Emirate of Crete and its genetic impact on the island

[gültekin]

In this thread I will focus on the genetic impact of the Emirate of Crete. Before any of you go apeshit, this is not a "troll" topic or something, my posts will be based on historical sources and genetic data from gedmatch's datasheet. So if you think I'm "trolling", you are free to check the datasheet, I would also like to see your counter-arguments.

Emirate of Crete (Arab period of the island) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Crete
The Emirate of Crete (called Iqritish or Iqritiya in Arabic[1]) was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961. Although the emirate recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate and maintained close ties with Tulunid Egypt, it was de facto independent.

Capital: Chandax (Heraklion)
Languages: Arabic, Greek
Religion: Sunni Islam

The emirate of Crete (Ikritis in the Arab sources) was founded approximately in 823 AD and it marked the beginning of a new Arab thalassocracy. It's first Emir and founder was Abu Hafs (Αποχαψ Apohaps in Byzantine sources) who along with other muslims was driven out of Andalusia after an unsuccesful uprising. However before occupying Crete Abu Hafs and his people seized Alexandria for a short time.

From 823 and for 100 years the Cretan Saracens were conducting raids in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean sea. The Byzantine fleet was unable to deal with them because of internal conflicts. As a result all the economic activities in the Aegean collapsed, the population was reduced and in 904 Thessalonica the second biggest city of the Byzantine empire fell after a combined siege by Cretan and Syrian Arabs.

The reconquest of Crete began with the siege and occupation of Chandakas in 961. A crucial point for the success of the Byzantines was that the Cretan Arabs weren't able to secure assistance from neighbouring muslim factions.

The Cretan natives were rechristianised by a missionary who was nicknamed "Nikon the Repent" because of his zeal to convert the population.



~140 years was not a short time and considering the island's population at that time the Arab conquerors (15.000) along with their Berber and African sailors might have changed the genetic structure of the peninsula to some extent.

Some facts about Cretan DNA

• They have more NearEast/Southwest Asian (peaks in Arabia) and North African admixture (peaks in Maghreb) than their neighbours
• Despite being closer to Greek mainland they have elevated Southwest Asian and North African admixture and shift towards south genetically
• They have more Southwest Asian and North African admixture than the Greek islands to the north, which is the most important detail, where did their extra Near Eastern and North African admixture come from? It is easy to answer this question. Emirate of Crete was an Arab base for ~140 years.





MDLP K23b calculator, Near East and North African admixture (check the spreadsheet if you have any doubts)

[gültekin]

Now, Greek members, please control your anger and do not chimp out. If you think I'm wrong and the elevated Southwest Asian and North African admixture of Crete has nothing to do with the Arab Emirate of Crete, where do you think it comes from?

Hellenas, an ethnic Greek member, has already confirmed that Crete has Saharid/North African influenced phenotypes.


Directly quoted from Hellenas' post: https://www.theapricity.com/forum/sh...=1#post4481893


Giorgos Giakoumakis (Greek: Γιώργος Γιακουμάκης; born 9 December 1994) is a Greek footballer currently playing for Superleague Greece club AEK Athens as a forward.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Giakoumakis


Cretan George Giakoumakis(Saharid)



To the south of the island, in the regions which the map indicates, is distinguished by the presence of the Saharids who came from North Africa. In few words, the Mediterraneans are the majority, with a minority of Alpines all over the island, a few Saharids on the southern coast, some Armenoids in the east and several Dinarics in the west.

The Saharids came with the raids of the Arabs.

http://fyletika.blogspot.gr/2016/10/blog-post_3.html

[Böri]

What you call Saharid is Berber İ guess. They are also ones who crossed the Gibraltar Straight in the early 8th century together with Arabs in the process of taking over Spain. Obviously Arabs were also helped by these North African tribal warriors in the conquest of Crete.

[gültekin]

What you call Saharid is Berber İ guess. They are also ones who crossed the Gibraltar Straight in the early 8th century together with Arabs in the process of taking over Spain. Obviously Arabs were also helped by these North African tribal warriors in the conquest of Crete.

Yes, Giorgos Giakoumakis is not pure Saharid, he is Saharid-influenced. It might be from Berbers as they have substantial Sub-Saharan admixture.


Anyway, here is a study about North African ancestry in South Europe
https://www.livescience.com/37092-so...can-genes.html

Southern Europeans More African Than Thought

Southern Europeans get a significant portion of their genetic ancestry from North Africa, new research suggests.

The findings are perhaps not surprising, given that the Romans occupied North Africa and set up extensive trade routes in the region, and the Moors, a North African people, ruled a medieval territory called El-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula.

"The higher level of genetic variation in Southern Europeans reflects gene flow from North Africa during historical times. We're talking about the last 2,000 years, really from the Middle Ages during which there was occupation in Spain," said study co-author Carlos Bustamante, a geneticist at Stanford University.

Substantial mixing

To untangle European ancestry, Bustamante and his colleagues compared existing DNA samples of 2,099 individuals from 43 different populations in Europe and Africa. Crucially, they included new genetic samples from North Africa and Spain.

The team found that for Southwestern Europeans (those from Italy, Spain and Greece), between 4 and 20 percent of their genomes came from North Africa, compared to less than 2 percent in Southeastern Europe.

The study also found that the apparent sub-Saharan ancestry in these populations was actually the result of North African lineage.

[Linet]

So you got the picture of ONE extremely dark Greek and thats your proof that Cretans have Arabic origin ?

Btw if you let me under the sun for more than an hour i will get darker than him.... ...so what?

[gültekin]

So you got the picture of ONE extremely dark Greek and thats your proof that Cretans have Arabic origin ?

Btw if you let me under the sun for more than an hour i will get darker than him.... ...so what?

Linet, I have posted population averages from MDLP K23b too, that guy is merely an example of Saharid influence in Crete. It's not about his skin color anyway, he can be white as cheese and have saharid-influenced facial features for example. My thread is backed by historical sources and genetic data, everyone is free to come up with counter-arguments.

[Loki]

Cretan Saracens getting punished:

[DarknessWin]

Someone ban this troll

[gültekin]

Someone ban this troll

What a great counter-argument. Don't be such a crybaby. If I'm wrong, then you are free to post your counter-arguments.

Anyway, here are Cretan phenotypes.

[gültekin]

Dodecad k12b result of a Cretan (from Sikeliot's topic)

# Population Percent
1 Caucasus 39.34
2 Atlantic_Med 22.09
3 Southwest_Asian 16.77
4 North_European 9.80
5 Gedrosia 8.20
6 Northwest_African 3.23

Not even Kurds from Southeast Turkey score that much, almost 17% SW Asian admixture! Note that Lebanese have 20% SW Asian admixture on average.