of my people came. Unfortunately, records in Venezuela have been mostly destroyed. I know one of my ancestors from my dad's side was called a "zambo", a mixture of a Black with an Indian. I just don't know where the maternal or paternal ancestors came from.
My guess is that the paternal line will turn out to be West European and the maternal one Native American, but it could be anything: African and African, African and West European, etc.
That is why this test will bring me something really new.
I was thinking it would be very interesting if National Geographic or other groups could carry out a comprehensive research among Venezuelan Indians. We know some things about the Indian migrations that took place in what would become Venezuela, but nothing very sure. We know more or less where the Arawacs were and how the Carib groups were expanding when the Spanish invasion arrived. It would be interesting to find out the genetic distance between Arawaks as still represented by the Wayúu and a couple of other minor groups and the Caribs, as still represented by the Pemones and the Yeq'wana. It would be very interesting to find out how related Warao Indians - with a language considered an isolate - are with the other groups still present in Venezuela. But then: scientists hav had difficulties getting permission from Indian groups, who were afraid - with good reason - of being cheated again. Now, with a government that sees everything coming from the United States and Europe as "evil", such a project would be less likely to happen. It is a pity. We could find out interesting information about how our history.
After I am done with the paternal ancestry, I will check out the maternal one. Did I come from I? J? X? Something else?