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Sephardic Jews leave
genetic legacy in Spain
By Teresa Larraz
Posted 2008/12/05
at 4:30 pm EST
MADRID, Dec. 5, 2008 (Reuters) —
From the 15th century on,
Spain's Jews were mostly
expelled or forced to convert,
but today some 20 percent of
Spanish men tested have
Sephardic Jewish ancestry, and
11 percent can be traced to
North Africa, a study has found.
These values are surprisingly
high," the researchers wrote in
their report, published in the
American Journal of Human
Genetics.
They checked the Y chromosome, a
stretch of DNA carried only by
men and passed down with little
change from father to son.
Mutations in this gene can be
used to trace ancestry, and some
have been clearly linked to
Sephardic Jewish and northern
African populations.
"The genetic composition of the
current population is the legacy
of our diverse cultural and
religious past," one of the
report's authors, Francesc
Calafell, from the evolutionary
biology faculty at Pompeu Fabra
University in Barcelona, said on
Friday.
Along with researchers from
Britain's University of
Leicester and Wellcome Trust,
the scientists analyzed DNA
samples from 1,140 men in Spain,
Portugal and the Balearic
Islands and compared them to
Moroccans, Algerians, and
Sephardic Jews in Istanbul and
Israel.
"The work shows that religious
conversions and subsequent
marriages between people of
different lines had a
significant impact on modern
populations both in the Balearic
Islands and in Portugal," Elena
Bosch of the University of
Leicester said in a statement.
One of the most surprising
findings is the percentage of
Spanish genes whose origin can
be traced to Sephardic Jews,
although Spain had a relatively
small Jewish population compared
to its Moorish population.
Some of these genes may pre-date
the Sephardic Jewish culture,
the researchers said, noting
that the Phoenicians also share
some of the genetic
characteristics.
The Moors invaded the Iberian
peninsula in 711 and remained
until defeated in battle by the
so-called Catholic Monarchs in
1492. Moorish influence is still
very noticeable in Spain's
language, architecture, music
and other aspects of its
culture.
Jews lived in Spain before the
Moors arrived and although small
in number played a significant
cultural and economic role.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews
were expelled from Spain in
various repressive moves,
started by the Catholic
Monarchs. The study suggests
many Jews converted rather than
face repression.
Some Sephardic communities to
this day speak Ladino, which is
similar to medieval Spanish and
can be understood by present-day
Spaniards.
(Reporting by Teresa Larraz,
writing by Sarah Morris, editing
by Maggie Fox and Michael
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