🇨🇺 Cuba’s three-way ancestry

Genome data from 860 Cubans shows a three-way mix: mostly European on average (about 70%), with African and smaller Native American components.

The east carries more African and Native American ancestry than the west. The mixing was sex-biased overall, with more European male and African/Native American female input.

Source populations point to Iberia for the European part, West-Central Africa and the Bights of Benin/Biafra for the African part, and South American/Mesoamerican groups for the Native American part.

Timing analyses suggest early-colonial Indigenous and African inputs, plus a later African pulse in the east consistent with Haitian migration.

Takeaway: Cuba’s DNA is regional and layered, shaped by early colonial mixing and later movements, not a single event.

Source: Fortes-Lima et al., 2018. Exploring Cuba’s population structure and demographic history using genome-wide data.