Male line information: Y-group A

All members of Y-group A can trace their Y-chromosomes to one man who is thought to have lived about 90 thousand years ago in Africa. This man belonged to a group of hunter-gatherers that were probably widely distributed throughout Africa, long before modern humans colonized Asia, Europe or other parts of the world. The genetic variants that distinguish Y-group A from the other Y-groups are the oldest known in human Y-chromosomes. Almost all members of Y-group A trace their recent ancestry through the male line to sub-Saharan Africa.

Today, members of Y-group A are found primarily in Africa, with a patchy but widespread distribution, or in people of African ancestry. The highest frequency of Y-group A is found in Ethiopians and the !Kung people of Southern Africa, where almost half of all males belong to this Y-group. Members of Y-group A are much rarer among West African populations, where less than 5 percent of males belong to this Y-group. Members of Y-group A are likely to have been more common in Africa prior to the expansion of farmers, speaking the so-called Bantu languages, from West Africa about 4000 years ago. Just over 1 percent of African American males belong to Y-group A.