This article was originally published on August 5, 2010.
In 2003, a groundbreaking historical genetics paper reported results which indicated that a substantial proportion of men in the world are direct line descendants of Genghis Khan. By direct line, I mean that they carry Y chromosomes which seem to have come down from an individual who lived approximately 1,000 years ago. As Y chromosomes are only passed from father to son, that would mean that the Y is a record of one’s patrilineage.
How Many Descendants of Genghis Khan Are There Today?
Genghis Khan died about 750 years ago, so assuming 25 years per generation, you get about 30 men between the present and that period. In more quantitative terms, about 10 percent of the men who reside within the borders of the Mongol Empire, as it was at the death of Genghis Khan, may carry his Y chromosome, and so about 0.5 percent of men in the world, about 16 million individuals alive today, do so.
Since 2003, there have been other cases of “super-Y” lineages. For example, there is the Manchu lineage and the Uí Néill lineage. The existence of these Y chromosomal lineages, which have burst upon the genetic landscape like explosive stars sweeping aside all other variation before them, indicates a periodic “winner-take-all” dynamic in human genetics more reminiscent of hyper-polygynous mammals such as elephant seals. As we do not exhibit the sexual dimorphism which is the norm in such organisms, it goes to show the plasticity of outcome due to the flexibility of human cultural forms.
