A Puerto Rican Look at: Generational 23andMe African Ancestry

This blog post will be an updated report on my African ancestry from 23andMe. Last month I had posted about some of my new European Ancestry reports from 23andMe while last year I wrote about my generational African mixes from AncestryDNA (which I'll have to update at some point as well!). Since 23andme has updated their African scores for most (I think at this point all of their past clients as well) I figured now would be a good time to go over these new results and what they look like now.

My Results

Before 23andMe upgraded their results to their current configuration, most of my African results were only listed as "West African", this ancestry tied to my sides of the family that were enslaved in Puerto Rico and my one branch which was from Martinique and Guadeloupe from my maternal side. So when I saw that 23andMe had updated their results to be more specific, I was excited to see what they were and compare them to my AncestryDNA ones. My current Ancestry Composition is listed as being updated "February 8, 2019" which isn't a full month since they've been up - it's also important to note that these results are not set in stone. As more genotypes from around the world are included and updated, there will be more diversity most amongst their samples and the more likely it is to become clearer. Below is a screenshot of my results:

23andMe African Results - Luis Rivera [23andMe]

As you can see there are few categories of African DNA for me, these mainly being: Senegambian & Guinean; Congolese; Nigeria; Ghanian, Liberian & Sierra Leonean; as well as some "broad" categories. For the rest of the blog, I am going to concentrate on percentages assigned to current day countries* and not to those under the "broad" African categories. Also, from my results I have attached my Ancestry Timeline (screenshot below) as well as the Sub-Saharan African genes highlighted across my chromosomes.

*Though these genes are tried to current day African borders and countries, it is fairly likely that some of this DNA poured over from other nearby countries before the modernized African countries as we know them were created post-colonization. This is important to note seeing as how tribes were not necessarily restricted to these modern borders.

Ancestry Timeline - Luis Rivera [23andMe]

From there results, there are a couple of takeaways. To begin with though my Nigerian DNA is listed at 3.1% my Ancestor Timeline shows that this ancestor was probably born between 1840-1900, the only other ancestry at that similar generational spot is "Spanish/Portuguese", which I attribute to my 3rd great-grandfather who came from Mallorca. Also, notice that the other African groups are listed at the early-mid 1700s-1840.

Highlighted Sub-Saharan African DNA - Luis Rivera [23andMe]

In my DNA above, notice that many of the segments are short, meaning that they were probably introduced into my family early on while other segments are a bit longer meaning that they aren't that far back in history. Some of the longer stretches are Chromosome 2 (Senegambian & Guinean), Chromosome 11 (Nigerian), and though Chromosome 14 seems to be a long stretch of DNA it's more of a chopped up mix of various regions and countries. You may also note that I have not included my X-chromosome in the photo above, this is because no West African DNA was transmitted to me through this chromosome, there is a piece of North African DNA but I am focusing on my West African results in this post seeing as how the North African piece can be most likely tied to Southern Spanish Moorish influence or even from the Canary Islands. 

Since I have tested both of my parents, you can see that each of my parents gave me different pieces of African DNA, most of it coming from my mother's side of the family. Notice that "Senegambian & Guinean" and "Ghanian, Liberian & Sierra Leonean" is fairly equal on both sides of my family, while "Congolese" and "Nigerian" mainly comes from my mother's side of the family. 

African DNA Parental Inheritance - Luis Rivera [23andMe]

Referencing FonteFelipe's blog (linked directly to Puerto Rican AncestryDNA results) has been very helpful when it came to breaking down my AncestryDNA results. Not only did it allow me to learn more about my breakdown but it gave me some historical insight to the results as well. These were some of the main points I took away which I posted on my blog that were helpful for me when it came to understanding my DNA results:

• It seems that on average, Senegal, N. Africa, and Mali were high and/or main ancestral contributions to the DNA gene pool for African DNA in Puerto Ricans. 
• Senegal and Mali specifically create an "Upper Guinea" Founder effect in Puerto Rico, where the genes were entered into the families' genetic pool early on and kept passing down through the various generations. 
• South-central Hunter-Gatherers can be from an ancient gene-flow from the Pygmy/San people into the Bantu areas. 
• These higher Senegal and SE Bantu results can be from the 1500-1600s, again causing a Founder Effect. 
• "Mali" in the AncestryDNA categories is a hard category to fit into a box. From the colonial period, "Mali" DNA can be from Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone. Some of the slaves from the region were known as "Bambara" and others as "Zape" (these mainly the Temne from Sierra Leone) and there was definitely a presence of these peoples throughout the slave trade in Puerto Rico. 
• There are three main regions that FonteFelipe works with when looking at the African DNA break down in AncestryDNA, these are: 
• A) Upper Guinea: Senegal, Mali 
• B) Lower Guinea: Ghana/Ivory Coast, Benin/Togo, Nigeria
• C) Central Africa: Cameroon/Congo, SE Bantu, Pygmy/San (South-Central Hunter-Gatherers) 

A couple of things to notice in-regards to the differences between 23andMe and AncestryDNA:

• On 23andMe Mali isn't a high contributor to DNA as it was on AncestryDNA, this has also since changed on AncestryDNA with my own Mali scores drastically dropping from what they were before. I also have not seen a specific "Mali" category on 23andMe. 
• Senegal on 23andme is roped into the region of "Senegambia and Guinea" which I would argue still creates a "founder effect" in Puerto Rico which we will see as I compare various family members. This would mean these genes were probably introduced on the earlier side of Puerto Rican history. 

Intending to organize my ancestry into similar categories of Upper and Lower Guinea as well as Central African, some of the 23andMe categories fit nicely while others not so easily. For simplicity's sake, I am going to group my regions as such:

• Upper Guinea: Senegambian & Guinean
• Lower Guinea: Ghanaian, Liberian & Sierra Leonean; Nigeria  
• Central Africa: Congolese

Linked above are FonteFelipe's description of each region with information and maps included!

Family Results

Taking various family members and placing their results into a table on Excel allowed me to compare between them their results and find trends amongst them as well. Below is a chart I created using various family member's results. Note: I used my great-aunt and great-uncle, both siblings of my paternal grandmother, to give me an idea of what my grandmother's results might look like if she were alive. I also grouped the family members that belonged to each side either under my father or mother, hopefully making it easier to see how each of these members contributed to my parents and ultimately to me.

African Results [23andMe]

It is important to note that this is not the total for my family's African results, for example "Broadly West African" was not included into this table and might be added later on when it is associated more clearly as these other groups are. Equally, North African is missing from the chart as well. There are a couple of things that stand out to me right away: 

• The first being the "Upper Guinea" column, as FonteFelipe had mentioned there seems to be a founder effect occurring in Puerto Rico via this category and I think that trend still stands here on 23andMe, you can see that each of my family members for the most part hover between 3-8% range and each of my family members has received a similar amount. 
• The second column of "Ghanian, Liberian, & Sierra Leonean" seems to be fairly small across many of my family members. The highest on my paternal side is my paternal great-aunt on my Rivera side with 1.3% while my mother's results are at 2.9%, my maternal grandmother at 3.0% and my maternal grandfather at 6.8%. Since my maternal great-grandfather only has 0.8% it is likely that my great-grandmother contributed more to my grandmother under this category. 
• The third column of "Nigerian" is very interesting, as you can see many of my family members receive rather low scores. However, myself, my mother, and my maternal grandfather are amongst the highest received percentages. It seems that via my maternal grandfather my connection to Nigeria is rather strong, which I'll talk about more down below. Similarly, my grandmother via her father seems to have some Nigerian DNA there but not as strong as my maternal grandfather. 
• The fourth column refers to Congolese DNA which I seem to inherit mainly from mother's side, specifically my maternal grandmother. Though my maternal grandfather scores 4% himself. 
• Lastly, the 5th column is Sudanese which is interesting seeing as how it's Eastern Africa but my mother and her grandmother receive a small percentage of 0.2% and 0.1% - I don't see it as something super important but I figured I'd add it seeing as how two people in my family inherited in different generations. 

Nigerian DNA

Amongst my three brothers, the difference were inherited is basically zero (only a 0.4% difference really) of the Nigerian DNA. You can also see other African scores as well between us. My little brother received the most African DNA at 18.7% while I come in second place at 17.5% and older brother at third with 16.8%. 

Nigerian DNA [23andMe]

As you can see, we've each inherited about ~3% of Nigerian DNA, this number goes up to 12.2% with my maternal grandfather. This unusually high percentage in his DNA makes me question where it's from. I imagine that not all of it came from one specific ancestor, especially after seeing that others in my family have inherited Nigerian DNA who are not connected to him, but it does raise the question of who specifically? My grandfather's ancestry timeline says that this Nigerian DNA came about in the years 1820-1880, this would mean that somewhere in his 2nd-3rd great-grandparents someone carried Nigerian DNA and a good amount of it. My grandfather does have long stretches of Nigerian DNA, his entire Chromosome 8 on one side is entirely Nigerian.

Grandfather's Nigerian DNA [23andMe]

There is no perfect science to how much an ancestor will give you but there is an average per each generation. At 12.5%, that would be a great-grandparent's DNA, and I know that I have no Nigerian ancestor that close. However, there is the case of my grandfather's great-grandmother María Paulina Gustave Lautin born in Puerto Rico in the year 1867, could most of this Nigerian DNA come from her parents? Both of Paulina's parents were born slaves on Martinique and Guadeloupe so having recent Nigerian DNA from them is very possible. Paulina's own grandmother (Eglantine Lautin) was born in Africa around the year 1821, fitting into the DNA timeline provided by 23andMe.

Conclusions

For now, I can't be too sure if I am on the right track in terms of finding out if my Nigerian DNA is mainly from my Gustave-Lautin line. I would have to test some cousins from this line to see what their Nigerian score is and see if I can add a brother of my grandfather to see what his score is as well. I also understand that these results feel like they are ever changing, so who knows what they'll look like in a year or beyond. For now, I'm taking my results with a grain of salt but it's interesting to see how each of my family members has inherited different amounts and how those get passed on to different generations and even to people within one generation.

A next step would be to identify on DNAPainter where I can attribute these Nigerian segments along my DNA and find potentially cousins that also fall under those areas in order to find out our Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA).

I am also excited for the day my DNA will be tied to certain individuals in the "old world" and hopefully provide me a glance to where my ancestors were from in Africa before the slave trade.

Post #100 – Happy 10 Years of Genealogy!

Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

Who would have thought that 10 years would have flown by this fast!? It feels like just yesterday I began talking to my relatives, asking them about my ancestors, and typing names into Ancestry.com to begin my search. I have definitely come a long way since then! Equally, this also marks the 100th post of my blog – who would have thought that would come whizzing by as well? I've learned so much over the years and have made some great discoveries. Looking back at my beginning years I of course was naïve at times (Hey, I was only 14!) and I have definitely learned from many rookies mistakes, and I'm still learning to this day. So I guess I just want to take some time to talk about my research from the last past 10 years – the good, the bad, and the ugly!

How I Got Started

I will never forget what fueled my now semi-obsessive passion – a photograph, some curiosity, and some elusive stories. Granted, at the time when I first became interested as a kid I had no idea what genealogy was and the internet wasn't even a thing yet, but I wanted to learn about my family. Who was that man in the photo? Why did that woman look native? Were they related to me? What?! My great great grandfather was from Spain and married a Taíno Indian? Why are abuela's eyes green?

I was always curious about my family and our origin; it wasn't until I was 14, however, that I began to search for my roots. I started asking questions but this time expecting answers: Who was my great grandmother? What was her name? When and where was she born? Who were her parents? Initially, I was greeted with a few genealogical-rich responses sprinkled her and there. Oh, that's your great grandmother Epifania Dávila Orozco. She was born in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico on the 6th of January 1914. Her parents were Pedro Dávila Ruiz and Francisca Orozco Santiago. However, after a while the well of knowledge in my family began to dry up and I had to turn to records. I wanted to prove whether or not I had Spanish and Taíno blood. Wanted to know where my family was from on the island and where our roots took us back to. I wanted to know where my grandfather's pride of his African roots came from. While working for the NYPL, a co-worker had mentioned that I could access the records from Ancestry.com for free through the Public Library and off I was exploring through Census Records (1910-1930 at the time), as well as WWI and WWII Registration Cards. My mind was buzzing with new names, dates, and places in Puerto Rico.

Familia Vélez Avilés [Personal Photo]

What I've Learned

First and foremost – Patience! Don't expect to type in one name and find an extensive tree on your family dating back to Adam and Eve. Especially if you're the first one in your family creating a tree like I was, initially there might not be much. Expect to sit there for hours making sense of dates, names, and relationships. Expect to sift through hundreds and if not thousands of records and turn up empty handed. Expect to feel defeated at times because that one pesky ancestor is hiding somewhere in the records. But also expect pure bliss when finding that one record to connect your lines. Expect happiness and elation when you find a record to prove your theory. Expect to yell and scream with happiness when you've pushed your lines further back. Ultimately, expect to learn more about yourself.

10 years is definitely a lot of time – I have dedicated probably easily over 1,000+ hours (If not WAY more) to researching my family's lines. I regret none of that time, it was time well spent. For the moments I've felt most defeated and hopeless, I learned that I most search harder and find new methods. I also learned that staying optimistic is key! Cooped up in room and sitting there for hours on end to find absolutely not one record on your family can be nerve-racking – but I would do it again any day! I've also learned to be prepared to make mistakes, to back track, and to doubt yourself. Document, document, document! Make notes for yourself and leave clues about records that have been searched or need to be searched. I'm still working on how to perfect these techniques but I'm learning everyday!

My Favorite Discovery

I think hands down my favorite discovery (so far) of all time would have to be discovering my 4th great grandmother Julienne Malvina Lautin. For those of you who might have been following my posts for a while now you know how frustrated at first I was. Records from Puerto Rico mentioned any variation of the name Lautin as Lotten, Lotin, Lote, Lotett, Lotiz, Sotin, Soti. Records mentioned that the family could have been from Martinique, Guadeloupe, England, France, or Saint Thomas. To get an idea of some of the confusion about Julienne and her husband read the post "Tracing a Surname" to catch a small glimpse. With the help of a fellow genealogist I was able to learn about the BNPM which would eventually unlock the mystery of my slave-born 4th great grandmother Julienne and her mother Eglantine. I would discover that Julienne was born in Rivière Salée, Martinique on the 6th of February 1844 on a sugar plantation to an African mother (and likely to an African slave father). Unknowingly, this is where the pride of being negro came from within my grandfather. To learn more about the discovery feel free to read "Sparks, Sparks, Sparks, A-Flyin'".

I think the only other discovery that will top this one is of Julienne's husband Gustave Jean-Charles. I think once I have solved that mystery I'll be eternally happy! Of course there are many more brick walls in my family tree – who doesn't have more than a few good uncrackable walls?! And can a genealogist even be eternally happy?

My Worst "UH OH" Moment

Ramona Rivera Rivera [Personal Photo] 

One of my worst (well, worst is a heavy word but I'll use it) "Uh Oh" moments happened while researching Ramona Rivera Rivera, my 2nd great grandmother. At the time I was researching her I was using only the census records and stories -- my grandfather originally said her name was "Ramona Rivera Rodríguez". So I found a woman with the same name, from the same town, and around the same age to match the information I had on my 2nd great grandmother. I began to build this branch with the information I had discovered. When I found out about FamilySearch I quickly began to continue researching the line and didn't really bother to backtrack and see if I had the right woman (a bit naïve I know). It wasn't until I found my great grandmother's (Ernestina Miranda Rivera) birth record in Vega Baja that I realized I had the wrong woman and wrong line. I had been able to extend this other woman's line for a good 3-5 generations on various lines and with the help of another genealogist she was able to provide information from the family's origin outside of Puerto Rico. Again, things happen for a reason and I definitely learned a lesson from this experience – always double check your sources and cross-reference with other information on your tree. In Puerto Rico, since both surnames are used it's usually a bit easier to avoid these issues but when you work with common names like Juan, María, José and common surnames like Rivera, Rodríguez, Ortiz -- then it's more likely to have to double check!

Here's a quick post from 2011 where I talked about clearing up this little mix-up!

Words of Advice 

Advice for novice genealogists or for anyone wanting to get started in general? I would say document your family's stories first!! This is something that I'm actually going back and doing now! At first I sat and listened to others and only pulled out important information like names, dates, and places. But over the years I began to notice that even the smallest details or the family stories turned myths had some sort of truth or clues in them. Now when I ask my family about a certain ancestor I make sure to document what they told me even if they were unsure. Not only does this help for referring back to previous conversations but you never know when that person will leave this Earth. Listening to a story is a wonderful thing but when you try and recall details it might get foggy and you yourself unknowingly add twists to the story. Did she say this or that? Also, documents can't tell the full story of your family! And that's why stories, anecdotes, and family lore are important to your search. You never know if what you were told was fiction is actually reality. Never doubt the power of storytelling!

If I Could Tell Myself Something 10 Years Ago

If I could go back in time and talk to myself 10 years ago when I first began my search I would have probably told myself to record stories. I have definitely learned and done a lot in the 10 years I have done genealogy, I have cold-called relatives and cousins I never really knew and have asked all the important questions about my family even when sometimes the answers weren't so direct and informative. I would definitely tell myself to record some of the stories from older family members and ask them everything I wanted to know. The good thing however is that I'm fairly young and have enough of my family around to ask questions and start recording. The bad thing is that many of them are in Puerto Rico! Hopefully in the coming years (as early as this summer -- starting with my grandmother), I'll begin to record short interviews with my family members where I'll be able to ask them questions and record their answers. This will not only give me information to have for years to come but also an audio file of the voice of my family members. I wish I would have started early on so that I could have gotten the chance to interview my great grandfather before he passed away. Audio recordings will definitely add another layer to my researching and family tree.

Hopes, Dreams, and Aspirations

I hope to continue doing genealogy for another 10 years (and hopefully even 50+ years)! I have thoroughly enjoyed searching for my family's past and learning the stories of the people that have contributed to making me who I am today. I aspire to becoming a professional genealogist one day with a focus on Puerto Rico and potentially the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe since I have ancestors from there, meaning I would also have to brush up on my French (another aspiration!). I would love to tie in my obsession for genealogy with my everyday life/profession. I don't know where my life will lead me but I know that having genealogy there with me will make me a happier person. I would love to become an expert on Puerto Rican Genealogy and help others discover their past and ancestors. I dream of traveling around Puerto Rico discovering the lands my families lived, worked, married, and were born on – I have only seen a limited amount of Puerto Rico and I dream of visiting the different municipalities my ancestors lived on and the churches they would have attended and married in as well. I dream of visiting Rivière Salée, Martinique, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, and other places my ancestors immigrated from. I hope to find new names in my family tree, meet new cousins, and hear new stories. I dream of connecting Eglantine to a country and tribe in Africa.

These have been a great 10 years and can't wait for the next set of 10 years to roll by -- here's to 2024, my 20th anniversary of genealogy!

A Puerto Rican look at: AncestryDNA 2.0 (African Portion)

This week something awesome happened- Ancestry.com updated their DNA part of the website and added more ethnicity groups! More importantly, they now break down Africa into various sections which is amazing since this is the first time (to my knowledge) that a company has broken down the Autosomal DNA by African countries.

Part of the website introducing the new AncestryDNA

My original breakdown from AncestryDNA is provided below:

Original AncestryDNA Breakdown

Below is the new breakdown from the updated AncestryDNA:

New AncestryDNA Genetic Breakdown

Like I mentioned what's awesome is that there is a new African ethnicity breakdown which is the first time I've had some genetic hints (from my own DNA) as to where my African ancestors are from. As you can see from the picture above, my African percentage is estimated to be 23% which at 23andme is currently estimated at 16.1% (Standard) and 17.7% (Estimated).  The first country is mentioned as Mali at 12% then the rest (11%) is part of "trace regions". As you can see the Trace Regions include: African Southeastern Bantu, Africa North, Cameroon/Congo, and Senegal. The Africa North part is most likely from southern Spanish ancestors who mixed with the Muslim inhabitants who arrived from northern Africa and lived in Al-Andalus. 

Top African Country- Mali

What was so interesting is that I score 0% in the categories of: Ivory Coast/Ghana, Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers, Benin/Togo, and Nigeria. I was surprised since many slaves were brought over from these West African countries. My 1% in Senegal and Cameroon/Congo make sense since they are along the coast. Africa South Eastern Bantu interestingly matches with the Zimbabwean and Angolan 23andme cousin matches I have.

I was very surprised to receive Mali at 12%. With research I've realized that current day Mali was part of the Ghana Empire as well as the Songhai Empire, which were big players during the trans-Saharan trade. It is very possible that my ancestor(s) lived inland and were brought out to the coast and put on ships or already lived in the coast through migration within the Mali empire when borders weren't officially set. 

Mali Empire

Present Day Mali borders

According to AncestryDNA a typical native Malian is in the range of 39% due the various multiple ethnicities that exist in the country. And interestingly I am at 12% which isn't too too far off. 

Me vs. Typical Native Estimates

Having "Mali" listed in my countries is eye opening. Even though I wasn't raised "Afro-centric" I knew that I have slave roots throughout various lines in my family. With the recent discovery of my 5th great grandmother, Eglantine Lautin, being a native African brought to Martinique as a slave I wonder if current day Mali would be her homeland? Or where does this high percentage of Malian ancestry come from, various ancestors? Did they speak Bambara and a part of the Mandé people? Did they mix with the Tualeg/Berber people or were tensions already high between the two groups?

Ethnic Groups of Mali Explained

There is still MUCH to learn. Both about these results, myself and the possibility of other countries/ethnicities not yet listed. I am patiently waiting for the updated 23andme version of their Ancestry Composition to see if there are any trends/patterns. For now I will continue my research on Mali, its people and history!

A Puerto Rican Look at: Ancestry Composition

This week, after much anticipation and excitement the new version of 23andme's Ancestry Painting was released! This new version, which replaced Ancestry Painting, is now known as Ancestry Composition. Ancestry Painting lacked populations which only used three main populations Asian (from China/Japan), European (which I think were US-European samples), and then African (using Yoruba samples from Africa). The issue with this was that many people for example that got Asian, couldn't differentiate between Native American Asian and East/South Asian. Ancestry Composition on the other hand has 22 populations which includes samples from all around world. Ancestry Composition is still in its infancy, seeing as it how just came out a few days ago, and there will be much to sort out and update. For example, currently Ancestry Composition can only separate West African and North African. This is unfortunate for many African gene-carrying individuals like myself who have no idea where specifically in Africa their genes came from. 23andme did state that the current African cluster will be broken down further but they are running tests to make sure everything will be in order. So without further ado, here is a Puerto Rican look into Ancestry Composition! [Note: results are still changing around, so these numbers and values are only applicable right now. Things may reflect differently later on.]

My Ancestry Composition

So this is who I am; at least as of a few days ago! Percentages have gone up and down compared to the old Ancestry Painting. We see that my European is significantly lower than what it used to be (75%) and my other levels pretty much stayed the same. 16.1% of me is still unassigned which means that as more samples are collected, hopefully this 16% can find a home for itself amongst the colorful bars. As you can see there are a few tabs on top. The first one called "Map View" allows you also to see "Split View" and "Chromosome View" which I'll show in a bit. Split view only works if you have tested either both or one of your parents and Chromosome View is similar in appearance to the old Ancestry Painting. Also you can see a tab called "Global Resolution" which allows you to hone in more on the various populations which are included. Then you see my name, which you can choose to see other people you're sharing with then you see "Standard Estimate". If you click on that tab, you get "Speculative Estimate", "Standard Estimate", and "Conservative Estimate". I'm not too sure on what exactly the defining difference is between them but I'll show you images of Standard and Speculative so you can see how they differ. Now, I'll show you a more in-depth Global Resolution:

My Ancestry Composition- Standard Estimate

Here you can see various populations which can be found in my DNA. There are some interesting and some expected ones. With European you can see that I'm further broken down into Southern and Northern European, and then from there even more. So 20.1% is Iberian which is very expected and 0.5% Italian which is also sorta expected. Then I get 0.2% British and French, which is interesting since in AncestryDNA I get 13% British Isles. Also I want to point out the "Nonspecific Southern European" and "Nonspecific Northern European". These mean that segments of my DNA can be found amongst these groups yet are widely distributed amongst them that they can't pinpoint exactly which subgroup it belongs to. So there could be more British in there somewhere amongst the 19.9% but isn't specific to just the British Isles. Interestingly enough I get Ashkenazi at 0.5%, I've seen cousins in my Ancestry Finder who claim Ashkenazi Jewish roots so I knew somewhere far back I'd have to have some too. It most likely comes from old Spanish Jewish roots or maybe a Eastern European ancestor which is also very possible. Then you can see I have 16.1% Sub-Saharan African which includes all of West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa- my ancestry from there most likely comes from Western Africa due to the slave trade. Next you can see 11.1% East Asian and Native American, with a 8.6% further divided into Native American- definitely real and most likely from my Taino ancestors (there were also Arawaks, Caribs and even Mayan from Mexico present in Puerto Rico (Mayan through labor trades), then a <0.1% East Asian which I'm guessing is just noise and then you can see 2.5% Nonspecific East Asian and Native American. Lastly, you can see 0.1% which arrives from Northern Africa. My Speculative Estimate tells a little bit of a different story!

My Ancestry Composition- Speculative Estimate

I tend to lean more to this estimate which to me hopefully fits more of my ancestry. I say this because with my Martiniquan ancestors, there should have been some French estimated into my percentages (of course, if no French ever mingled with my ancestors that could be possible as well, but in those times slaves were mistreated as well as raped). I'll let you glance at it, I don't want to make this post too long. You can see some numbers have gone up while others have gone done. But still, 100% me :) Next I'll show you the Split View option which I can see since I've test at least one parent.

My Ancestry Composition- Split View

So here you can see how I've inherited from my mother's and father's side. My mother's side gave me more unassigned as well as much more Sub-Saharan African yet less European. You can also see that the 0.1% North African I receive earlier in my Map View comes from my mother's side of the family. Interestingly, both sides gave me roughly 5-6% East Asian & Native American. Split view is an awesome option for those who might have tested only one parent or wants to figure out which side of the family gave them what. The next few shots will include different "Chromosome View"snapshots.

My Ancestry Composition- Chromosome View

So I'll begin of course with my Standard Estimate of the Chromosome View. As you can there are a ton of nice colors flowing in and out throughout my chromosomes, this is my gene's artwork. Here you can see two bars for each chromosome, except the X which I received one of from my mother. The DNA has also been phased with smoothes out a lot of the colors allowing it to flow easier instead of looking like this (the old Ancestry Painting image with spliced chunks of colors):

My Ancestry Painting 

Now I want to show you my Speculative Estimate with all the previous populations from the Map View. Here is how they change up my DNA colors:

My Ancestry Composition- Speculative Estimate

Here you can see all the further divided colors and what's cool about the new Ancestry Composition is that it's a bit interactive. Meaning that if I want to see where in your DNA a certain population appears you can click on the population and that color becomes isolated while the others fade a bit away allowing you to see those pieces of your genes. For example, I did it twice with my Ashkenazi genes as well as my French and German genes:

My Ancestry Composition- Ashkenazi Population

My Ancestry Composition- French/German Population

What's very interesting is that practically one of my pairs from Chromosome 19 is practically all French/German. Interestingly none of my other family members receive such a huge chunk. Also, you can see the spread out pieces of Ashkenazi genes, one of them on Chromosome 1. Interestingly enough, I match a German/Polish cousin who has Ashkenazi genes on that same chromosome and most likely on that same spot. (I'll probably dedicate another post to that match). Lastly I want to show you my grandfather's Chromosome View with Sub-Saharan African highlighted. He is who has received genes from his 2nd great grandparents from Martinique. You can see he has received a lot of long African segments due to his relatively close ancestry with slaves.

Abuelo's Ancestry Composition- Sub-Saharan African Population

You can also see he has French/German ancestry (I want to point out this is the Speculative View which I feel is more correct to my family history). I'm no expert on DNA and genes but I'm learning a lot from these results about my family and what I carry and hopefully one day pass to my children. You can see that there are a lot of populations/ areas of the world which contribute to who I am and hopefully one day I'll know more stories of my African ancestry as well as my Native and European ancestry. Hopefully soon enough Sub-Saraharan will be divided further but until then I'm happy so far with these results! I'll keep posting about interesting finds with the new Ancestry Composition!