Are White Americans really on average 98% European?

[C J Wyatt III]

I dunno, gencove.com says I am 1% Oceanian and 99% European and Dna.land says I am 98.7 % Eurasian and 1.3% Oceanian and myheritage says I am 98.3% European and 1.7% central asian. Anyway, so it seems my 'asian' or 'Oceanian' likely came from my British, rather than American, ancestry since it probably comes from the British empire days in Australia or New Zealand. Furthermore, aren't southern Europeans part African or Arab and aren't Northern Europeans part Saami and aren't Eastern Europeans part mongoloid ?

Anyway, I don't think it is worth commenting on that much since it is only a 2% admixture on average which is small.

Have you tried GEDmatch Eurogenes K13 ? I'd be curious about the results from it.

Jack wyatt

[msmarjoribanks]

Turks are not White. Turkey is not in Europe. Southern Europeans of course are White.

"White" means "of European descent", period. I never met anyone, not even other White people, who consider Turks to be White. Turks look more Middle Eastern than anything. In America, if you're of European descent, and have a phenotype that matches European standards, then you are considered White.

Eh, white means what we culturally decide it means, but I know a couple of Turkish people who are a lot more stereotypically "white" looking than lots of Italians -- lighter skin, lighter hair, stuff like that.

[msmarjoribanks]

I was reading about White Americans on Wikipedia, and I came to the admixture section. There was a sentence that said White Americans are on average 98% European, the rest of their heritage being Native American and African American.

Does this mean that... when you see the average/usual/typical White American, the person is about 98% European?

I always thought White Americans looked different compared to Europeans. I wasn't sure exactly why, but if the average White American is a little Indian and a little Black, that would certainty help explain it.

So it's unusual/rare for a White American to be 100% European?

What does the average European score as?

I'm 98% European on Ancestry, but the 2% is Caucasus, from where I have no known ancestry, it's some deep mixture that comes from my ancestors who immigrated to the US from the British Isles, Sweden, Germany, France, so on.

Can't imagine that would explain some kind of different look. I can usually pick out European tourists, granted, but it's normally clothes or looking helplessly at a map or something.

[Tz85]

Turks are not White. Turkey is not in Europe. Southern Europeans of course are White.

"White" means "of European descent", period. I never met anyone, not even other White people, who consider Turks to be White. Turks look more Middle Eastern than anything. In America, if you're of European descent, and have a phenotype that matches European standards, then you are considered White.

Turkey is indeed in both Europe and Asia. "White" categorizing is total garbage. You cannot lump Southern Europeans, Northern Europeans, West Europeans, and East Europeans together. Genetically a Sicilian, and Norwegian for example, are worlds apart. I personally believe it's Offensive as hell. That's not even mentioning, many Southern Europeans are not fully European, or "white" looking.

[Bobby Martnen]

Turkey is indeed in both Europe and Asia. "White" categorizing is total garbage. You cannot lump Southern Europeans, Northern Europeans, West Europeans, and East Europeans together. Genetically a Sicilian, and Norwegian for example, are worlds apart. I personally believe it's Offensive as hell. That's not even mentioning, many Southern Europeans are not fully European, or "white" looking.

The vast majority of Turkey is in Asia, and most of the European part was stolen from Greece in the 1920s.

Genetic analysis indicates Turks are mostly West Asian (Caucasus + Middle East on AncestryDNA), secondarily European (Europe East and Italy/Greece), and thirdly Asian (Central and East). Their religion and language aren't European, so while yes, they have some European land and DNA, they are mostly non-European.

[Bobby Martnen]

In the United States, the now-derogatory term white

White isn't a derogatory term in the slightest, not to me, or any of the other thousands of White Americans I know. It's the standard term in America for describing those of European origin.

[raschau]

FWIW, I'm a Mayflower descendant and score 99.7% white on 23andMe. The 0.3% is "Native American," but more likely statistical noise.

It seems silly to me to suggest the average white American has some Native and some African ancestry.

[C J Wyatt III]

FWIW, I'm a Mayflower descendant and score 99.7% white on 23andMe. The 0.3% is "Native American," but more likely statistical noise.

It seems silly to me to suggest the average white American has some Native and some African ancestry.

and what are your GEDmatch Eurogenes K13 results?

I think the vendors with commercial interests tend to exclude admixtures which they cannot explain from their analysis. The admixture utilities on GEDmatch do not have that financial pressure, so that is why I give them more credibility.

Jack Wyatt

[Tz85]

White isn't a derogatory term in the slightest, not to me, or any of the other thousands of White Americans I know. It's the standard term in America for describing those of European origin.

Wonderful, you believe your ethnicity is "white". Good thing you don't speak for all of us, or thousands of other white Americans. I bet these so called American are northern European? I guarentee you my 100% Southern Italian grandparents did not call themselves white or liked to be called white.

[MitchellSince1893]

The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States
Katarzyna Bryc'Correspondence information about the author Katarzyna BrycEmail the author Katarzyna Bryc, Eric Y. Durand, J. Michael Macpherson, David Reich, Joanna L. Mountain
Published Online: December 18, 2014[/QUOTE]
http://www.cell.com/ajhg/abstract/S0002-9297(14)00476-5

Over the past 500 years, North America has been the site of ongoing mixing of Native Americans, European settlers, and Africans (brought largely by the trans-Atlantic slave trade), shaping the early history of what became the United States. We studied the genetic ancestry of 5,269 self-described African Americans, 8,663 Latinos, and 148,789 European Americans who are 23andMe customers and show that the legacy of these historical interactions is visible in the genetic ancestry of present-day Americans. We document pervasive mixed ancestry and asymmetrical male and female ancestry contributions in all groups studied. We show that regional ancestry differences reflect historical events, such as early Spanish colonization, waves of immigration from many regions of Europe, and forced relocation of Native Americans within the US. This study sheds light on the fine-scale differences in ancestry within and across the United States and informs our understanding of the relationship between racial and ethnic identities and genetic ancestry.

Chart from article with African Americans, European Americans and Latinos genetic makeup broken down by state


So under the African American section we see in South Carolina African Americans have the highest African ancestry at 83% while West Virginia has the lowest at 64%. Conversely in West Virginia, African Americans have the highest European Ancestry at 34% and lowest in South Carolina at 15%. African Americans in New Jersey have the highest Native American ancestry at 1.1% and lowest in West Virginia at .2%

For European Americans: Louisiana has the highest percentage of African American Ancestry at .6% and New Mexico and Alaska having the highest percentage of Native American Ancestry at .4%, and South Dakota has the highest European ancestry at 99.8%. South Dakota had the lowest African percentage. Hawaii had the lowest European ancestry. Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Ohio had the lowest Native American ancestry.

For Latinos, Louisiana has the highest for African ancestry at 22%, while Texas has the highest Native American ancestry at 21%, Kentucky for European ancestry at 90%. Kentucky and Louisiana have the lowest Native American ancestry, Hawaii has the lowest European ancestry and Utah has the lowest for African ancestry.

Maps showing European Americans by state with African American and Native American ancestry