J-Z2432 is the predominantly South and West Asian child of J-M241. Many of these lineages became established in South Asia during the Neolithic. Not one of these lineages had been found living in Europe… until now.

 

 

STR Match Finder Correctly Indicated Closest Relatives From 6400 Years Ago

Several months ago, I decided to use STR Match Finder to look for distant matches for an Azorean with no other matches besides other Azoreans. STR Match Finder is a cross-project deep match finding tool I developed with input and support from Thomas Krahn / YSEQ. It has become an indispensable tool in my haplogroup research of J-M102.

While the Azorean’s next closest matches were over GD 20/67*, they were consistently South and West Asian Z2432. What’s more, they shared over half a dozen rare STR markers displayed in shades of red below. On this basis I predicted the Azorean to be related to the Asian branch J-Z2432 rather than European J-L283.

*Note the formula I use for Genetic Distance is conservative, taking absolute values of differences at each STR. I think it provides less misleading results than FTDNA’s formula.

 

 

 

 

The important takeaway is that, in some cases, a lineage which is 6400 years distant (J-Z2432) from your target’s STRs may have enough of a common STR signal to clearly indicate closer relationship than to a lineage that is 9700 years distant (J-L283). This is using 67 markers, so an analysis of 111 markers may be able to discern even more distant relationships.

Distant STR matches, when accompanied by rare STRs, can be a powerful prognosticating tool for haplogroup researchers.

Migration From India to the Azores

This Azorean is at the end of a very long bottleneck, which began in India in 4400 BC. His next closest match at GD 9/67 is a man with an Azorean background. Given this distance it is possible that their common ancestor arrived directly in the Azores from India shortly after the Portuguese colonization of both areas. He may never have even set foot in continental Europe as the ships sailed around the Horn of Africa.

As of yet there is no DNA evidence to preclude a much earlier migration from India dating back possibly as far as 4400 BC. However, circumstantial evidence viewed through the lens of Occam’s razor suggests Portuguese colonization as the vector because:

1. As the islands were not inhabited until the Portuguese colonization, if Z8326 was already in Europe and then later migrated to the Azores, it would be possible that some Z8326 stayed in Europe. But no Z8326 has yet been found elsewhere in Europe.
2. I know of no other vector linking India to Iberia other than Portuguese colonization.

Anecdotes from Indians in Portugal:

A Portuguese woman, Dona Ana de Ataíde owned an Indian man named António as a slave in Évora. He served as a cook for her. Ana de Ataíde’s Indian slave escaped from her in 1587. A large number of slaves were forcibly brought there since the commercial, artisanal, and service sectors all flourished in a regional capital like Évora. Rigorous and demanding tasks were assigned to Mourisco, Chinese, and Indian slaves. Chinese, Mouriscos, and Indians were among the ethnicities of prized slaves and were much more expensive compared to blacks, so high class individuals owned these ethnicities.

A fugitive Indian slave from Evora named António went to Badajoz after leaving his master in 1545. António was among the three most common male names given to male slaves in Evora.

Antão Azedo took an Indian slave named Heitor to Evora, who along with another slave was from Bengal were among the 34 Indian slaves in total who were owned by Tristão Homem, a nobleman in 1544 in Evora. Manuel Gomes previously owned a slave who escaped in 1558 at age 18 and he was said to be from the “land of Prester John of the Indias” named Diogo.

In Evora, men were owned and used as slaves by female establishments like convents for nuns. A capelão do rei, father João Pinto left an Indian man in Porto where he was picked up in 1546 by the Evora-based Santa Marta convent’s nuns to serve as their slave.

Bernardo de Sousa, author of The Last Prabhu, has suggested that other possible vectors for Indians to migrate to the Azores include:

1. Being hired or shanghaied by Portuguese sailors
2. Banishment for anti-colonial political activities

There was also a very brutal Goa Inquisition. The institution persecuted Hindus, Muslims, Bene Israels, New Christians and the Judaizing Nasranis by the colonial era Portuguese government and Jesuit clergy in Portuguese India. It is possible that persecuted groups may have sought refuge in the Azores, though I don’t know how likely this is. Comments from Azorean experts welcome.

Goa est malheureusement célèbre par son inquisition, également contraire à l’humanité et au commerce. Les moines portugais firent accroire que le peuple adorait le diable, et ce sont eux qui l’ont servi.

Goa is sadly famous for its inquisition, equally contrary to humanity and commerce. The Portuguese monks made us believe that the people worshiped the devil, and it is they who have served him.

-Voltaire