scholarly journals Anthropological Genetics Perspectives on the Transatlantic Slave Trade

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Fortes-Lima ◽  
Paul Verdu
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Native American ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Anthropological Genetics ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
African Descendants ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of

Abstract During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (TAST), around twelve million Africans were enslaved and forcibly moved from Africa to the Americas and Europe, durably influencing the genetic and cultural landscape of a large part of humanity since the 15th century. Following historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, population geneticists have, since the 1950’s mainly, extensively investigated the genetic diversity of populations on both sides of the Atlantic. These studies shed new lights into the largely unknown genetic origins of numerous enslaved-African descendant communities in the Americas, by inferring their genetic relationships with extant African, European, and Native American populations. Furthermore, exploring genome-wide data with novel statistical and bioinformatics methods, population geneticists have been increasingly able to infer the last 500 years of admixture histories of these populations. These inferences have highlighted the diversity of histories experienced by enslaved-African descendants, and the complex influences of socio-economic, political, and historical contexts on human genetic diversity patterns during and after the slave trade. Finally, the recent advances of paleogenomics unveiled crucial aspects of the life and health of the first generation of enslaved Africans in the Americas. Altogether, human population genetics approaches in the genomic and paleogenomic era need to be coupled with history, archaeology, anthropology, and demography in interdisciplinary research, to reconstruct the multifaceted and largely unknown history of the TAST and its influence on human biological and cultural diversities today. Here, we review anthropological genomics studies published over the past 15 years and focusing on the history of enslaved-African descendant populations in the Americas.

scholarly journals Genetic structure and differentiation in cultivated grape, Vitis vinifera L.

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
MALLIKARJUNA K. ARADHYA ◽  
GERALD S. DANGL ◽  
BERNARD H. PRINS ◽  
JEAN-MICHEL BOURSIQUOT ◽  
M. ANDREW WALKER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Vitis Vinifera ◽  
Gene Diversity ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Vitis Vinifera L ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Multivariate Relationships ◽  
History Of ◽  
Single Complex ◽  
Grape Cultivars

222 cultivated (Vitis vinifera) and 22 wild (V. vinifera ssp. sylvestris) grape accessions were analysed for genetic diversity and differentiation at eight microsatellite loci. A total of 94 alleles were detected, with extensive polymorphism among the accessions. Multivariate relationships among accessions revealed 16 genetic groups structured into three clusters, supporting the classical eco-geographic grouping of grape cultivars: occidentalis, pontica and orientalis. French cultivars appeared to be distinct and showed close affinity to the wild progenitor, ssp. sylvestris from south-western France (Pyrenees) and Tunisia, probably reflecting the origin and domestication history of many of the old wine cultivars from France. There was appreciable level of differentiation between table and wine grape cultivars, and the Muscat types were somewhat distinct within the wine grapes. Contingency χ2 analysis indicated significant heterogeneity in allele frequencies among groups at all loci. The observed heterozygosities for different groups ranged from 0·625 to 0·9 with an overall average of 0·771. Genetic relationships among groups suggested hierarchical differentiation within cultivated grape. The gene diversity analysis indicated narrow divergence among groups and that most variation was found within groups (∼85%). Partitioning of diversity suggested that the remaining variation is somewhat structured hierarchically at different levels of differentiation. The overall organization of genetic diversity suggests that the germplasm of cultivated grape represents a single complex gene pool and that its structure is determined by strong artificial selection and a vegetative mode of reproduction.

scholarly journals What the Iberian Conquest Bequeathed to Us: The Fruit Trees Introduced in Argentine Subtropic—Their History and Importance in Present Traditional Medicine

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo C. Stampella ◽  
Daniela Alejandra Lambaré ◽  
Norma I. Hilgert ◽  
María Lelia Pochettino
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Short Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
New Applications

This contribution presents information about the history of introduction, establishment, and local appropriation of Eurasian fruit trees—species and varieties of the generaPrunusandCitrus—from 15th century in two rural areas of Northern Argentina. By means of an ethnobotanical and ethnohistorical approach, our study was aimed at analysing how this process influenced local medicine and the design of cultural landscape that they are still part of. As a first step, local diversity, knowledge, and management practices of these fruit tree species were surveyed. In a second moment, medicinal properties attributed to them were documented. A historical literature was consulted referring to different aspects on introduction of peaches and citric species into America and their uses in the past. The appropriation of these fruit-trees gave place to new applications and a particular status for introduced species that are seen as identitary and contribute to the definition of the communities and daily life landscapes. Besides, these plants, introduced in a relatively short period and with written record, allow the researcher to understand and to design landscape domestication, as a multidimensional result of physical, social, and symbolic environment.

scholarly journals Extensive Ethnolinguistic Diversity in Vietnam Reflects Multiple Sources of Genetic Diversity

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 2503-2519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dang Liu ◽  
Nguyen Thuy Duong ◽  
Nguyen Dang Ton ◽  
Nguyen Van Phong ◽  
Brigitte Pakendorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

Abstract Vietnam features extensive ethnolinguistic diversity and occupies a key position in Mainland Southeast Asia. Yet, the genetic diversity of Vietnam remains relatively unexplored, especially with genome-wide data, because previous studies have focused mainly on the majority Kinh group. Here, we analyze newly generated genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism data for the Kinh and 21 additional ethnic groups in Vietnam, encompassing all five major language families in Mainland Southeast Asia. In addition to analyzing the allele and haplotype sharing within the Vietnamese groups, we incorporate published data from both nearby modern populations and ancient samples for comparison. In contrast to previous studies that suggested a largely indigenous origin for Vietnamese genetic diversity, we find that Vietnamese ethnolinguistic groups harbor multiple sources of genetic diversity that likely reflect different sources for the ancestry associated with each language family. However, linguistic diversity does not completely match genetic diversity: There have been extensive interactions between the Hmong-Mien and Tai-Kadai groups; different Austro-Asiatic groups show different affinities with other ethnolinguistic groups; and we identified a likely case of cultural diffusion in which some Austro-Asiatic groups shifted to Austronesian languages during the past 2,500 years. Overall, our results highlight the importance of genome-wide data from dense sampling of ethnolinguistic groups in providing new insights into the genetic diversity and history of an ethnolinguistically diverse region, such as Vietnam.

scholarly journals Composite Bacterial Hopanoids and Their Microbial Producers across Oxygen Gradients in the Water Column of the California Current

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (23) ◽  
pp. 7491-7501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenan J. Kharbush ◽  
Juan A. Ugalde ◽  
Shane L. Hogle ◽  
Eric E. Allen ◽  
Lihini I. Aluwihare
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Water Column ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Structural Diversity ◽  
Low Oxygen ◽  
Structural Variations ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Pentacyclic Triterpenoid ◽  
History Of ◽  
Membrane Components

ABSTRACTHopanoids are pentacyclic triterpenoid lipids produced by many prokaryotes as cell membrane components. The structural variations of composite hopanoids, or bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs), produced by various bacterial genera make them potentially useful molecular biomarkers of bacterial communities and metabolic processes in both modern and ancient environments. Building on previous work suggesting that organisms in low-oxygen environments are important contributors to BHP production in the marine water column and that there may be physiological roles for BHPs specific to these environments, this study investigated the relationship between trends in BHP structural diversity and abundance and the genetic diversity of BHP producers for the first time in a low-oxygen environment of the Eastern Tropical North Pacific. Amplification of the hopanoid biosynthesis gene for squalene hopene cyclase (sqhC) indicated far greater genetic diversity than would be predicted by examining BHP structural diversity alone and that greatersqhCgenetic diversity exists in the marine environment than is represented by cultured representatives and most marine metagenomes. In addition, the genetic relationships in this data set suggest microaerophilic environments as potential “hot spots” of BHP production. Finally, structural analysis of BHPs showed that an isomer of the commonly observed BHP bacteriohopanetetrol may be linked to a producer that is more abundant in low-oxygen environments. Results of this study increase the known diversity of BHP producers and provide a detailed phylogeny with implications for the role of hopanoids in modern bacteria, as well as the evolutionary history of hopanoid biosynthesis, both of which are important considerations for future interpretations of the marine sedimentary record.

scholarly journals Extensive ethnolinguistic diversity in Vietnam reflects multiple sources of genetic diversity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dang Liu ◽  
Nguyen Thuy Duong ◽  
Nguyen Dang Ton ◽  
Nguyen Van Phong ◽  
Brigitte Pakendorf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Snp Data ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dense Sampling

AbstractVietnam features extensive ethnolinguistic diversity and occupies a key position in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). Yet, the genetic diversity of Vietnam remains relatively unexplored, especially with genome-wide data, because previous studies have focused mainly on the majority Kinh group. Here we analyze newly-generated genome-wide SNP data for the Kinh and 21 additional ethnic groups in Vietnam, encompassing all five major language families in MSEA. In addition to analyzing the allele and haplotype sharing within the Vietnamese groups, we incorporate published data from both nearby modern populations and ancient samples for comparison. We find that the Vietnamese ethnolinguistic groups harbor multiple sources of genetic diversity that are associated with heterogeneous ancestry sharing profiles in each language family. However, linguistic diversity does not completely match genetic diversity; there have been extensive interactions between the Hmong-Mien and Tai-Kadai groups, and a likely case of cultural diffusion in which some Austro-Asiatic groups shifted to Austronesian languages. Overall, our results highlight the importance of genome-wide data from dense sampling of ethnolinguistic groups in providing new insights into the genetic diversity and history of an ethnolinguistically-diverse region, such as Vietnam.

ACCOUNTING REPRESENTATION AND THE SLAVE TRADE: THE GUIDE DU COMMERCE OF GAIGNAT DE L'AULNAIS

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl S. McWatters ◽  
Yannick Lemarchand
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Real World ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
French Language ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Bear Witness ◽  
Language Literature

The Guide du commerce occupies a distinctive place in the French-language literature on accounting. Passed over by most specialists in the history of maritime trade and the slave trade, the manual has never been the subject of a documented historical study. The apparent realism of the examples, the luxury of details and their precision, all bear witness to a deep concern to go beyond a simple apprenticeship in bookkeeping. Promoting itself essentially as “un guide du commerce,” the volume offers strategic examples for small local businesses, as well as for those engaged in international trade. Yet, the realism also demonstrated the expertise of the author in the eyes of potential purchasers. Inspired by the work of Bottin [2001], we investigate the extent to which the manual reflects real-world practices and provides a faithful glimpse into the socio-economic context of the period. Two additional questions are discussed briefly in our conclusion. First, can the work of Gaignat constitute a source document for the history of la traite négrière? The second entails our early deliberations about the place of this volume in the history of the slave trade itself.

scholarly journals RADIOCARBON DATES FROM THE MONASTERY ON KOM H IN OLD DONGOLA (SUDAN) AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF MEDIEVAL NUBIAN POTTERY

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Dorota Dzierzbicka ◽  
Katarzyna Danys
Keyword(s):  
Historical Research ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
History Of

ABSTRACT The paper presents and discusses a series of radiocarbon (14C) dates from a medieval Nubian monastery found on Kom H of Old Dongola, the capital of the kingdom of Makuria located in modern-day Sudan. The monastery was founded in the 6th–7th century AD and although it probably ceased to function in the 14th century, the site remained occupied until the beginning of the 15th century. The investigated courtyard of the monastery was in use from the 11th to the 14th century, as indicated by the ceramics and 14C analysis results presented here. The dates under consideration are the first published series of 14C dates from this site, which is of crucial importance for historical research on medieval Nubian Christianity and monasticism. They permit to begin building an absolute chronological framework for research on the archaeological finds from the site and region. A group of finds in particular need of such a framework are ceramics, and the implications of the 14C dates for pottery assemblages found in the dated contexts are discussed. The conclusions summarize the significance of the datings for the history of the site.

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