Genetic Legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Island of New Providence

• NCJ Number: 225048
• Journal: Forensic Science International: Genetics Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 310-317
• Author(s): T. M. Simms; C. Garcia; S. Mirabal; Q. McCartney; R. J. Herrera
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Ireland

Annotation

This article describes the methodology and findings of a study that determined the genetic diversity in the current population of the island of New Providence in the Bahamas and the discrimination provided by 15 autonomic short tandem repeat (STR) markers routinely used in forensic analyses for assessing individual identity.

Abstract

The admixture proportions generated when West and East African groups were used separately as parents for the New Providence population indicate that the majority of the influence to the collection’s gene pool is from West Africa (46.8 percent), followed by East Africa (36.8 percent), and Europe (16.3 percent). A comparison of the 15 autonomic STR loci of 221 individuals currently living on New Providence with African groups revealed New-Providence profiles similar to West-African populations from Equatorial Guinea and Angola. This is possibly due to the importation of slaves to New Providence from West-African ports during the transatlantic slave trade. It is likely that the influences from East Africa are the result of the genetic imprints left by the Bantu diaspora from West Africa throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, it is possible that a portion of the contribution from Southeast Africans stems from the transportation of approximately 7.69 percent of the total African slave captives from the Mozambique/Madagascar region to the West African ports. European influences on New Providence most likely derive, for the most part, from the influx of British Loyalists to the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War. The partitioning of the two U.S. African-American and New Providence collections together at the periphery of the African cluster and in the direction of the European/Latin American assemblage in the correspondence analysis (CA) graph suggest European genetic contributions to these New World populations while still showing close genetic ties to mainland African groups. 4 tables, 3 figures, and 50 references