Lately, I’ve wanted to get to know more about my family history. I know that my parents are from the South as in South Carolina, but we do not have records tracing our history back further past their grandparents – my great grandparents. To close the gap, and get a better grasp on our roots, I purchased an AncestryDNA kit.
After nearly two months of waiting for my AncestryDNA results I now have a glimpse into what is my true ethnicity. Below are my Ancestry DNA results.
As a person whose parents and grandparents are from South Carolina, and has stories of cotton picking, and share cropping, it was evident that African roots are well within my DNA. However, with Africa being such a large continent, it is pretty hard to pinpoint the regions.
The AncestryDNA results showed that I’m 85% African, with Cameroon/Congo (27%) and Nigeria (19%) being the most prominent, followed by Senegal (14%), and Benin/Togo (10%), and with other trace African regions making up the rest of the 85%.
Fun Facts: I share Cameroonian roots with famous people like Oprah Winfrey, Common, Erykah Badu, Don Cheadle, Roberta Flack, Taraji P. Henson, Blair Underwood, Quincy Jones, Condoleeza Rice, Chris Rock, Nate Parker, and more.
What about the other 15%?
My AncestryDNA results show that the other 15% of my ethnicity is inclusive of European regions like Ireland (5%), Western Europe (3%), Scandinavia (3%), Iberian Peninsula (2%), and a few others that made up less than 1% of my DNA. After speaking with my family, we all came to the conclusion that these traces of DNA are more than likely a result of the slave trade, especially since most of the African regions that make up my ethnic background are coastal areas.
I have the results, now what?
All before my travels were based off of deals and a bucket list of places that I wanted to explore either because I thought they were beautiful, I wanted to learn and immerse myself in the culture just because. I, of course, also travel for fun, or just to get away and rest. Now, with knowing my roots I can now travel with a purpose. I can begin to know and learn more about my family’s history and roots, and visit the place from where our ancestors came. It should be pretty interesting.
Thanks to AncestryDNA, my travel bucket list has grown. I’ve now added Cameroon and Nigeria to the list pending the travel warnings. I’ve also added a few of the trace European regions. Visiting South Africa was always on my travel bucket list, but Central Africa wasn’t really on my radar, but now it is.
I purchased the AncestryDNA kit from http://dna.ancestry.com/ for $99.
Would you use AncestryDNA to help guide your travels?
Do you travel with a purpose?