The Jewish and Arab genetic ancestry of the Spaniards

The Jewish and Arab genetic ancestry of the Spaniards
By h.b. - Dec 5, 2008 - 6:56 AM




The view of the Alhambra palace in Granada, from the St. Nicolás mirador - Archive Photo EFE
A new study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics shows
that a third of Spaniards have genetic evidence from other cultures.
A new genetic study has claimed that one in five Spaniards have Jewish
ancestors, and one in ten have genes inherited from Muslims. In fact a
third of Spaniards have genetic evidence of other cultures with a
further one in ten with genes from the inhabitants of the North of
Africa.
The study was carried out be scientists at Leicester University in the
UK and the Pompeu Fabra University from Barcelona, and led by Briton
Mark Jobling.
They studied the Y chromosome of residents of the peninsular and the
Balearics and compared them to samples from North Africans and
Sephardic Jews to reach the conclusion that one in three Spaniards has
Moorish or Jewish ancestors.
The Y chromosome is only present in men and is passed from father to
son. They took samples from 1,140 people in Spain to reach their
conclusions.
The complete study is published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

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