Indigenous Americas Update (2025)

In terms of Indigenous Americas ancestry, the algorithm used by Ancestry still inflates "Taino" ancestry in Puerto Ricans. The overall "Puerto Rico" estimate remained at 9%, but the "Bolivia & Peru" decreased slightly to a fraction of 1%. The appearance of "Central America" was the new aspect of this update. Like the case of indigenous peoples of the Andes, we assume this is capturing some of the component parts of the genetic makeup of the "Tainos." The Central America region as defined by Ancestry seems to emphasize El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua and is possibly related to the "Taino" through ancient pathways or migrations from Central America into South America (or vice-versa). It would be very useful for Ancestry to tell us which indigenous groups from Central and South America they're using here.