Cabo Verde has one of the most distinctive genetic profiles in the Atlantic.

A genome-wide study of people from all nine inhabited islands found that Cabo Verdeans average roughly 59% African and 41% European ancestry in a broad two-way ancestry model. But the proportions vary substantially from island to island. Santiago averages about 71% African ancestry, while Fogo averages around 48%.

The origins of those two components are remarkably specific.

Nearly all of the European haplotypic ancestry detected across the archipelago is most closely shared with Iberian populations, consistent with the Portuguese settlement of Cabo Verde beginning in the 1460s.

The African ancestry is overwhelmingly Senegambian. The strongest genetic links are with Mandinka and Wolof populations, while groups from other parts of West and Central Africa that historically passed through Cabo Verde during the slave trade appear to have contributed much less to the present-day gene pool.

The islands also developed noticeably different genetic profiles. Fogo and Brava cluster together, Santiago forms another pattern, while Boa Vista, Sal, São Nicolau, São Vicente and Santo Antão show further distinctions.

Genetic modelling suggests African-European admixture began very early in the settlement history of the islands, often around the time each island was first permanently populated.

Surprisingly, comparatively limited new admixture is inferred during the peak centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, with additional African and European gene flow appearing again around or after abolition.

The study also found that genetic differences between islands partly parallel differences in Kriolu speech, suggesting that the archipelago’s genetic and linguistic histories developed together at a remarkably local scale.

📚 Source: Laurent et al. (2023), eLife
A genetic and linguistic analysis of the admixture histories of the islands of Cabo Verde

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