Mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome suggest the settlement of Madagascar by Indonesian sea nomad populations

Pradiptajati Kusuma (1) , Murray Cox , Denis Pierron (1) , Harilanto Razafindrazaka (2) , Nicolas Brucato (3) , Laure Tonasso (1) , Helena Loa Suryadi , Thierry Letellier (4) , Herawati Sudoyo , François-Xavier Ricaut (3, 5)

1 AMIS - Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse
2 AMU - Aix Marseille Université
3 Human Genetics
4 Physiopathologie mitochondriale
5 CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Linguistic, cultural and genetic characteristics of the Malagasy suggest that both Africans and Island Southeast Asians were involved in the colonization of Madagascar. Populations from the Indonesian archipelago played an especially important role because linguistic evidence suggests that the Malagasy language branches from the Southeast Barito language family of southern Borneo, Indonesia, with the closest language spoken today by the Ma'anyan. To test for a genetic link between Malagasy and these linguistically related Indonesian populations, we studied the Ma'anyan and other Indonesian ethnic groups (including the sea nomad Bajo) that, from their historical and linguistic contexts, may be modern descendants of the populations that helped enact the settlement of Madagascar.

Domaines: Anthropologie biologique

Pradiptajati Kusuma, Murray Cox, Denis Pierron, Harilanto Razafindrazaka, Nicolas Brucato, et al.. Mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome suggest the settlement of Madagascar by Indonesian sea nomad populations. BMC Genomics, 2015, 16 (1), pp.191. ⟨10.1186/s12864-015-1394-7⟩. ⟨hal-02112783⟩