Puerto Rican Berber & Semitic Ancestry - Background

Administrators

Surnames

Acevedo, Acosta, Alomar, Arroyo, Aviles, Barbosa, Batista, Berrios, Bon, Bonano, Bonilla, Bravo, Brito, Burgos, Camacho, Candelaria, Carrion, Cordova, Correa, Cruz, Cuevas, Figueroa, Flores, Gonzalez, Guerra, Guerrero, Gutierrez, Guzman, Hernandez, Hidalgo, Inocencio, Lopes, Lopez, Luz, Malave, Mariotta, Marrero, Martin, Martinez, Medina, Milian, Mojica, Muñiz, Muñoz, Navarro, Pabon, Pagan, Perez, Ramos, Rios, Rivera, Robles, Rodriguez, Rosa, Rosado, Rosario, Saez, Salinas, Sanchez, Santana, Santiago, Segarra, Serrano, Soto, Torres, Valle, Vega, Velez, Zayas

Background

Welcome to the Puerto Rican Berbers/Semitic DNA Project! In this geographical project it is hoped that the application of genetic genealogy will give us insight on the historical connections among the Berbers-Semitic families in Puerto Rico. These connections originated in medieval Spain, Portugal, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean and continued during the Spanish colonization of Puerto Rico.

Haplogroups J1/J2: Semitic Origin. Mostly found in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and North Africa. This haplogroup contains the Cohen modal lineage which is found in about 5% of those with this origin. Sephardic Jews and Arab Moors belong to this Haplogroup and they were among the earliest settlers of the Iberian Peninsula. About 28% of Sephardic Jews have this origin. 6% of modern day Iberians have J, J1, or J2 origin.

Haplogroup - G2: Caucasus of Europe. This is a fairly rare haplogroup found mostly in men from the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. The highest concentration of Haplogroup G men is found today in the Caucasus Mountains, in several small states to the south of Russia, and in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The G2 branch of this lineage (containing the P15 mutation) is found most often in Europe and the Middle East. The Alan Sarmatians were military allies of the Vandals and the Suebi during the conquest of Iberia, it is likely this is the origin of haplogroup G2 in Spain. The Alan Sarmatians' ancient homeland was the Caucasus Mountains. 4% of modern day Iberians share this origin.

Haplogroups E1b1b1: Mediterranean Origin. Mostly found in the Mediterranean, Southern Europe, the Middle East, North, West, and East Africa. The Berbers, the Carthaginians, and the Moors belong to this Haplogroup. 

Mitochondrial-J: Semitic Origin. The mitochondrial haplogroup J contains several sub-lineages. The original haplogroup J originated in the Near East approximately 50,000 years ago. Within Europe, sub-lineages of haplogroup J have distinct and interesting distributions. Haplogroup J* —the root lineage of haplogroup J—is found distributed throughout Europe, but at a relatively low frequency. Haplogroup J* is generally considered one of the prominent lineages that was part of the Neolithic spread of agriculture into Europe from the Near East beginning approximately 10,000 years ago. 17% of modern day Europeans share this origin.

Mitochondrial-U: Mediterranean Origin. The mitochondrial super-haplogroup U encompasses haplogroups U1-U7 and haplogroup K.