The genetic history of Greenlandic-European contact

• Published in: Current biology 2021-05, Vol.31 (10), p.2214-2219.e4
• Main Authors: Waples, Ryan K., Hauptmann, Aviaja L., Seiding, Inge, Jørsboe, Emil, Jørgensen, Marit E., Grarup, Niels, Andersen, Mette K., Larsen, Christina V.L., Bjerregaard, Peter, Hellenthal, Garrett, Hansen, Torben, Albrechtsen, Anders, Moltke, Ida
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: admixture; ancestry; Denmark; genetic history; Genetics, Population; Greenland; Greenlandic-European contact; Haplotypes; human; Humans; Inuits - genetics; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; population genetics; Whites - genetics
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.02.041

The Inuit ancestors of the Greenlandic people arrived in Greenland close to 1,000 years ago.1 Since then, Europeans from many different countries have been present in Greenland. Consequently, the present-day Greenlandic population has ∼25% of its genetic ancestry from Europe.2 In this study, we investigated to what extent different European countries have contributed to this genetic ancestry. We combined dense SNP chip data from 3,972 Greenlanders and 8,275 Europeans from 14 countries and inferred the ancestry contribution from each of these 14 countries using haplotype-based methods. Due to the rapid increase in population size in Greenland over the past ∼100 years, we hypothesized that earlier European interactions, such as pre-colonial Dutch whalers and early German and Danish-Norwegian missionaries, as well as the later Danish colonists and post-colonial immigrants, all contributed European genetic ancestry. However, we found that the European ancestry is almost entirely Danish and that a substantial fraction is from admixture that took place within the last few generations. •The present-day Greenlandic population has substantial amounts of European ancestry•Denmark is the main source of this European ancestry•There is little evidence of European ancestry from pre-colonial European contact•The timing of much of the European admixture is very recent The Greenlandic Inuit have had extensive historical contact with Europeans, and the present-day Greenlandic population has substantial amounts of European ancestry. Waples et al. use genetic data to investigate the origin of this ancestry. They show that much of it is Danish and find little evidence of it being from pre-colonial European contact.