DNA HELPS SOLVE THE MELUNGEON MYSTERY:
In 1996, after an extensive investigation, a Portuguese author revealed that the origin of the Melungeon people connection with the Portuguese may have had its beginnings in Northern India, Goa, Damão e Diu.
Now, seven years later and after two years of DNA study, Dr. Kevin Jones a molecular Biologist from the University of Tennessee in Wise, declared during the fourth Union of the Melungeon people in Kingsport, Tennessee that the results showed that about 5 percent of the DNA indicated African descent, 5 percent was native American, and the rest was "Eurasian" a group defined by clumping together Europe, the Middle East and India.
Dr. Jones also said that the most surprising was evidence of a rare DNA sequence common to a Northern Indian tribe called the Siddis. They are located in North Canara, ou Karnatka, a province where the Portuguese had its Indian empire and where Goa, Damão e Diu is located. Originally the study had begun to gain insight into diseases that seemed to occur more frequently in the Melungeons than in any other population.
The Siddis are descendants of sailors - possible Portuguese - and merchants who ended up in India as a result of trade with East Africa (Mozambique).
This news was first published in the book "The Forgotten Portuguese" and subsequently in the the "Luso-Americano" as part of a series of articles. The Portuguese-American Historical and Research Foundation has recently published two additional books in English and Portuguese focusing in the history of the presence of this and other groups connected with the Portuguese: "The Portuguese Making of America" and "Os Portugueses na Formação da América" which are on sale at the Luso-Americano book store.
The amazing story of the Melungeons has puzzled American writers and researchers for the last two hundred years. Their presence in the Appalachian Mountains was felt around the mountains located in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. They have been subjected to discrimination just like the Blacks, because of their olive skin tone. Today however most of them have fair complexions and look quite Caucasian, although with a Mediterranean complexion.
Their claim of Portuguese ancestry has been ignored in spite of the constant confirmations by researchers, authors, and journalists of that possibility.
by Manuel Mira
