Ribeiro's typology, genomes, and Spanish colonialism, as viewed from Gran Canaria and Colombia

Abstract

Four biallelic and six multiallelic Y-chromosome polymorphisms were investigated in 59 Gran Canarian, 60 North African Berber and 46 Spanish subjects. These new data were merged with equivalent literature information to obtain the parental Y-chrosomomal contribution in Gran Canarians, Colombians, and Venezuelans. The results were then compared, for Gran Canarians and Colombians, to those derived from autosomal and mtDNA. In both groups, the Spanish Y-chromosome contribution was much more marked than that estimated using mtDNA. This analysis showed a usual trend in the Spanish Colonial history, characterized by a demographic collapse of the aboriginal population, but with considerable introgression of genes through native women. In accordance to D. Ribeiro’s typology for peoples subjected to Colonialism, the Y-chromosomes of these admixed populations are classified as transplanted, their mtDNA as witness, and their autosome sets as new.