Description of The Regions in My Genographic 2.0 Results:

Great Britain and Ireland

This component of your ancestry is associated with the western European islands of Great Britain and Ireland, but traces can also be found along the northern and western coasts of continental Europe. As modern humans first entered Europe, this part of the world was uninhabitable and covered in ice sheets. As the ice sheets retreated, settlers moved to the islands. The earliest settlers likely survived on fishing, but farming eventually reached the islands in the past several thousand years. Stone monuments (e.g., Stonehenge) are associated with some of the islands’ earliest cultures. Historically, these islands were populated by Celts and later marked the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire, thus genetic connections still exist between these regions. Yet it was Britain’s global empire during the 18th and 19th centuries that helped spread this component, as well as the English language, throughout the world.

Today, this ancestral component is seen in people of British and Irish descent, including those throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and most other former British colonies.

Western and Central Europe

This component of your ancestry is associated with a prehistoric European population that arose from a hybrid of different migrant groups. The region extends from northern Spain east through France, the lowlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Prehistorically, this region of Europe was home to Neanderthals, and it was possibly here where your modern human ancestors mixed with your Neanderthal ancestors as the two related species met 40,000 years ago. Historically, this region saw continuous human migration from the north, west, south, and east, which is evident from the dozens of distinct mitochondrial DNA lineages that exist there today.

This genetic component of your ancestry is seen in most people of European ancestry, but it’s highest among those with Spanish, French, Dutch, Swiss, Austrian, German, and northern Italian ancestry.

Eastern Europe

This component of your ancestry originates in the plains that extend from the Danube River and the Black Sea north to the Baltic Sea and east to the Volga River and the Ural Mountains of Russia. Your ancestors who lived in this region thousands of years ago were likely hunters and gatherers who gradually adopted agriculture from their neighbours to the south and west. Some scientists believe that it was in this region of the world where horses were first domesticated.

Today, this part of the world is associated with Slavic and Baltic cultures, as well as Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, and German peoples.

Scandinavia

This component of your ancestry is associated with the Nordic regions of Europe. This part of Europe was the last to be settled since it was covered in glaciers for thousands of years longer than the lands to the south. As the name states, this region is associated with the peninsula of Scandinavia and its adjacent regions of Iceland and Denmark. Your prehistoric Scandinavian ancestors most likely survived from hunting, gathering, and fishing, and it wasn’t until a few thousand years ago that farming first reached the area. Historically, Scandinavia was the home of Vikings, who were known to voyage south and west and interacting, both peacefully and violently, with their neighbors in Great Britain and central Europe.

This genetic component of your ancestry is seen in people of Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, and Danish ancestry, although it also occurs in people from Britain and continental Europe.

Arabia

This component of your ancestry is associated with the region around the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Caspian Sea. This region was the first stepping-stone in modern humans’ migrations out of Africa. Prehistorically, Arabia is considered to be the earliest site of plant domestication and is also home to some of the oldest known buildings, and likewise the oldest known evidence of writing and possibly the earliest civilizations. Historically, the region saw continuous movement of groups for tens of millennia. One of the largest was the growth of Islam, centered in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

Today, this ancestral component occurs at highest frequency in people from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq. Because of its importance geographically and culturally, this component is also seen in North and East Africa, parts of Europe, and to the east in Iran and Afghanistan.