I traced my ancestry back to the 1500s, is it possible i am still a fraction of these ethnicities?

Question

This may be a stupid question but I have records tracing back to the 1500s and the things I found were Italian, Irish, British (England and Scotland), French, Spanish, German, and I think Slav. I know it would be an extremely small amount, but would I still be each of these genetically? Also I found some ancestry from a place called Black Area, Europe, what is that?

Answer 1

The Black Country, in England is an area comprising part of the west midlands.

The Black Forest (German : Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany.

I've never heard of the 'Black Area'.

You are a mixture of all of your past ancestors, and your Y-Dna especially, if you are a male, is basically exactly the same as that of your earliest ancestor from tens of thousands of years ago, and your Mtdna, which you receive from your mother only, has the Mtdna of your mothers female line, going back tens of thousands of years also. If you are female you only carry your mother's female Mtdna line and not that of your father.

Answer 2

This is not a stupid question.  There is a good likelihood of you still having these ethnicities in your genes.  Mass transportation of people (migration) did not happen until recent past, hundred fifty years or so.  This being the case, most people stayed where they were and married and had kids geographically close to themselves, so the ethnicity of people stayed pretty much the same until the inventions of the industrial revolution (mid 1800s).

I do not know what the Black Area is/was.

Answer 3

"Black Area"? Not the Black Forest of Germany?

Anyhew, yes, you are a part of all your ancestry; that is what DNA is all about. Even if you have only one thin line from France, no doubt others between you and the 1500s ALSO had part French ancestry.  It never really goes away.

See:

“Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes” by Steve Olson

"Genealogy 101" by Barbara Renick and

"Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree" by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner.

Answer 4

yes, you would still have the genetics, however, you will be predominantly what your parents and grandparents are. Also, many people of European ancestry are interbred (not inbred) as the monarchies of those countries intermarried for political reasons. So I wouldn't be surprised if someone of English descent had some Spanish or German blood.