We explore the genetic footprint left behind by Chinese sailors on their travels. The fleets were a kaleidoscope of minority peoples, representative of China’s great diversity in cultures and creeds.
Along with humans, the ships carried plants and animals, as well as bacteria, viruses, diseases and parasites. These can be easily traced, and are a hugely important factor in proving where the fleets could have travelled. DNA evidence accumulated shows that many of the native peoples in the Americas came by multiple sea voyages from Asia. For this reason, an agonising reappraisal is required of the Beringia theory.
Further reading:
Losing a Lost Tribe – Simon Southerton http://amzn.to/1fDN7pu
Brown, M. D., et al. “mtDNA Haplogroup X: An Ancient Link Between Europe/Western Asia and America?” American Journal of Human Genetics 63, no. 6 (1998): 1852–61.
Reidla, Maera, et al. “Origin and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X.” American Journal of Human Genetics 73, no. 5 (2003): 1178–90.
Novick, Gabriel et al. “Polymorphic Alu Insertions and the Asian Origin of Native American Populations,” Human Biology: The International Journal of Population Genetics and Anthropology, Vol. 70, No. 1. 1998. P. 32.
Schurr, Thomas G. “Mitochondrial DNA and the Peopling of the New World.” American Scientist 88 (2000): 246–53.
Torroni, A., et al. “Mitochrondrial DNA ‘Clock’ for the Amerinds and Its Implications for Timing Their Entry into North America.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 9 (1994): 1158–62.
