The Map of Kinship can be used not only to learn about your relationship to people from the different continents, but also your relationship to populations within the continents.

From a genetic point of view we are all unique, but some individuals are more similar than others. Generally speaking, genetic differences reflect geography. People from the same geographic area tend to be more genetically similar than people from distant parts of the world. This means that the greater your genetic similarity is to a particular population, the more likely you have ancestors that belonged to that group in the past and relatives in the present.

The deCODEme team has recently implemented a new tool, called the Map of Kinship. This tool can be used to explore a person’s ancestry and genealogical relationship to more than 1000 individuals from 53 populations from all over the world.

Map of Kinship rotates in 3D

This tool is based on a powerful statistical method, called principal components analysis, which is used to uncover the hidden patterns of genetic variation that can tell us how closely people are related. Such patterns are of great interest from a historical point of view, as they are the result of thousands of years of migration, from time humans first appeared about 200 thousand years ago and to the present.

In the Map of Kinship, what you see is like a conventional map. However, instead of cities or towns separated by geographical distances, you see the genetic distances between yourself and people from 53 different populations from all the different regions of the world. People from the same population tend to form tight clusters on the Map of Kinship. Likewise, populations from the same regions of the world also tend to cluster together on the map. Your position on the map tells you how closely related you are to the individuals and populations that are shown. The Map of Kinship can be used not only to learn about your relationship to people from the different continents, but also your relationship to populations within the continents. Thus, for example, it can tell you whether your ancestors were mostly from Europe, Africa, Asia or the Americas. If you are most similar to Europeans, then the Map of Kinship will reveal whether your
ancestors were mostly, for example, Scandinavian, Italian, Russian or from the Middle East. If your friends or family have bought a Complete Scan from deCODEme, then you can also see where they fit into your Map of Kinship.