Our algorithm of ancestry uses only information from your DNA and that of other people with known genetic ancestry (reference populations).
Sometimes your results may not match what you expected based on historical records or family histories. There are a few common reasons this can happen:
- Some genetic populations are especially difficult to differentiate because they share a common history. If you have genetic ancestry from one of these populations, your DNA may be assigned to other regions. For example, Italian ancestry can be classified as a combination of Italian and Greek / Balkan / North African.
- The more general the ancestry the more accurate it will be, the more regional the less likely it will be.
- The regions of the World and Spain are defined by the search for genetic similarity, this means, we look for where your DNA is most similar in the World and in Spain, so it may not coincide with where your family is from, indicating that in those countries / regions there are people who have certain DNA similar to yours in the indicated percentage.
- Ancestry populations are defined by genetically similar groups of people, not by the political boundaries of countries. In some cases, your ancestry may highlight differences between population history and political history. For example, if you have Northwest French ancestry, you may have a higher load from British Isles than Northwest Europe.
- In the case of Native American ancestry, you may have inherited little or no DNA directly from your Native American ancestors. The further back you look in your history, the less likely it is that you have inherited DNA directly from each of your ancestors. This means that you can be a direct descendant of a Native American without having any DNA evidence of that Native American ancestry.
