Native American Nations Around The World - A Genetic Sub-Polar Route and Evidence to 2012

In 2011

Haplotype X2a (North American Indigenous) is more closely related to the Altaian, Siberian Haplogroup X2 than to any European Haplogroup X2. There is a differnce in the types of Haplogroups X2. Further, we have five (5) unique mutations of Haplogroup X2a. Only one (1) has been found in the Eastern Hemisphere - in Iran. Are First Nations related to the Iranians?

November 2007

"We have reasonably clear genetic evidence that the most likely candidate for the source of Native American populations is somewhere in east Asia," said Noah Rosenberg, a genetic researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Native American and Siberian ancestors (Altai) are the only two groups that experience one specific genetic mutation, stengthening the link between these two peoples.

Note: I've connected Koreans and Native Americans with the Altai regions to my own satsifaction for approxaimtely 10 years, and the evidence is coming in to support it. Link for the entire research article is here.

The Inuit peoples have been discovered in northeast Siberia/Russia, across the top of North America - Alaska, Canada & Territories, and into Greenland and the Feroa Islands near Denmark. In fact, evidence supports the notion that the Inuit are living or have lived completely around the globe in the Arctic and Subarctic regions.

The Northern European Sami and other peoples are related to or part of the Inuit, evidenced in DNA tracking. Wherever human life began, part of it went north and around the circumpolar regions of the north. This has not been easy, given the harsher climates and their impact on resources for these peoples. They would seem to me, above all else, to be survivors.

In 1996 I found linguistic evidence on a research CD-ROM entry at our local university that certain Iroquois Confederation nations (Mohawk, et.al.), shared the identical word for cousin with the Zulu Nation originally in the Congo -- Sources, including legends, state that the Zulu are descended from the son of a Nguni chief in the Congo Basin. In 2012, the people are largely in KwaZulu-Natal. I was intrigued, because sharing the word for cousin meant that the two nations were probably related genetically, because language and genetics are largely related. In the 200s - 2010s, the Smithsonian/National Geographic/IBM Genographic Project is connecting more dots.

However, there was no detailed genetic research about this link available to the general public through my university at that time..The Internet infrastructure had not yet been installed at my university, but was installed, up and working before the end of 1996, though not widespread and user friendly. Meanwhile, at the learning center at which I worked, our Internet station ran so slowly that any search required 30 minutes in order to provide up a results page, if at all. This was frustrating and not very useful.

By 1999, genetic research begun with studies back in 1992 showed Y chromosome links (via the male heritage line; Y is male and X is female) between and among the nations I've presented in the previous Hubs of this Series on Native American Nations..

This Hub will present additional details from genetic research about these links, along with a list of characteristics that are markers for Native American heritage. By "Native American" I mean any of the related indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere and around the Arctic Circle:

• Alaskan Natives
• First Nations, Metis, Inuits; Circumpolar Peoples
• Native Americans
• Indigenous Peoples of Mexico, Central America, and South America
• Pacific and Other Islanders on both margins of the Western Hemisphere

The reporting firm, Statistics Canada, stated in its 2006 Census results on the Indigenous Peoples of Canada that there are 1,172,790 First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals in Canada.

However, I know that not all Native groups completed the questionnaires for the Census. Therefore, there are more aboriginal individuals living in Canada than were counted in 2006. Perhaps no Census ever records 100% of all individuals.

This First Nations count is an increase that results from higher birth rates among the indigenous peoples than among non-aboriginal groups. The increase in population also results from an increasing number of people beginning to identify themselves as aboriginals in the late 20th and into the 21st centuries.

The Métis are the mixed-heritage individuals in Canada and the USA that have a portion of indigenous DNA. In Canada, their numbers doubled in the 10 years from 1996 - 2006.

Some of Canada's largest cities are home to substantial numbers of indigenous people. These cities include including Winnipeg (10% of the total population), Regina (9% of the population) and Saskatoon (9%). These are large numbers compared to those of 1996.

The First Nations people are significantly younger overall than non-native people in Canada. The median ages of the two groups fall at 27 years for First Nations and 40 years for others, respectively. This First Nations are more younger adults, compared to early middle age among whites and others.

In fact, half of all First Nations members are under 25 years of age. They are in a position to take over some of the jobs left vacant by retiring Baby Boomers in Canada in order to solve the 21st century labor shortage created by this retirement. With various education and training programs available from the Canadian federal and provincial governments to First Nation peoples, this is a good possibility.

DNA testing along father's ancestry and mother's ancestry lines is more available in the 21st century and becoming more friently accessed. Some tests are expensive, while others are becoming less so. The testing is useful to indidivuals that cannot trace the documentation of their Native Ameircan Heritage, becuase they can use the positive results in claiming related minority college scholarships.

In order to help you decide whether to undergo DNA testing or not, here is a list of characteristics reportedly associated with Native Americans/First Nations that are not widely known:

1) Wider feet than the general population. This mean that you cannot wear an "A" , "AA" or "AAA" width, which are all narrow. In some large department stores, the concept of "width" has disappeared from the manufacture and distriubution of shoes, so they are all just a little too narrow (They are also too wide for people with narrower feet.) There may be a difference, also, in the structure of the arch of the foot from other peoples. NIKE produces wider shoes for the Native American foot.

2) Lack of hair on the abdomen - not even a light fuzz, usually.

3) High cheekbone that, if you wear glasses, the lenses are consistently smeared at the bottom or below the center of the lenses.

4) Tooth structure, There are two characteristics to look for. The first is a type of "shoveling" (amost like a scoop or the flatter side of a spade) on the inside of the top 4 front and bottom 4 front teeth, with an extra ridge before you get to the root. Sometimes this involves additional frontward teeth. The second feature is the lack of a fifth cusp on certain molars - European descendants most often have that extra cusp (like a point) to make a total of 5.The exceptian in a single eastern European culture.

5) Are you a descendant of Europeans or African Americans that may have intermarried with Native Americans? Although some of these indidivuals do not look like Nartive Americans, they may possess the indigenous DNA as part of the larger intermixed group of Metis or Metiza or similar designation. It is particaulrly interesting that is appears as though many Mohawk people, historic and current, look more like Europeans than other Native Nations,