Genghis Did

DNA or rather the tracing of it through a family line is big business. 

For a novel birthday gift for my wife I sent off for a testing kit through the Ancestry portal and after following the instructions and depositing some spittle into the reagent laced bottle she sent it off to some distant laboratory. 

It took a few weeks for the results to come back and they largely confirmed what my wife already knew about her predecessors. 

She has German and Swedish great grandparents and so this strain of Scandinavian DNA had a strong representation. Subsequent generations had lineage from Ireland and the North of England but most surprising was the revelation that her ancestors hearkened from the Middle East and Hawaii. 

I am intrigued by all things in the past but am hesitant about carrying out the same test exercise mainly for a secret inner fear of what it might reveal. 

What are the facts? Well, both of my grandparents were Scottish from the very north east, Wick in Caithness on the paternal grandmother side and the Outer Hebrides for Grandpa Donald. 

On my Mother’s side of the family, and my cousin Andrew who has traced the family tree back a few centuries will correct me if I am wrong, both Dick and Nelly were from the Southern part of England. 

My late Father had characteristic traits of Caledonia in his hair and eye colouration but it skipped a generation only recently re-emerging through my nephew Syd. 

However, those quick to resort to corny and, frankly, racist comments about this stereotypical nature should be aware that there is a good chance, on a statistical basis,  that the proud race of The Scots or at least some of them are direct descendants of the warrior leader and scourge of some twelve million square miles of territory- Genghis Khan. 

His empire was a complete swath from parts of central Europe through to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 

Those witnessing male behaviour (although not exclusively displayed by males) on a typical Saturday night out in a Scottish City Centre may have come to this theory by their own deductions but there is quite compelling evidence that the Genghis Khan link is true. 

There is a piece of DNA research from 2003 that deduces that as many as 1 in 200 men alive today have the genetic “Y” chromosome of that fearsome individual therefore, in real numbers, around 16 million. 

These have been found through testing within the main stomping grounds of Khan from Mongolia, India, China, Russia, South East Asia and the Middle East. 

This may seem a difficult concept to comprehend but in a league table of figures in history, the more famous ones that is, and in relation to their prolific breeding habits our Genghis is top with up to an estimated 2000 offspring sired in his 65 years.

If that is extrapolated through the centuries it is not at all surprising that big numbers are produced. Even if the current 16 million is correct just imagine what it may have been had it not been for the premature death rates amongst the early generations in the Dark and Middle Ages, Plaques, Warfare, natural disasters and other nasty influences. 

If a generation occurs every 25 years then that would mean 33.5 of them have elapsed since Genghis’ era. 

In the centuries there have been periodic mass migrations across Europe and this will have contributed to a mixing up of the gene pool in what are now the modern, defined nations of the continent and our British Isles.

I have had suspicions for some time that I have a complex DNA. 

Is it indeed possible that I am a descendant of that far off Dynasty? 

I do have the inherited family physical features but also and worryingly a favouring of the wearing of fur hats and big boots. I can assure you that I do not normally have a tendency towards pillage and worse but believe in such things as a meritocracy, religious tolerance and a good postal service, all of which the historians attribute to Genghis Khan. 

My Scottish roots are a matter of great pride to me. There are of course many stereotypical jibes, jests and jokes on the subject of red haired Scots, no more evident than in the roaring novelty and tourist trade in that traditional national male head wear of the Tam O’Shanter fringed underneath in a bright, copper or rust red synthetic wig. My father would delight us all with his wearing of this attire. 

He too will, I contend, have passed on the Khan DNA through the male line to me. 

The scientific evidence is it appears under some scrutiny from other studies but there is one more piece of overwhelming speculation. There are no surviving contemporary portraits or sculptures of that historic figure but a 14^th Century Persian scholar claimed that Genghis Khan had in true Scots fashion, red hair and green eyes. 

The case rests.