Zooming in on the African Ancestry possibilities and The Limitations of MtDNA in Tracing African Ancestry

When I first started this journey with DNA testing, my ultimate goal was to find at least one African DNA relative whose origins would allow me to pinpoint a possible ethnic group for some of my African ancestors. My strategy was to research about the possible “ethnic” preferences that slave owners had for Africans in the areas where my ancestors were enslaved.

Despite these clues, I wanted something a little more definite but I realize that there are several obstacles that may prevent me from getting that African DNA match. First of all, African mitochondrial DNA has been subject to a large series of mutations throughout time so I may not be able to find an exact match. There is also the issue of limited samples with some areas being too dangerous to travel to due to general instability or budget and other issues hindering the ability of researchers to collect samples from some indigenous African populations.

One other possibility is tracing African Ancestry through MtDNA allows one to trace the maternal African ancestry of many African Americans to various geographic areas in Africa. Many haplogroup assignments are consistently found in areas that participated in the Trans-atlantic slave trade. L is the most common mtDNA group among African Americans and is African in origin. The different subclades of the L group are L0, L1, L2, and L3. The most common L haplogroups found in America include West African (L1b, L2b, c, d and L3b, d) and West-Central Africa (L1c and L3e). The L2 group, of which my ancestor descends from covers a wide range of geographical areas of origin. L2a is the most common subclade of the L2 group, representing 62% of total haplogroup assignments, and is the only one that is spread all over Africa. It is divided into two different subsets. L2b, my haplogroup is primarily concentrated in West and West-central Africa and is not found east African or Biaka/Mbuti populations, and only occurs at a rate of 2.9% in Southern African populations. L2b is common some Senegalese populations. L2d is the oldest of the L2 group. With the wide disbursal of mtDNA haplogroups before and after the trans-atlantic slave trade, it may hinder the ability of Africans to pinpoint their mtDNA to a specific ethnic group or modern day nation. I should take this into consideration when entertaining claims by certain genetic testing companies that they can pinpoint the origin of my ancestors. Divergence times for L2d (120,000 years), 55,000 years for L2a, 30,000 years for L2b and L2c, 70,000 years overall for L2.

According to Richard Oluseyi Asaolu, author of the book Slavery, the following list is the African nation-states that participated in the slave trade. I have highlighted possible related nation-states of my own in red:

Senegal: Denanke Kingdom, Kingdom of Fouta Tooro, Jolof Empire, Kingdom of Khasso and Kingdom of Saalum

Guinea-Bissau: Kaabu Empire

Guinea: Kingdom of Fouta Djallon

Sierra Leone: Koya Temne

Cote d'Ivoire: Kong Empire and Gyaaman Kingdom

Ghana: Asante Confereacy and Mankessim Kingdom

Benin: Kingdom of Dahomey

Nigeria: Oyo Empire, Benin Empire, Igala, Hausa Kingdoms, Fulani Empire, the Kingdom of Nri, and Aro Confederacy

Cameroon: Bamun and Mandara Kingdom

Gabon: Kingdom of Orungu

Republic of Congo: Kingdom of Loango and Kingdom of Tio

Angola: Kingdom of Kongo, Kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba

Asaolu also lists the 10 most prominent African ethnic groups represented in the enslaved population:

Gbe speakers of Togo, Ghana and Benin (Adja, Mina, Ewe, Fon)

The Akan of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire 
The Mbundu of Angola (includes Ovimbundu)
The Bakongo of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola 
The Igbo of southeastern Nigeria 
The Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria 
The Mande of Upper Guinea
The Wolof of Senegal and The Gambia
The Chambia of Cameroon

The Makua of Mozambique

The journey continues........

Additional References

Salas, A., Richards, M., Lareu, M., Scozzari, R., Coppa, A., Torroni, A., et al. (2004). The African Diaspora: Mitochondrial DNA and the Atlantic Slave Trade. American Journal of Human Genetics, 74(3), 454-465.