Nancy Bird, a researcher in genetics, evolution and the environment at University College London, and her colleagues found evidence of migration in vast empires such as Kanem-Bornu, the kingdoms of Aksum and Makuria, and the spread of the Bantu language group.
“Our results underscore the complexity of Africa's past. Multiple civilizations throughout history, from thousands of years ago to medieval times, have impacted today's African genetic diversity," said Bird.
The study, the most diverse yet conducted, analyzed the DNA of people representing 150 ethnic groups from five different African countries. The multinational research team was also diverse, including geneticists, archaeologists and linguists.
"We demonstrate the large genetic impact of events ranging from the expansion of agriculture more than 3,000 years ago to the Arab expansion into Sudan and Cameroon over the last 800 years," said Bird.
“We found incredible genetic diversity. For example, by some measures, Cameroon has as much genetic diversity as the whole of Europe,” he added.
He explained that trade and the development of new technologies played a big role in the movement of people - for example, the Kanem Bornu empire was involved in trade across the Sahara, which could explain why we see people from North Africa moving to Africa. northern area of Cameroon.
On the other hand, the expansion of Bantu-speaking groups more than 4,000 years ago from Cameroon into sub-Saharan Africa was associated with new agricultural and ironworking technologies.
The study reiterated the importance of correcting the underrepresentation of African genome data compared to other regions of the world.
"This means that a lot of genetic diversity - or variety - in the DNA of populations is likely being lost, including genetic variants that contribute to disease susceptibility and health," Bird said.
