The National Geographic Genographic Project

Beginning in 2005, the National Geographic Society started its Genographic Project. Today, there have been over 740,000 participants in 140 countries of the world. Quoting from the Project website:

The Genographic Project is a multiyear research initiative led by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Spencer Wells. Dr. Wells and a team of renowned international scientists are using cutting-edge genetic and computational technologies to analyze historical patterns in DNA from participants around the world to better understand our human genetic roots. The three components of the project are:

• To gather and analyze research data in collaboration with indigenous and traditional peoples around the world
• To invite the general public to join this real-time scientific project and to learn about their own deep ancestry by purchasing a Genographic Project Participation and DNA Ancestry Kit.
• To use a portion of the proceeds from Genographic kit sales to further research and the Genographic Legacy Fund, which in turn supports community-led indigenous conservation and revitalization projects

The Genographic Project is anonymous, nonmedical, and nonprofit, and all results are placed in the public domain following scientific peer publication.

 The testing partner for the Genegraphic Project is FamilyTreeDNA.com.



These videos give a short, introduction to these two related companies.