Has anyone on the forum ever done a DNA test to find out there ancestry? I recently seen a show on National Geographic and have always wondered so I was like Ok lets find out. So I joined Genebase and they sent me a little Thingy to scrape the inside of my mounth to collect Dna and send it back. My whole life I thought I was just Portuguese well apparently thats just the beginning. After studying Portuguese History and more specifically Madeira Island history Iknew there were allot of different Ethnic groups taken there in the beginning well now its really starting to make sence why I share genes with so many different ethnic groups.

Nelson
That will come after we finish with the figs DNA and the associated varietal mysteries.

lol Akram I agree. This is something I always found interesting even as a Child so now that im old enough to make my own decisions I want to know my a bit more about my Ancestry.

Clan MacLeod has had a DNA study done of males (due to the X/Y gene inheritance the males show the needed haplotypes to determine ancestry from known haplotype groups) that carry the patrinymic surname to determine if in fact we are of Norse descent as family history states. Specifically, descended in a direct line from our namesake father Ljotr (norse; ugly, as in fierce/mean transliterated into gealic Leoid. Mac in gealic means "son of"). We do have historic documentation of a norseman named Ljotr settling on the Isle of Skye at or around the time a stronghold/keep was established on an island in a sea loch which would later become Castle Dunvegan, the seat of Clan MacLeod. What has never been proven are the various stories of Ljotr's origin. Whether he was a son or stepson of Balki the norse sherriff of skye or the grandson of Olaf the Black, last King of Mann we can not prove. In spite of lack of evidence there is strong reason to believe that Ljotr does trace back in some way to Olaf the Black and/or the norse kings of Dublin. The claim to Olaf was more than likely through marriage and norsemen of that time were freely trading between ireland and the british isles. BTW Dunvegan (gealic; castle on the rock) is the longest held by the same family and occupied keep in the whole of the british isles. It has never fallen to outsiders. Not even the present hohenzollern rulers of england can make that claim.
The results were inconclusive. While we share alot of the predominant haplotypes that are common the to british isles, reflecting long establishment of the family there. We also showed haplotypes coming from the scandinavian regions but then again so do a large percent of the population of northern europe, particularly in those regions of known viking conquest. Can we say we descend in a pure unbroken line, of course not. But I still believe the MacLeods along with many other northern scottish clans owe their existance to norsemen raiders gone native.
Side note; many proud scottish clans of today are not scottish at all. Many are french. The norman invaders (ok, I'll grant you that the normans were originally norsemen) were notorious for displacing conquered clans and installing reliable "clans" in their place.

What other ethnic groups your dna contains?
was the show on the Phoenicians that you saw on national geographic?
let use that kit with some of our figs, and see what the results would be.

Hi Bass yes it was that show and the one about DNA off all walks of life in new york tracing back to africa.

The first test I did was for my dads & Moms side only 20 markers and was around 400 bucks if im not mistaken.

Bass believe it or not my dads side my dna has more in common with people in Basque contry spain than portugal itself. In fact Basque Contry and Pyrenees was the two highest followed by northen Portugal then Ibiza Spain and then Canary Islands. Also Morrocan & Tunisian Berber and different Arab groups. 

heres a sample on My moms side first three are the highest percentage followed by the others.

Portuguese, Central Portugal

Ciao NElson, this always interested me.  I payed some money to have this done with the scrappy thing in your mouth. I heard about this and it fascinated me, I wanted to pinpoint what Italian I am outside of the Abruzzese Italic tribe, which consists of many.  They can actually pinpoint your nationality through something they call autosomal DNA, which is great because before we were kind of limited to Mitochondrial ( from the female line) and the male line, there were Two other grandparents they completely before left out!!!!!  I will have to share my findings,
This is what they told me:
I am genetically what they called a Mediterranean Mix of Italic tribes ( Frentani and Marrucini, Roman and Etruscan)  also share similiarities with the Greeks ( specifically Crete) also some Sicani, which is predominantly in Sicily and Greece.  They didn't find too much.

Its pretty interesting, this fascinates me. 
Ciao

this is the website I went on after seing the show.
http://www.dnaancestryproject.com/?gclid=CIrG17jt454CFag65QodPGAWJA

Nothing wrong with having ancestry in the Basque country!  While it drives some of my friends crazy, Basque is probably my favorite and most respected region of Spain when it comes to culture and food.

Jason thats the highest percentage I get no matter how many markers I use Basque Contry is always the Highest from my fathers side.

Maggie I too have Italian from the following regions.

Modena, Northern Italy
Biella, Piedmont (Italy)
Brescia (Northern Italy)
Postua, Piedmont (Italy)
Trino, Piedmont (Italy)
Cavaglia, Piedmont (Italy)
Sicily, Italy

Canada population make up is soooo mixed up. I have sooooo many friends with blood ties to Brits, German, Italians, Dannish, French, Yugo, Russians, Japanese, Dutch, Chinese, Native, ..... golly amazing melting pot. I have a chinese friend but on appearance he is totally white, so were the features like many first nation people too.