TY - JOUR
T1 - The ancestry and geographical origins of St Helena's liberated Africans
T2 - [incl. erratum]
AU - Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela
AU - Jagadeesan, Anuradha
AU - Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín
AU - Ávila-Arcos, María C.
AU - Fortes-Lima, Cesar A.
AU - Watson, Judy
AU - Johannesdóttir, Erna
AU - Cruz-Dávalos, Diana I.
AU - Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
AU - Moreno-Mayar, J. Víctor
AU - Niemann, Jonas
AU - Renaud, Gabriel
AU - Brown, Katharine A. Robson
AU - Bennett, Helena
AU - Pearson, Andrew
AU - Helgason, Agnar
AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU - Schroeder, Hannes
N1 - Erratum: doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.09.007
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The island of St Helena played a crucial role in the suppression of the transatlantic slave trade. Strategically located in the middle of the South Atlantic, it served as a staging post for the Royal Navy and reception point for enslaved Africans who had been “liberated” from slave ships intercepted by the British. In total, St Helena received approximately 27,000 liberated Africans between 1840 and 1867. Written sources suggest that the majority of these individuals came from West Central Africa, but their precise origins are unknown. Here, we report the results of ancient DNA analyses that we conducted as part of a wider effort to commemorate St Helena's liberated Africans and to restore knowledge of their lives and experiences. We generated partial genomes (0.1–0.5×) for 20 individuals whose remains had been recovered during archaeological excavations on the island. We compared their genomes with genotype data for over 3,000 present-day individuals from 90 populations across sub-Saharan Africa and conclude that the individuals most likely originated from different source populations within the general area between northern Angola and Gabon. We also find that the majority (17/20) of the individuals were male, supporting a well-documented sex bias in the latter phase of the transatlantic slave trade. The study expands our understanding of St Helena's liberated African community and illustrates how ancient DNA analyses can be used to investigate the origins and identities of individuals whose lives were bound up in the story of slavery and its abolition.
AB - The island of St Helena played a crucial role in the suppression of the transatlantic slave trade. Strategically located in the middle of the South Atlantic, it served as a staging post for the Royal Navy and reception point for enslaved Africans who had been “liberated” from slave ships intercepted by the British. In total, St Helena received approximately 27,000 liberated Africans between 1840 and 1867. Written sources suggest that the majority of these individuals came from West Central Africa, but their precise origins are unknown. Here, we report the results of ancient DNA analyses that we conducted as part of a wider effort to commemorate St Helena's liberated Africans and to restore knowledge of their lives and experiences. We generated partial genomes (0.1–0.5×) for 20 individuals whose remains had been recovered during archaeological excavations on the island. We compared their genomes with genotype data for over 3,000 present-day individuals from 90 populations across sub-Saharan Africa and conclude that the individuals most likely originated from different source populations within the general area between northern Angola and Gabon. We also find that the majority (17/20) of the individuals were male, supporting a well-documented sex bias in the latter phase of the transatlantic slave trade. The study expands our understanding of St Helena's liberated African community and illustrates how ancient DNA analyses can be used to investigate the origins and identities of individuals whose lives were bound up in the story of slavery and its abolition.
KW - ancestry
KW - ancient DNA
KW - genomics
KW - identity by state
KW - next-generation sequencing
KW - transatlantic slave trade
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.09.007
U2 - 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.08.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.08.001
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37683613
AN - SCOPUS:85170341392
VL - 110
SP - 1590
EP - 1599
JO - American Journal of Human Genetics
JF - American Journal of Human Genetics
SN - 0002-9297
IS - 9
ER -