Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas.

ABSTRACT: According to historical records of transatlantic slavery, traders forcibly deported an estimated 12.5 million people from ports along the Atlantic coastline of Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries, with global impacts reaching to the present day, more than a century and a half after slavery's abolition. Such records have fueled a broad understanding of the forced migration from Africa to the Americas yet remain underexplored in concert with genetic data. Here, we analyzed genotype array data from 50,281 research participants, which-combined with historical shipping documents-illustrate that the current genetic landscape of the Americas is largely concordant with expectations derived from documentation of slave voyages. For instance, genetic connections between people in slave trading

SUBMITTER: Micheletti SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7413858 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature