The Tishkoff Study Confirms the Centrality of Africa to All People
By: Robert Taylor
[ Posted On: 2009-05-30 ]
The recently released groundbreaking genetic study by Sarah Tishkoff and her team of African, American and European researchers confirms and/or establishes three essential things about Africans, African-Americans and their evolutionary relationships with the rest of the populations of the world.
First of all, there can now be no doubt that approximately 200,000 years ago the human race had its origins in Africa. The true “Adam and Eve” were Black. This fact has been widely accepted in the scientific community for some time. But thanks to the Tishkoff team we can now pinpoint the place of origin to Southern Africa - near the current-day South African-Namibian border. From there ancient Africans migrated northeast until they reached roughly what is current-day Ethiopia.
From Ethiopia - at a point near the middle of the Red Sea - some of these early humans began leaving the African continent to populate the Middle East and Asia and then gradually spread next to Europe and finally to the Americas - probably across a land bridge which no longer exists.
Fundamentally, this confirms that all people on the planet Earth are ultimately of African ancestry - from the darkest-skinned person in the Congo to the lightest-skinned person in Sweden. Or as one of the researchers Muntaser Ibrahim of the department of molecular biology at the University of Khartoum in the Sudan phrased it, “Everybody’s history is part of African history because everybody came out of Africa.”
This conclusion is based on the scientific theory that the highest levels of genetic diversity are to be found in the populations which have been on Earth the longest because they have had the longest time to evolve and experience genetic changes. The study found that Africans are the most genetically diverse people on the planet and are thus the oldest or original people. Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania, explains, “Given the fact that modern humans arose in Africa, they [Africans] have had time to accumulate dramatic [genetic] changes.”
Second, the ten-year study also confirms the diversity (and implied vitality) of African Americans. The research covered 121 African populations, 60 non-African populations and four African American populations in Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and North Carolina. The conclusion: The genes which populate the bodies of the average American Black come from four primary sources: 71 percent from the Niger-Kordofanian people (language group) of West Africa; 13 to 15 percent from European ancestors; 8 percent from various other African people ranging from Angola to Senegal; and the remainder from various other peoples - African and non-African.
The only people with a higher level of mixed ancestry than American Blacks were the so-called “Cape-colored” of South Africa who are a blend of African, European, East Asian and South Indian ancestry. For American Blacks there is also a strong West Indian connection.
According to one of the researchers, during the slave trade, only 20 percent of Blacks were transported directly from Africa to America. The other 80 percent were sent to the West Indies to be what was called “seasoned” - brutalized into submission. However, among the Blacks transported directly to America, a few, such as the residents of the Sea Islands off Georgia and South Carolina, can trace their origins to specific regions of Africa such as Sierra Leone and Guinea. Other than these groups, it is extremely difficult to trace the ancestry of most African Americans to a specific people or tribe because the genetic mixture was so great.
Third, the ultimate goal of the study, as Tishkoff put it, was to set the stage “for future genetic studies, including studies of genetic and environmental risk factors for disease and drug response.” But thus far, says Tishkoff, the researchers have found that “Africans have the most diverse DNA and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.”
By extrapolation, the above statement applies to American Blacks. In other words, they are genetically well evolved and adapted to survive on this planet. Thus, ailments and diseases are more likely to flow from social and environmental conditions along with the harm Blacks do to themselves rather than from any genetic weakness or abnormality. This is an extremely important point, especially when African Americans are constantly bombarded with articles about Blacks being two or three times more likely than whites to have some ailment or disease.
The truth is Black is original, diverse and well-evolved for success on planet Earth. The problem is most people think and behave in manner opposite of the truth.
Interesting article but I doubt that any of the researchers stated that the true "Adam and Eve" were "black" . I hate when people say that. Obviously humanity originated in Africa but that says nothing about the skin color of original homo sapien.
Today, it's well known that Africans are more genetically diverse and that certain populations that were once assumed to be "mixed" are actually indigenous to Africa, like the Fulani, and some populations in Burundi, Rwanda and East Africa that don't have the typical "negroid" look.
There's also been considerable gene flow between East Africa and the Middle East, and in Cape Verde, which makes me wonder why he says that SA Colored's are the only people with a higher level of mixed ancestry than Black Americans.
Interesting article but I doubt that any of the researchers stated that the true "Adam and Eve" were "black" . I hate when people say that.
Me too, especially when, as in this case, the statement deliberately exploits the semantic ambiguity of the word "black." Taylor's claim is, "The true 'Adam and Eve' were Black." Let us unpack this exploitation of semantic ambiguity.
By capitalizing the word, Taylor implies that it means "African American," since only ethnic labels are thus capitalized. Hence, "The true 'Adam and Eve' were African American." (See The Rules 3.3.11 for details.) But this is obviously counterfactual because the U.S. did not exist.
One might excuse Taylor by saying that the capitalization was a typo, and that, by "black," he really meant, "of sub-saharan ancestry." Hence, "The true 'Adam and Eve' were of sub-saharan ancestry." But this is obviously tautological. He is talking only about sub-saharan Africa, after all.
Finally, the kindest, most charitable excuse is Blackhaze's. (You are a kind and charitable person, Blackhaze.) It says that Taylor really meant, "of very dark skin tone." Hence, "The true 'Adam and Eve' were of very dark skin tone (perhaps like the Bantu-speaking peoples, or the Andaman Islanders)." As Blackhaze points out, there is no evidence for this, and there is weak evidence that the first H. sap. had a skin tone similar to today's Khoi-San or Oromo.
I hate when people exploit semantic ambiguity to masquerade politics as fact.
'
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
. I hate when people say that. Obviously humanity originated in Africa but that says nothing about the skin color of original homo sapien.