Are North Africans White, Black or Middle Eastern? Genetics of Egypt, Morocco , Algeria and More! 

comment section is full of people who think they're experts in history and genetics.

I am North African from Algeria and let me tell u that you didn't push deep your research because we are not originated from Middle East.

Just because one speaks Arabic does not make one an Arab anymore than speaking English makes everyone English (although I have the DNA).

Nicely done actually, for such a complicated topic you went through almost everything, kudos!

I'm North African and I don't care where my ancestors came from. I'll be very happy if I'm a mix of all human races which makes me connected to all humanity. I don't know why people are so obsessed with race and origins, we're all humans after all and none is better than the other because of race, origins or color.

I’m a Berber/Amazigh from north Morocco and my skin is quite dark. We’re mixed asf but we’re free people. That’s literally what Amazigh means: free human.

I am studying race and its terminology here in North America. I found the video interesting and informative but the comments are great. Conflicting and confusing for a student but that in its self is important information. Thank You all, Blessings.

This was actually fascinating. Thanks for putting in the effort!

Most black people in the US have no North African DNA. I'm black, and 88 percent African, with zero North African DNA. All of the youtube Ancestry videos I see are the same. It's a shame that many blacks downplay their Sub Sarahan roots (which has a lot of culture) for some stupid pyramids in Egypt, something that they most likely have no connection with ancestrally speaking.

I'm north african, Very white skin and blue eyes dark hair, I don't usually tan, And am berber, I hate being called arab although no one would based on my looks, but just don't assume north africa as a part of the arab community, I don't hate arabs but no one want to be called something he's not

I really like your delivery in this because a lot of people don’t realize colonization plays a big part on historical references, and genetic add mixture or changes in ethnography. We are indigenous African people, who unfortunately went through the same process of colonization as our other African brothers and sisters. Even my family ranges from very dark with kinky hair, two very white with colored eyes And straighten her hair textures but we all know we are inherently African in origin.

Me an Algerian : *watches video* i need to do a dna test 😂

Amazigh are not arabes they are north africans

I am german and My great grandfather was amazigh 🙂❤ Love to Maghreb from Almania 😉

I hope after all these years this guy can go back and re-do these videos with more research but still it was educational

Quite honestly I am just sick and tired of people going back and forth making your skin color, and make no mistake this is skin color, an issue. We must stop defining people as white, black or brown! It only serves to separate us and it doesn't matter what color your skin is. You are who you are, a human being!

Actually as a Moroccan I can say you are misinformed. The biggest haplogroup in Morocco is 80% Amazigh. Aka berber (E1b1b1b) the Middle Eastern dna is fairly new in time, only after the arrival of Islam and in a relative small percentage. And it was ONLY after islam that a connection was established, before that there was nothing in common.

I recently spent 3 months in Morocco travelling in most parts of the country, except the Western Sahara (off limits). I was amazed to see very few people from Sub-Saharan Africa, whereas I had been imagining that people would be moving towards the Mediterranian ports to crowd into "pateras" bound for Europe. Certainly in the North and much of the center and interior, you would see primarily Berber people who would identify themselves as such. Many were indeed paler than many southern Mediterranean people. Further south, and especially along the coast, the Arab culture strongly dominates the cities from Rabat downwards. Still, according to Wikipedia, a recent study by the National Geographic showed the majority of North Africa are predominantly of non-Arab ancestry, thus Amazigh. As is well known, the Arabic language in its local forms is dominant, so that many people of Berber descent are primarily Arabic speakers, although in the Maghreb there is a serious movement to preserve Amazigh identity, which some feel is threatened by the majority Arab culture. I am not an expert, but these are things I have seen and can confirm in my many trips there.

What I hate is that I am Somali , cushitic, when some people see me they start talking to me with arabic as if I am an arab. When I tell them I aint arab, they are like , no u r ! That irritates me alot.

Wow your knowledge blows me away...♡ Thank you 😄

im from North Africa Algeria and im Amazigh and we have black Amazigh but there DNA is NOT North African but "sub saharan africa" North Afirca are not "sub saharan africa" not "middle east" not " european " we have a different DNA ethnicity WE ARE A " NORTH AFRICAN"

There is evidence that the Imazighen (Berbers) were there before 45000 years ago. In fact, they created some of the first human civilizations in the green sahara

Do you realize you keep saying the Sahara desert but, the word 'sahara' means 'desert' exactly.... So essentially you are saying the 'desert desert....'

Wow, somewhere in this video I got lost and dizzy in translation! LOL 8) Just when I thought you were about to sum up everything up at the end on who's, who or more accurate, who's what, you send me straight back to square one (Huh? Back to the question, ...) again, lol. 8} Anyway, I want to say I love your channel of videos, it is very interesting and educational and it shows that just like this planet Earth have diverse geography, climates, microbes, plants, animals kingdom has its diversities of lifeforms, so does humankind comes in diversities (Race, Language, Cultures) also!

The history is so vast and varied. I'm from the most northern part of Morocco and you can see a variety of characteristics from all different gene pools. For example the skin shades vary so so much but our physiques are very African. It's so confusing but very interesting. And I'm actually very proud because no 2 Moroccans look identical. We are soooooo varied.

The fact that you mentioned pied-noir shows that you are actually doing your research! I am really proud of you and this channel (even though I don't know you and I discovered this channel a few hours ago. I'm African and I know a lot of the things you speak about (concerning race in the African continent and the descendants of the continent). I think you are doing GREAT, but it is somewhat obvious (to me at least) that a lot of these topics are new to you and you've researched on it leaving a few gaps and misinformation in your reporting. Not being an overly sensitive person it's not a problem to me coz you are actually educating yourself and others and I get the feeling that as your channel grows and you learn more you will be revisiting the topics and filling in the gaps and on certain topics you covered. I also want to tell you to ignore the hateful commenters and delusional Afrocentrist, as an African I can tell you that you know far more than they ever will. Also good job on the Chagos video that is such a little-known island and group of people. (P.S you should research the Fulani ethnic group they straddle between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. I met one yesterday and he had to convince me he was Senegalese and not Ethiopian. Also when speaking on the history of North Africa it's worth speaking on the Kingdom of Carthage and the Moorish empire). lastly the native name/PC name of Berbers are Amazigh, and they are the majority in most of North Africa. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to more of your videos - Best, a new subscriber!!

Middle East is not a race or ethnic group. It's a region with several languages.

Wow, good research. Specially true about Arab motion pictures being made mostly in egypt. Which means most north africa and the middle east completely understand egyptian arabic

Entertaining, educational and factual, great work!

Wonderful piece of work! *Thank You* for sharing and explaining to young explorers a break down of North African history and culture in an educative and non discriminatory way. ✊

After watching massaman’s videos: ‘ 🥺 who am I??’ Kidding! I love your videos 💖 Much love from Sudan 🇸🇩

Thank you for this video

I'm an American. Blonde with blue eyes. I went few years ago to Algiers for a vacation, I can't remember how many times people asked me if I was a Kabyle from the mountains. I speak French so they thought I was Algerian. I have seen many people that look like Scandinavians. Algeria is like Brazil; there are all sorts of people.

Am from West Africa An am proud to be an African

Thank you for a very interesting analysis of north-African people. With all the intermixing of genetics thru history, it seems the variety is increasing.

I am north african and algerian girl , I don't care what ethnicity I am from . I am HUMAN

Good video, as always.

Got a subscriber from Portugal!

Great video appreciate it

Masaman: *hey look there's fairskin people living in Africa they must be Arab!* Me: 🙄

I'm north African Algerian berber and most of Algerians are Berbers. ......proud of being Amazigh free men

This guy is my new history teacher

"What race do you wanna be?" North africans and middle easterns: *yes* It's more complicated when you're egyptian, it's literally a country in north africa and the middle east jsjsjsjs i have the biggest identity issues like seriously wtf am i-

love this content man wow

I was watching a DNA results for a Sudanese woman who was part of the "Arab" group. She was a mixture of East African and North African mostly but less than 1% Arabian peninsula.

North Africa is Maghrebian, and not middle eastern or arab. Just look on the map, yes north africa has many influences and is diverse , but we are not middle eastern or arab. Just like we are not spanish, although they speak spanish in the north of morocco and are influenced by it. Just like we are not French. The basis of North Africa is Amazigh. Just accept that North Africa is the Maghreb region with its own culture and its own people, just let us be free

good knowledge bro thanks

Good video you explain that well, as a Tunisian I'm still confused about genes in north africa lmao

One of these videos that got it really really wrong about Amazigh in North Africa ... just sigh Just do your own research people, that's all I'm gonna say.

I am Egyptian. I did my DNA test and my results are amazing "42.2% North African, 7.3% Nigerian, 3.7% Somalian, 26.4% Middle East, 13.3% West Asia "Turkey and Iran", 7.1% Europe" I feel like my DNA is a cocktail of ethnicity.

I used to go to school with a Amazigh girl from Morocco. A Beautiful girl with dark skin, dark eyes with long curly black hair. Others always thought she was from Cape Verde. The Moroccan population living in The Netherlands (where I'm from) tend to have a light/white skin colour.

I love you man,nothing but facts,a follower from morocco

Wow, the comment section need take a chill pill.

I dont know from where you are getting tour stuff, but Berbers or Amazigh are not arabs, the famous berber genetic signature starts with A1b1, on the other hand the arabs genetic starts with j1. The arab influence on the si calked Maghreb countries are cultural, but not genetic. im close to many Moroccans and Algerians where i live in the US, many of them that thought were arabs myself included, after our genetic tests we found out That we are Berbers, i hava not not met anyone from the Maghreb with any arab genetics in him.Personnaly im 55% berber, 35% iberian, 3% italian, 2% germanic, and the rest southern european not identified.

Well presented.

It is indeed full of diversity, and many people identify very differently from others even if they're in a close region. I am an Algerian living abroad, and I remember I had a job interview where I had been asked to prove my French proficiency, so they brought another Algerian to test it. After I passed through it, the team leader told the woman that me and her are from the same country. Her reaction was bizarre as she tried to distance herself from me, and somehow I saw her embarrassment of being related in any way to me. She told him that we are not from the same country, she is Amazigh and I am an Arab. I did not respond to her as her remark was not only unprofessional but also inaccurate. This is not to say that all Amazighs are like this, I can assure you that other people within the same region with different backgrounds feel the same towards whoever they have been propagated to discriminate against. But it goes to show how diverse the region is.

North Africans are sooooo beautiful physically. Many attractive people there

I am an Arab from saudi arabia And in fact we arabs do not have a certain color We have all the colors , Black , White , Yellow , Brown and It is shameful to talk about the skin color because we did not create ourselves and we did not choose our colors , This is the will of Allah "GOD" who created us and we are proud of this And if I say to you, I am an black Arab So what this make me ?

Am from algeria and my father is fair skined and my mother is little bit darker , I have some family members who have blue eyes and some are blond ,some are really dark , it's a mix , I know am not a fully Arab but as long I speak Arabic and a Muslim am proud of that , it does not matter which ethnicity I am am a Muslim that what matters the most

We algerians didn’t come from the middle east WTF.some the middle eastern came to us

Belonging to a race is not only about colours, it is also about the body and face features.

I'm moroccan berber and I've made a DNA test. I'm 90% North African, 6% subsaharian african and 4% southern european. So not so mixed after all

Thank you for your navigation brother speak of the video

Copt here, glad we got a mention!

My whole family is from Morocco and has lived there for generations, and they claim to be Arabs. My DNA test results show that this is not the case though: North African (aka Berber aka Amazigh): 41.75% Iberian: 15.65% (Spanish, Portuguese and Basque) Mediterranean: 14.24% (probably from Mediterranean islands or coastal regions) Sub-Saharan African: 12.09% Arab: 8% Near Eastern: 7.84% (I suppose this is the region of Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Sinai) Oceanian: 0.39% Italian: 0.09% As for my paternal haplogroup, it's G2a, which is Caucasian in origin (the highest concentration of G is found in Georgia). This Y-haplogroup is found among 3-4% of the Amazigh population, and has nothing to do with Arabs, who have a subclade of J1 or J2.

You made a video about North Africa, could you please make one specifically about Algeria?

good information ... just to highlight that two important migrations in history had big impact on the region : the phenician migrations around 1200 BC and hilali arab migrations from the 11th centry ...

It's actually insane that you never mentioned the Barbary pirates

Tbh I really don't understand why every race degrade Africans or don't want a small percentage of African roots.They act as if Africans are not humans like wtf is wrong with humanity.God created different races with different culture,facial feature,complexion and etc.If that's the case,Africans would've never been created.

We are all Amazigh because we are born in an amazigh land, I am from an Arabic-speaking family, but we found that we have amazigh ancestry, so I am an Amazigh-Arab.

Ok since everyone is a genetic expert in the comments, I’m Libyan. My dad and his family come from Al-Khoms (an area with great amounts of Italian influence from their conquest) and my mom and her family come from Derna and I remember her telling me her family ancestry was linked with the Ashraf (the people who descended from prophet Muhammad عليه الصلاة والسلام) and she once told me her family surname was also found commonly in Spain (Andalusia, to be exact) and I also remember her once telling me that her great grandfather or something like that, used to trade a lot around different areas in the world and marry and have kids in every country so. I’d say I have somewhat dark skin. I’m not sure if I tan easily but my mom had the same/similar skin tone as me when she was young but nowadays she’s quite pale. She was born pale so I suppose she just tans easily. As for me, I was born with my dark skin like my father and 90% of his family. My grandfather (mom’s side) was pale as well and he was Libyan but grew up in some part of his life in Egypt. My grandmother (mom’s side again) is Egyptian from Alexandria and she has quite the same skin tone as me. It’s a very mixed family, but I’d like to hear any predictions about where my heritage could be from from this info (if that’s actually possible) until I actually get my hands on a dna kit that ships to Libya.

as a Moroccan, i've always been so surprised by the variety in here. you have black, brown, white and blonde and even people with asian facial features.

My DNA test say that iam 83 % north African (amazigh).. Thank god. Iam very thankful for been an amazing

Also, for the record, there's no such thing as a "Middle Eastern" phenotype, or "race". Turks have a variety of phenotypes. Syrians and Lebanese don't look like Yemenis and Yemenis don't look like Palestinians. There are a variety of Berber groups and they aren't a homogenous group either. Algerians and Moroccans have features that are very strikingly different from one another if you are familiar with them. Different bone structure, head shape. Egyptians, when you visit there enough times you begin to notice common features that are very striking and distinct from other North Africans and definitely different from Levantines. Yes, there is a certain percentage of overlap, but each of these ethnic groups are unique in their own ways. It's really not what people think, culturally or anthropologically. Let's all stop being lazy and get to know people by their unique identities rather than just lumping them into neat boxes that don't even make sense to any of them.

Ughh, I shrugged when Masaman pronounced Kabyle as in "kab-BILE". NO, it's pronounced as "KAB-beel"! Lol

Great job

Hey man respect for trying to cover one of if no the oldest areas for human existence. I think you did a good job covering the modern make up of the area and how it came to be. I think the people in the comment sections are more so upset about the historical context. I mentioned this in a previous video, but the term Middle Eastern is relatively new in regards to the region as it was created by Americans in the 1940's. When talking about Egypt, there were many periods such as Dynastic, Pre Dynastic, Megalithic, Hellenistic, etc. Also you touched on the Arab invasion AKA Caliphates starting in the 600's. Furthermore we should note that North Africa and the Mediterranean area in general has always been diverse and a major trading area. So many cultures would interact as it connects Europe Asia and Africa. I think where most debates and confusion stems is from the vocabulary that we use. Such as Africa, Asia, and Middle East. However those could probably be covered in another video or conversation.

An excellent effort was done in this review! Trustworthy genealogy records and encyclopedias in addition to evidence from modern DNA testing can shed a lot of light on these historical matters. Thank you!

the arab influence on north africa is mainly cultural not so much genetically. the army that conquered spain was nearly complete berber people.

Berbers consider their language, Tamazight, as one. There are many Berber/Amazigh dialects. There is a dialectal continuum of Berber/Amazigh dialects stretching between Djebel Nefoussa, in northwestern Libya, to northern Morocco (Rif region) and crossing the Tell Atlas mountains of northern Algeria. All the speakers of these dialects can understand each other.

Amazigh/Imazighen people are a culture composed of different ethnic groups, just like the Arabs, the Romans, the Persians, the British ...etc. Here is a small list of how the colour breaks down in some Amazigh tribes: Rifis(whites) Soussi (brown and black) Chleuh (white, brown and black) Hassanis (brown and black), kbailis (whites), Mzabis(brown), Chwawa (white and brown), Touareg (brown and black), Siwi Berbers of Egypt (brown) In summary the North Africans are at least 80% imazighen in cultural origin, ranging from white to black, it's a culture that has a genetic common denominator the E1b1b haplogroup, that's at least 40k years old originating in the Horn of Africa. Due to the geographical position of North Africa mixing was bound to be eminent as its at one of the most strategic parts of the world (Mediterranean/Europe to the north , Middle East/levant to the east , Atlantic ocean to the west , Red Sea to the east opening to the Indian Ocean, Sahara desert and all the Bantu cultures to the south) created what is today the current ethnic and cultural mixing that exist in this part of the world. Currently the "culture" is predominantly Arabic, as it's the official and bureaucratic language used in all the countries of the north of Africa, Islam is also de predominant religion in the region at over 90% in most countries but having said that, Amazigh people still feel very proud of their heritage, still speak their languages, practice their ancestral customs and eat their customary foods. In Morocco for example the most famously dynasties of the last 1400 years have been Amazigh, the "Almoravids" originally from modern day Mauritania formally the "Greater Morocco", and the "Almohads" from the North East of Morocco, and contrary to common belief, most of the "Arab" influence the region has come from a very late migration of the two nomadic Tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Hassan who where Arab refugees that settled in the region about 500 years ago approximately with very little political power or dominance, they mostly inhabit parts of Algeria, Morocco and Libya and their influence on the greater Amazigh population is limited barring the mixing that has accrued and continuous to occur to date. To understand properly the region one has to refrain from applying Eurocentristic/Afrocentristic outlook in a land mass that has had its own unique socio-geo-political development and evolution.

I was very interested when you said at the start of this well presented video that you were going to talk about genetics of various ethnic groups. I may be naively was expecting some DNA investigation results and data to substantiate your statements/ story. Have you got anything you could share to that effect, please? It just would make people believe the stories more? We have been bombarded with so called historical "facts" that turned out to be false. I happen to believe that lots of history books have been written (& possibly_ probably?_ mis-represented) by the conquests winners, so not always reliable.

2:41.....beautiful!

Dr Shomarka Omar Keita’s research speaks insightfully to this subject matter as does Sheikh Danjuma Bihari and many, many, many others.

North Africans are AMAZIGH Berber ,not arabe it's amazigh race ,we did not came from me middile east ,we re the indigenous of north Africa ,our paternal haplogroup is Em 81 native in north Africa , correct Ur mistake Anthropology is not just start filming

In Algeria we have Arabs Berbers Turkish Jews Europeans Gypsy Vikings ( minority ) ( indians and chinese heavily been immigrating here for work ) The point is with time we got all mixed , we can't stop this from happening ^^ why do we fight over our races !?

The fact that this even is a debate proves that race is a social construct.

Hold on anyone noticed the name of the Chanel it's literally pancakes in Moroccan dialect

Morroccan here. I did a DNA test and it was mostly North Africa and the Middle East

They are mixed people they mixed with arabs Europeans Africans

If we all looked the same, sounded the same, thought the same way. Things right now would be totally different.

Where did you bring this information?

Do the difference between Black Americans and Africans

goddamn, i had a proper laugh reading this comment section. stuff makes my day lmao the internet is beautiful :')

Everyone’s a mix of something

Honestly, nationality matters more now than race ever will. We keep mixing either in small Increments or greatly but we still try to preserve something that doesn't really matter. Let's capture different cultures for historic appreciation and keep it moving.

Pls do a Video on genetics on the Balkan peninsula

As a Tunisian, i can confirm that what you just watched ladies and gentlemen is nothing more than lies, ignorance and bullshit. In North Africa 1- We speak either Berber or arabic dialects highly influenced by Berber dialects, a proper arab can barely understand couple of words when we we try to make communication. 2- We eat Berber food. 3- We wear Berber. 4- We dance Berber. 5- Our music is Berber. 6- Our history and heritage are Berber. 7- Our genes are mostly Berber, in Tunisia we are only 4% arab and 88% Berber according to the last Nat geo study. Please reconsider your sources, that's really insulting. You're either too Pan arabism biased or just ignoring North Africa.

*My "two-cents" don't have anything to do with North Africa--but I find it interesting (but very understandable) that the very first Arabs to emigrate to the United States and Canada were Lebanese Christians. In the areas of show business and political activism, we have the examples of the entertainer Danny Thomas (as well as his daughter, Marlo), the singer/songwriter Paul Anka, the actor Jamie Farr, and the consumer advocate Ralph Nader. I apologize if you've already covered this--but can see how it was much easier for them (or their parents) to assimilate, since they were Christians and could easily pass for Southern Europeans. The late Danny Thomas once spoke about how it was easier for him to break into showbiz, since many people in the entertainment industry assumed that he was an Ashkenazi Jew who had adopted a "WASP" stage-name, as so many European Jews in show business had already done.*

This historic piece is rather modern !