Since doing my Ancestry DNA test, I find myself curious about the many new faces I am coming across. I am also interested to discover more about the communities that my ancestors once lived. It goes without saying that I am a descendant of Africa. More so West Africa.
Different DNA labs breakdown your dna differently and often use different regional names, groupings and so on and so forth. From my first Ancestry video as well as discovering that my African percentage was very high I also learned a lot from the comments.
Between Ancestry DNA Land and My Family Tree DNA, I find Ancestry the easiest to understand. You are matched to a modern region. For example my highest African percentage was Ivory Coast Ghana. DNA Land and My FTdna use much broader terms. With DNA Land it showed I had a high West African percentage of which the biggest portion was from the Lower Niger Valley. It does include a further breakdown summary at the end of the page which is worth reading as it links to tribes and peoples. My FTdna, simply states West Africa is my highest percentage.
So you can see the different companies use different algorithms and measurements. Of course some of this is based on how many people actually test or share their data with the relevant companies.
Right now I am in the process of contacting some dna matches just to see what I can discover about my family. So far I have discovered completely new people and I am little baffled. But the research continues. If you have any tips that can help me in my genealogy research please let me know.