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Last update - 18:44 07/12/2008
Some 20 percent of Spaniards are genetically to similar to Sephardi Jews
By Reuters
Tags: Israel News, Spain, Sepharadi 

From the 15th century on, Spain's Jews were mostly expelled or forced to convert, but today some 20 percent of Spaniards have genes similar to Sephardic Jews, a study has found.

A report in the American Journal of Human Genetics says almost a fifth of Spaniards have genes similar to Sephardic Jews while 11 percent have links to Muslims in North Africa.

"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.
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Along with researchers from Leicester University in England and the Wellcome Trust, the study analysed DNA samples from 1,140 men in Spain, Portugal and the Balearic Islands and compared them to established data on 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," another author Elena Bosch said in a statement.

One of the most surprising findings is the percentage of Spaniards having genes similar to Sephardic Jews, although Spain had a relatively small Jewish population compared to its Moorish population.

This may arise because genetic features of Sephardic Jews used in the study are shared with other peoples such as neolithics and Phoenicians, so today's Spaniards could have inherited some of those genetics from various sources.

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.

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      1.   spain is the only arab majority chistian country 21:43  |  w/jewish minority 05/12/08
      2.   Jewish blood 21:48  |  pedro carvalho 05/12/08
      3.   Sephardic blood 21:59  |  pedro carvalho 05/12/08
      4.   The Moorish population 22:03  |  Colin Wright 05/12/08
      5.   curious 22:48  |  jose marcio 05/12/08
      6.   coversos reconverting 00:19  |  k 06/12/08
      7.   Hundreds of thousands of exiled Sephardi Jews not a small number 00:52  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      8.   Sephardic Jews 01:50  |  Robin Hood 06/12/08
      9.   Hello 04:12  |  Omary 06/12/08
      10.   Jose #5 05:03  |  Joaquim 06/12/08
      11.   Spanish Jews 06:46  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      12.   7. Genuine Tosefta 07:08  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      13.   Seems interesting but... 07:22  |  David Zukerman 06/12/08
      14.   My thoughts exactly David Zukerman 07:47  |  Kiwi girl 06/12/08
      15.   7. Genuine Tosefta 07:57  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      16.   kutw, add to the exiles the ones who remained behind, converted 08:27  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      17.   Why is this surprising? 08:46  |  Johnboy 06/12/08
      18.   So the Sephardim are a race now? 08:51  |  Yitzhak 06/12/08
      19.   16. Genuine Tosefta 09:29  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      20.   #11 Saludos KUTW 09:32  |  hala 06/12/08
      21.   #11 KUTW and Arab language 09:37  |  hala 06/12/08
      22.   #18 Good point, Yitzhak 09:45  |  hala 06/12/08
      23.   kutw, actually it is true 09:54  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      24.   To Jose Marcio: nobody is more Jew than other. And not about DNA% 09:55  |  Alain, an ashkenazi 06/12/08
      25.   On the other hand kiwi gal has no native genes 10:04  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      26.   Hala, hola 10:19  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      27.   re #5 ;curious` 10:46  |  Colin Wright 06/12/08
      28.   re #17 `Why is this surprising?` 10:52  |  Colin Wright 06/12/08
      29.   re #1 `spain is the only arab majority chistian country` 10:55  |  Colin Wright 06/12/08
      30.   Scientifically insignificant 11:45  |  Frank 06/12/08
      31.   21.hala 11:54  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      32.   23. Genuine Tosefta 11:59  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      33.   #27 don`t make too much of it 12:13  |  Zelkha 06/12/08
      34.   1. w/jewish minority 12:24  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      35.   Jews converting to Catholicism 12:35  |  KUTW 06/12/08
      36.   People who are obsessed 15:39  |  Joe 06/12/08
      37.   Judaism Still in Back of Head of Conversos 16:03  |  Peter 06/12/08
      38.   Joe waht is wrong to know who your ancestors are 18:26  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      39.   #30 no scientific value?? 18:44  |  k 06/12/08
      40.   Furthermore Joe 19:42  |  Genuine Tosefta 06/12/08
      41.   Re#38 20:05  |  Joe 06/12/08
      42.   #41 joe 21:29  |  k 06/12/08
      43.   Question 21:48  |  Raad 06/12/08
      44.   Iraqi Arabs have strong Ashkenazi Jewish DNA 21:52  |  Jeff 06/12/08
      45.   Jews are not a race Tosefta 23:15  |  kiwi girl 06/12/08
      46.   kiwi girl 23:36  |  Zelkha 06/12/08
      47.   10 Joaquim and Alain 00:54  |  Jose Marcio 08/12/08
      48.   JESUSALEN 02:30  |  cristian 08/12/08
      49.   Jews are a nation 08:39  |  Proud Secular Jew 08/12/08
      50.   20 % of Spaniards....... 23:58  |  The Teacher/Instruct 10/12/08
      51.   Spain and the jews 19:20  |  Francisco 11/12/08
      52.   This article is lacking...don`t base too much on it 21:54  |  yezmar 11/12/08
      53.   to #38, what is wrong is ... 04:14  |  Mister Right 12/12/08
      54.   Kiwi Girl, those who live in glass houses.... 19:33  |  Jake 12/12/08
      55.   I am philo-semite also. And Spaniard. 00:37  |  José 13/12/08
      56.   I am philo-semite also. And Spaniard. 00:44  |  José 13/12/08
      57.   Conclusion. 00:56  |  José 13/12/08
      58.   JESUSALEN 14:47  |  cristian 13/12/08
      59.   Jose #`s 55/56/57 16:22  |  The Teacher/Instruct 13/12/08
      60.   JESUSALEN 15:59  |  cristian 14/12/08
      61.   #59 The Teacher 09:19  |  Jose 15/12/08
      62.   I AM OF SPANISH AND JEWSIH DECENT 12:31  |  Sammy 24/03/09
      63.   Spanish origin 21:05  |  Pepe 24/03/09
      64.   Manipulated report 12:23  |  spaniard 05/08/09
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