European colonisation of South America resulted in a dramatic shift from a native American population to a largely mixed one, a genetic study has shown.
Posted on 03/21/2008 5:08:17 AM PDT by decimon
European colonisation of South America resulted in a dramatic shift from a native American population to a largely mixed one, a genetic study has shown.
It suggests male European settlers mated with native and African women, and slaughtered the men.
But it adds that areas like Mexico City "still preserve the genetic heritage" because these areas had a high number of natives at the time of colonisation.
The findings appear in the journal Public Library of Science Genetics.
The international team of researchers wrote: "The history of Latin America has entailed a complex process of population mixture between natives and recent immigrants across a vast geographic region.
"Few details are known about this process or about how it shaped the genetic make-up of Latin American populations."
'Clear signature'
The study examined 249 unrelated individuals from 13 Mestizo populations (people from a mixed European/native American origin) in seven countries, ranging from Chile in the south to Mexico in the north.
"There is a clear genetic signature," explained lead author Andres Luiz-Linares from University College London.
"The initial mixing occurred predominately between immigrant and European men and native and African women."
He said that the study showed that it was a pattern that was uniform across Latin America.
"We see it in all the populations we examined, so it is clearly a historical fact that the ancestors of these populations can be traced to matings between immigrant men and native and African women."
The researchers found that within the genetic landscape of Latin America, there were variations.
"The Mestizo with the highest native ancestry are in areas which historically have had relatively large native populations," they reported.
This included Andean regions and cities such as Mexico City, where major civilisations were already established by the time Europeans reached the continent in the late 15th Century.
"By contrast, the Mestizo with the highest European ancestry are from areas with relatively low pre-Columbian native population density and where the current native population is sparse," they added.
Bloody past
Explaining the fate of native males when the Europeans arrived, Professor Luiz-Linares said: "It is a very sad and terrible historical fact, they were basically annihilated.
"Not only did the European settlers take away land and property, they also took away the women and, as much as possible, they exterminated the men."
He said the findings could help people change their perception of Latin American history.
"It is very important in terms of rescuing the past and recognising the roots of the population, and the living presence of natives within the current population," Professor Luiz-Linares explained.
As well as providing an insight into the past, the team hopes that the findings will also help shape studies aimed at identifying and analysing diseases.
“More of this, please. It should take the wind out of some moral-superiority sails.”
Interesting article, strange response. Who are you trying to agitate?
So, by studying genetics they can determine that European settlers "slaughtered" men of African origin?
I doubt that seriously!
Whoever would be agitated.
The common current impression is that something unique occurred in the U.S. in terms of Europeans mistreating aboriginals. Peoples south of the U.S. are allowed the pretense of some morally superior history. That is bunkum and, regardless of intent, articles like this act against that pretense.
European colonisation of South America resulted in a dramatic shift from a native American population to a largely mixed one, a genetic study has shown.
The mixed heritage wouldn’t be so obvious among the people appearing to be purely native.
"The epidemic of cocoliztli from 1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 million to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population of Mexico (Figure 1). In absolute and relative terms the 1545 epidemic was one of the worst demographic catastrophes in human history, approaching even the Black Death of bubonic plague, which killed approximately 25 million in western Europe from 1347 to 1351 or about 50% of the regional population."
The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 cocoliztli epidemic killed an additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population.
The people with mixed DNA would have a better chance of surviving European diseases than the non-mixed population. This could ‘skew’ the data.
I’m not affirming or denying the contentions of the article. I welcome what debate it might spur.
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Pingworthy?
An excellent point.
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the context is the male indians were slaughtered.
if true, it’s a holocaust of mega proportions.
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