Portuguese DNA: What is the Genetic History of Portugal?

Portuguese DNA: What is the Genetic History of Portugal?

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:16 Ancient Genetic History of Portugal
3:41 Iron Age
4:22 The Romans, Lisbon & Other Ancient Peoples
6:03 Al-Andalus
7:21 Modern Genetics of Portugal and Haplogroups

What is the genetic history of Portugal and how has this shaped the DNA of Portuguese people today? Now the word Portugal derives from the combined Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale, as I note in my video on the Celtic Origins of Portugal and Spain. We know that Portus is the Latin word for port, but Cale is likely Celtic in origin, and could come from the Callaeci, also known as the Gallaeci, who were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited the north-west corner of the Iberian Peninsula.

Although there are other theories on what Cale could mean. It could perhaps come from the name of an ancient Celtic goddess for instance called Cala, who could be related to a Gaelic goddess (Cailleach) who is associated with the weather, especially storms and winter. In Scotland, she is known as Beira, Queen of Winter. It’s no surprise that we Scots have a Queen of the Winter given the weather we get.

Anyway, now let’s look at the genetic history of Portugal, a country that produced one of the greatest footballers ever, Cristiano Ronaldo - given that I’m a Man United fan I had to get that in, and Ronaldo has actually just started his own YouTube channel that broke YouTube records, reaching one million subscribers in just 90 minutes and 10 million in just one day.

Sources:

Cristiano Ronaldo breaks YouTube record - BBC Newsround

Haplogroup E1b1b (Y-DNA) - Eupedia

Haplogroup R-M269 - Wikipedia

Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA) - Eupedia

Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA) - Eupedia

Haplogroup K (mtDNA) - Eupedia

Nogueiro I, Teixeira JC, Amorim A, Gusmão L, Alvarez L. Portuguese crypto-Jews: the genetic heritage of a complex history. Front Genet. 2015 Feb 2;6:12. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2015.00012. PMID: 25699075; PMCID: PMC4313780.

Haplogroup K1a1b1a (mtDNA) - Wikipedia

Portuguese people - Wikipedia

Haplogroup H (mtDNA) - Eupedia

Genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula - Wikipedia

Genetic origins of the Iberian people - Eupedia

Y-chromosome lineages from Portugal, Madeira and Açores record elements of Sephardim and Berber ancestry - ScienceDirect

Urnfield culture - Wikipedia

Centuries-old population movements revealed in fine-scale genetic map of the Iberian Peninsula | University of Oxford

Lisbon - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Gallaeci - Wikipedia

Creative Commons Imagery:

Miguel Hermoso Cuesta File:Campaniforme M.A.N. 04.JPG - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons

Guriezous File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons

Rosino File:O sorriso da mordoma (4914074184).jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic - Creative Commons

#portugal #ancestry #history

[celtichistorydecoded]

Thanks for watching! Please let me know your thoughts below...

[MrFightstarter]

As a Portuguese, I found this video interesting and educational! Also, love your accent! Cheers

[zitarodrigues]

The Portuguese people are a genetic mixture of many peoples who invaded Iberia.
Many congratulations on the presentation and the research you did. A hug.

[GraveConcerns]

Please consider a short video focused on the difference between mainland Portugal and the Azores as a supplement to this fine work. I would also be curious to hear what you had to say about the impact of the so-called Moorish invasion of the Iberian peninsula and its genetic origins.

[neleig]

My first viewing one of your vids. Very interesting and well organized, although one must have a good knowledge of genetics to get the most out of it., which I do. Moving on to more of your vids. I am from USA, and now live in Portugal. I am fascinated with the history and ancestry of Portugal and Europe as a whole, as I am genetically European. Ancestry currently says I am 34% England and NW Europe, 31% Ireland, 21% Germanic, etc. It has been changing as more data comes in. I always assumed I was mostly German by my parents and grandparents birthplaces? My surname is German. Thanks a million!

[Paul-rv]

First the world colonized Portugal, then Portugal colonized the world.

[annesand]

My family migrated from Portugal to Hawaii in the 1800. My mom was born in Hawaii. Her family is from Madeira. Every time someone met my mom for the first time, they thought she was Spanish.

[PatrickVieira-ds]

Um brasileiro orgulhoso da sua origem aqui ❤🇵🇹🇧🇷

[DiogoF.]

I absolutely love your accent. Top notch. Very informative and comprehensive content. 💚♥️🇵🇹

[jfarinhote]

Portuguese people are predominantly a Celtic nation by genetics and roman by culture. We are a southern and western people by history and geography.

[Jpnotmyname]

Great video, (0:44) Beira is also a word in portuguese which means border, its also the name of a region of portugal. (4:22) it took the Romans quite a bit of time to conquer Iberia due to the fact that one man named Viriathus went on a guerrila war against the Roman, after his people were betreayed and massacred by the romans when they tried to surrender. it ressulted in very humiliating defeats for Rome, which in the end, unable to defeat Viriathus, payed two of his bodyguards to kill him in his sleep. Today Viriathus is held as a national hero and important figure of portugal.

[sureis]

Portuguese here, results of my DNA,
69.5 Iberian, 27.1 Italian, 3.4 Finnish

[freyalove]

As a galician/French descent, I feel closer with brother/sister Portuguese than the rest of the Spaniards. The only spaniards that I tolerate are Asturies and Basques(family members tend to marry with these two regions besides the locals).
When my father travels to Madrid airport they often tell tgem what country is he from?.lol.

[afaria]

A few people in the comments section posting outdated as well as incorrect information. We are well overdue for an updated study of the ethnic Portuguese population. It should include various regions of mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira.

[edgarneto]

Portugal has much more of a boreal side than people think; that's usually the biggest missing piece in foreigners' perception. 🏞️⛰️🌲🏔️🌳🏕️
Celtic and Germanic heritage, culture and music; mountains and wilderness, snow and wintry scenarios...

[AngryMonk_]

I really love your series… Very fascinating! 😊👍🏽
I think you may have already done it… But if not, have you ever thought about doing the DNA ties between Iberian Peninsula and Britain/Ireland/France?
As well as our commonalities in regards to the Celtic culture…etc 🙏🏽

[fpc]

Yes my friend. North of Portugal had huge celtic influence but then came the romans and the moors which had strong influence. The moors were the last before the Reconquista. After that Portugal was born. Portugal and England have the oldest alliance that has never been broken. The Windsor Treaty.

Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!😁

[romybarbosa]

I really liked what I heard in this video. Perhaps the presence of the Celts in Portugal justifies the fact that my mother had blue eyes, very white skin and beautiful black hair, in a village where there were only brown eyes and dark skin. This village is located in the North of Portugal, full of legends and mysteries...Greetings

[Tusiriakest]

Its impossible to talk about Portugal ancestry without mentioning the Lusitanians and Suebi.

[Silvestriano]

What’s interesting about Portugal is that geographically being in the south doesn’t mean having more North African admixture than someone from the north. I’m from the deep deep south and often times have the same amount as people from far north Minho and surrounding areas. Really shows how homogenous the country is.

On top of that I have y-dna R1b and mtdna H1.