TY - JOUR

T1 - The ancestry and geographical origins of St Helena's liberated Africans

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 - 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

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 -