Genetic
According to one genetic study while the vast majority of modern Tunisians identify themselves as Arabs, they are mainly the descendants of Arab-berber groups. Tunisians are also descended, to a lesser extent, from other African, Middle Eastern and European peoples, specifically the Phoenicians/Punics, Romans, Vandals, French and Blacks with a little less than 20 percent of their genetic material (Y-chromosome analysis) coming from present day Arabian Peninsula, Europe or Sub-Saharan Africa. "In fact, the Tunisian genetic distances to European samples are smaller than those to North African groups. (...) This could be explained by the history of the Tunisian population, reflecting the influence of the ancient Punic settlers of Carthage followed, among others, by Roman, Byzantine, Arab and French occupations, according to historical records. Notwithstanding, other explanations cannot be discarded, such as the relative heterogeneity within current Tunisian populations, and/or the limited sub-Saharan genetic influence in this region as compared with other North African areas, without excluding the possibility of the genetic drift, whose effect might be particularly amplified on the X chromosome.", This suggests a fairly significant European input to Tunisian genetics compared to other neighbouring populations.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Tunisia
Famous quotes containing the word genetic:
“Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.... The self is malleable but elastic, snapping back to its original shape like a rubber band. Mental illness is no myth, as some have claimed. It is a disturbance in our sense of possession of a stable inner self that survives its personae.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
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—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
“Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)