African admixture in Europe refers to the presence of genetic admixture from African populations within present-day and historical European populations.
More recent African admixture, primarily by Punic, Berber and Arab admixture from North Africa, is associated with historic migrations through the Mediterranean Sea associated with the Carthaginian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Muslim conquests of the Early Middle Ages. This admixture, though minor, is found primarily in the Iberian Peninsula (with higher levels in the West and the South), the Italian Peninsula (with higher levels in Southern Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily), Greece (with higher levels in the Aegean Islands), and Malta.
Neolithic
The change from hunting and gathering to agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution was a watershed in world history. The societies that first made the change to agriculture are believed to have lived in Western Asia around 10,000 BCE. Agriculture was introduced into Europe c. 7000 BCE by migrating farmers from Anatolia, known as Anatolian Neolithic Farmers in the genetics literature. These farmers either replaced or interbred with local European hunter-gather populations that had been living in Europe since the Paleolithic. Early Neolithic farmers in Anatolia and Europe were similar genetically to modern-day southern European populations. European Neolithic farmers later introduced agriculture to Northwest Africa c. 5400 BC from southwestern Europe, contributing significantly to the genetic formation of the ancient (and modern) population of North Africa. A later expansion from Europe into North Africa by the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture further contributed to the North African genepool.
It has been suggested that the first farmers in West Asia, descended from Natufian hunter-gatherers, reflected some North African influences or vice versa. There have been suggestions that some genetic lineages found in the Middle East arrived there during this period or earlier. The first agricultural societies in the Middle East are generally thought to have emerged from the Natufian culture between 12,000 and 10,000 BCE. The Natufians were widely semi-sedentary even before the introduction of agriculture.
Historical period In historical times, there has been a period of north African influence in southern Europe, especially in Iberia and parts of southern Italy (namely Sicily), during various Muslim conquests. The genetic effect of this period on modern European populations is the subject of discussion (see below). In more recent history, the peoples of Europe and Africa came into contact during the exploration and colonization of Africa and as a consequence of the Atlantic slave trade.
Admixture analysis of modern populations
Hernandez et al. (2020) identified 11.17 ± 1.87% North African ancestry in southern Portuguese samples (from a population similar to modern northern Moroccans and Algerians), 9.28 ± 1.79% of such ancestry in western Andalusians, and an average of 1.41 ± 0.72% sub-Saharan ancestry in southern Iberians (using Yoruba as a proxy source). Substantially lower levels of North African admixture were further detected in Northern Italians (0.77%) and Tuscans (1%).
Bycroft et al. (2019) identified regionally varying fractions of Northwest African ancestry in modern Iberians, ranging from 0–11%. This ancestry was found to be from a source population similar to modern Northwest Africans. The admixture was dated to 860–1120 CE, associated with the Muslim conquest and subsequent Reconquista. The highest levels of Northwest African admixture were identified in western Iberia whilst the lowest levels (0%) were found in the Basque region and an area in the North East roughly corresponding to the 14th-century Crown of Aragon. They also found some evidence for a second admixture event in Portuguese and Southern Spanish groups involving a second North African population within which a small sub-Saharan African component was detected. This admixture event was dated to approximately 1300 CE.
Botigué et al. (2013) analysed genome-wide SNP data from over 2,000 modern individuals from Iberia. They estimated an average of 4% to 12% Northwest African admixture in modern Iberians (with low or zero levels in Basques), whereas populations in southeastern Europe had less than 2% of such admixture. Sub-Saharan African ancestry was detected at less than 1% in Europe, with the exception of the Canary Islands.
Lazaridis et al. (2014) detected 12.6 ± 2% North African ancestry and an average of 1.5 ± 0.2% sub-Saharan ancestry in the Spanish population.
Moorjani et al. (2011) estimated that some Southern Europeans have inherited 1%–3% sub-Saharan ancestry (approximately 3.2% in Portugal, 2.9% in Sardinia, 2.7% in southern Italy, 2.4% in Spain and 1.1% in northern Italy), although the percentages were lower (ranging from 0.2% in Sardinia and northern Italy to 2.1% in Portugal) when reanalyzed with the 'STRUCTURE' statistical model. An average mixture date of around 55 generations/1100 years ago was given, "consistent with North African gene flow at the end of the Roman Empire and subsequent Arab migrations". This admixture was not identified in Northern Europeans.
Pino-Yanes et al. (2011) found that from an autosomal analysis, the average Northwest African influence is about 17% in Canary Islanders, with a wide interindividual variation ranging from 0% to 96%. The substantial Northwest African ancestry found for Canary Islanders supports the idea that, despite the aggressive conquest by the Spanish in the 15th century and the subsequent immigration, genetic footprints of the first settlers of the Canary Islands persist in the current inhabitants. Paralleling mtDNA findings, the largest average Northwest African contribution was found for the samples from La Gomera.
Admixture analysis of historic populations
In 2026, 111 individuals living during medieval Sicily from different sites ranging the periods of 5th to 15th centuries CE were studied. Mitochondrial DNA was gathered from 67 individuals, autosomal DNA from 32 alongside a previous set of 22 for whole genome analysis. The majority of samples plotted with Western and Southern European profiles during the early periods. During later periods, North African ancestry is persistent, while others on the PCA were shifted towards Middle Eastern groups, and West African ancestry was also present in individuals. The study found demographic continuity, even with these later population admixtures. A 2025 study found 20-30% of West African ancestry (with the remaining ancestry being continental northern European), in 2 of 18 early Medieval individuals buried at Kent and Dorset in England. Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela et al. (2024), studied 37 individuals from the 7th to 11th Century in Las Gobas, a necropolis in northern Spain. They found there was no significant increase of North African (Berber) or Middle East ancestries over time, before and after the Umayyad expansion. The authors proposed it may have been due to the communities isolation. However, North African admixture was detected in Visigothic individuals from southern Spain, hypothesized to be due to Punic movement into Iberia or pre-Islamic contact between southern Spain and North Africa. MacRoberts, Rebecca Anne et al. (2024) studied remains of the 8th-10th century AD in Portugal. Ancient DNA analysis conducted on three individuals revealed maternal (mtDNA) and paternal (Y-chromosome) lineages showing possible North African origin for some of the individuals. The mobility of females in this population was said to be higher than males, possibly because of the patriarchal structures practiced by Berber and Arab communities. Silva, M. et al. (2021), analyzed the genome for an individual who was buried in an Islamic necropolis at Segorbe, Spain. The sample's uniparentals pointed to North African origin, but on the autosomal level he displays both European and Northern African-related ancestries.
Olalde et al. (2019) found evidence for 'sporadic contacts' between Iberia and North Africa in the Copper Age and Bronze Age. A male sample from central Iberia, dating from 2473–2030 cal BCE, was found to cluster with modern and ancient North Africans, characterised by ancestry from both Late Pleistocene North Africans and Early Neolithic Europeans. Another Bronze Age sample had 25% such North African ancestry. However, North African ancestry only became widespread in Iberia in the past ~2000 years, associated with the Roman Empire or earlier Punic presence and the later period of Muslim rule. The study analysed 45 samples from southeastern Spain dating from the 3rd-16th centuries CE, all of which fell outside the genetic variation of preceding Iberian Iron Age populations, harbouring ancestry from both southern European and North African populations, as well as additional Levantine-related ancestry. 2 samples out of 23 dating from the 10th to 16th centuries were also found to have partial sub-Saharan ancestry, which was not identified in earlier samples. Present-day southern Iberians harbour less African ancestry than Muslim period samples, likely due to subsequent population expulsions and repopulation from the north, as supported by historical sources and genetic analysis of present-day groups. Gleize, Yves et al. (2016), discovered that the paternal lineages of Muslim cemeteries in France had 3 individuals with North African ancestry. The analyses was said to confirm the Berber origin of some of the first Islamic troops spreading through Europe, and also indicated the co-existence of communities practicing Christian and Muslim funerary customs.
Sex chromosomes
Generally, markers and lineages used to characterize African admixture are those that are believed to be specific to Africa. There are also DNA polymorphisms that are shared between populations native to Europe, West Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, such as the Y-chromosomal haplogroup E1b1b and the mitochondrial haplogroup M1.
With regard to the paternal haplogroup E1b1b and maternal haplogroup M1, derivatives of these clades have been observed in prehistoric human fossils excavated at the Ifri n'Amr or Moussa site in Morocco, which have been radiocarbon-dated to the Early Neolithic period (ca. 5,000 BC). Ancient DNA analysis of these specimens indicates that they carried paternal haplotypes related to the E1b1b1b1a (E-M81) subclade and the maternal haplogroups U6a and M1, all of which are frequent among present-day communities in the Maghreb. These ancient individuals also bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. Additionally, fossils excavated at the Kelif el Boroud site near Rabat, were found to carry the broadly-distributed paternal haplogroup T-M184 as well as the maternal haplogroups K1, T2 and X2, the latter of which were common mtDNA lineages in Neolithic Europe and Anatolia. These ancient individuals likewise bore the Berber-associated Maghrebi genomic component, as well as Early European Farmer ancestry. This altogether indicates that the Late Neolithic Kelif el Boroud inhabitants were ancestral to contemporary populations in the area, but also experienced substantial gene flow from Europe.
Other lineages that are now found in Africa and Europe may have a common origin in Asia (e.g. Y haplogroups R1, and some paternal haplogroup T and U subclades). One subclade of haplogroup U, namely U6a1, is known to have expanded from northern and eastern Africa back into Europe even though haplogroup U6 is considered to have originated in the Middle East. Other lineages are known to have moved from Europe directly into Africa, for example mitochondrial haplogroups H1 and H3. Such bidirectional migrations between Africa and Eurasia complicate the task of defining admixture.
Y-DNA