Max-a-tax

I made a graphic representing possible paleolithic African populations, and relationships with modern populations. This is my first time making a phylogenetic graphic and much of it is inference, so please bear with me. In this thread, I'll break it down; sources at the end.

1912 - Young Yoruba men, centre wearing irun didi (cornrows) hairstyle - Ihumbe, present day Ogun state, Nigeria

1914 - Two Igbo men , noted as tattoo artists, with dreadlocks photographed in Neni, present day Anambra State, Nigeria

@t3kknine Probably Haratin, with some unlucky Bidhani in the mix. There were a few dark skinned Maure in the Deep Southeast that ended up in South Carolina and Georgia, as well

@MadMax_887 speaking of that, I saw your post earlier about ancestry from mauritania. Do you think the terminology ''ndar'' or ''nar'' could be plausibly related to haratin slaves taken from mauritania to louisiana in gwindlyn database? x.com/MadMax_887/sta…

For me, as a Black American, I've found cousins from these countries and ethnicities Nigeria 🇳🇬 - Igbo Mauritania 🇲🇷 - Mauré cote d'ivoire 🇨🇮 - Mandinka Ghana 🇬🇭 - Asante (Akan) Algeria 🇩🇿 - Mixed Saharan Black, Arab and Imazighen Hope to find more, soon

@t3kknine Pretty much all of them on Ancestry. Their database has more users, so the chances of finding distant African cousins are better than 23andme

@MadMax_887 from ancestrydna mosly?

A list of the ethnic groups of the African cousins I found by gettin my parents, 2 of my grandparents, and one of my uncles to do Ancestry & 23andMe. 1. Nigeria 🇳🇬- Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Ijaw, 4. Ghana 🇬🇭- Akan 5. Senegal 🇸🇳- Wolof, Fulani 6. Guinea 🇬🇳- Fulani 7. Liberia 🇱🇷 - Bassa 8. Angola 🇦🇴 - Mbundu 9. Sierra Leone 🇸🇱- Temne, Mende, Susu, Mandinka, 10. Uganda 🇺🇬- Bantu

@jasonterry2024 Some of us have ancestors from modern day Mauritania. Not a major amount, but some of us descend from Soninke, Wolof and Haratin folks that came from the Southwest and South Central portions of the modern area.

Disagree. Take out Mauritania, Niger, and CAR.

@AnthonyGSupreme I'm an example of this myself. 76% West African, almost a quarter European. Never been a question of my Blackness lol.

@AnthonyGSupreme I've seen Black Americans have 28-33% European, yet no one would question or second guess their Blackness just by their look (unambiguously Black)

While these may not be the absolute best examples for this paper, they're the ones that came to mind

An opposite example would be the linguistic diversity in the Caucasus groups. The different languages are quite divergent, yet Caucasus groups are genetically very close, descending from a common CHG source.

Interesting article proposing that, as genetic diversity increases, linguistic diversity decreases. I think we can see this with Niger-Congo: Unified language family, but super heterogenous, genetically, due to multiple (albeit shared) ancestral sources phys.org/news/2026-05-i…

@Maqitzara Refresh my memory again, what estimates are we looking at for other other Niger-Congo groups across the coast? I imagine its still relatively high in Ghana/Togo area and probably decreases in Nigeria? (you posted a model showing Yoruba having high Saharan HG, I remember)

Senegambians and Southern Mandes have probably 20-30% West African Mesolithic ancestry making them a unique cluster. Mendes peak at probably 50% that.

Black American Culture and Married Life, when ya in-laws love ya. Ya Good.

@Harryruth32 @JustAFamilyMan_ E-M2, the primary Y DNA for West Africans/Bantu speakers, was surprisingly rather successful in the Middle East. In several regions, being reaching non-negligible frequencies. I may be wrong, but it seems Nilo-Saharan paternal markers didnt pass on as much

@JustAFamilyMan_ Yup, similar w mDNA from Islamic world, showing significant contributions from sub-Saharan Africa as result of slavery. Prbly some Euro contribution too since Europeans were also enslaved for ex by Ottoman Empire, but don’t know abt specific studies. This…

The pattern also shows up in the U.S. and Brazil. In Brazil, people of African descent often have 85% African mtDNA but only 48% African Y-DNA. While in the U.S., for Black Americans it is closer to 95% African mtDNA vs. 65% African Y-DNA. Different places, same story.

I remember watching this family’s journey and honestly, it stayed with me. This man, an Igbo man from Anambra was already doing well for himself. He and his wife (who is Chinese) had built businesses across Nigeria and China. From what I saw in their videos, the wife is very business-minded too. They were not struggling people. They had something solid. Then late last year, they made a big move. They decided to relocate to the United States with their five children. And I remember one video so clearly. The wife was crying. Not small tears. Real, heavy emotion. Because she was leaving China, the only place she had truly known all her life. Yes, she had visited Nigeria a couple of times, but China was home. Her memories, her comfort zone, her everything. But the husband kept saying something that stuck: “It’s for a better life.” Now, think about this, it is not every man’s decision. Not every man will leave what he has already built in two different countries, Nigeria and China, and go and start again somewhere else. That kind of move is not beans. It takes guts, vision, and a lot of sacrifice. The wife and children moved first. After some months, he joined them. Today, this same man is now a certified truck driver in the US. Some people might look at that and say, “Ah ah…. from businessman to truck driver?” But me, I see it differently. I see a man who is not ashamed to start again if it means creating better opportunities for his family. Yes, truck driving pays well in places like the US and Canada, but beyond the money, this looks like a long-term plan. Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about him anymore. It’s about the children. They already had dual citizenship, Nigeria and China. But now, he is positioning them for even more. More exposure. More opportunities. Another level entirely. And if we’re being honest, that’s what many parents want to give their children a life that is better, wider, and more secure than their own. Sometimes, “starting afresh” is not a step backward. Sometimes, it is the boldest step forward. Ogechukwu wrote it 😊

There’s an old painting of Black people playing the banjo on a plantation 25 years before Joel Walker Sweeney was born