The Ethnicity of the Iberian Peninsula: DNA Examined

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More often than not, the Iberian Peninsula DNA ethnicity shows up on DNA results when it is not expected.  Whether you have only a trace of Iberian, or a whopping 20% Iberian on your DNA results, you can learn more about the ethnicity of the people of the Iberian Peninsula in this article. 

There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there on the great world wide web – and the goal of this post is to help dispel some myths, as well as add some factual content to the mix.

This post will contain the answers to several common questions about the Iberian Peninsula, such as:

• What nationality is the Iberian Peninsula?
• What race are the people of the Iberian Peninsula?
• Iberian Peninsula physical features
• Is Iberian Hispanic?
• Is there Iberian DNA in Britain?
• Is there Iberian DNA in France?
• Do French Canadians have Iberian Peninsula?
• Is the Iberian Peninsula Native American?
• Is there such thing as Irish Iberian DNA?

Before I continue, I want to make sure that you know about my DNA Tools Page.  It’s just a resource page that I have compiled for my readers, and it includes my most popular and helpful blog posts, information about DNA testing, and lots of other great information.  Check it out!

What nationality is the Iberian Peninsula?

The Iberian Peninsula is made up of Spain, Portugal, a tiny country called Andorra that is between Spain and France, as well as the British Crown colony of Gibraltar.  Residents of any of these countries could accurately call themselves Iberians if they would like to, though residents of these areas typically prefer to align themselves with their national identity.

This means that Iberians might be French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, or Andorran. In addition, you might find people living in other parts of the world, such as Latin America, who have substantial Iberian ancestry and identify as being from one of those countries I mentioned above.

What race are people of the Iberian Peninsula?

The people who have deep roots in the Iberian Peninsula, are descended from the ancient inhabitants of the area called Iberians.  The Iberians were descended from the original early human inhabitants of the peninsula, who arrived from southern France about 40,000 years ago. 

The most common haplogroup in Spanish and Portuguese males is R1b, which also happens to be the most common Y DNA haplogroup in Western Europe.

People who are from the the Iberian Peninsula are considered to be Caucasian, an outdated term and description, just like other Europeans. However, modern people are beginning to come to a long-overdue understand that the idea of “race” is pseudoscience,  since humans aren’t really different from one another.

To put it another way, there is no such thing as race.

The Iberian Peninsula, just like the rest of the continent of Europe, is made up of made different ethnic groups, or descendants of distinct ethnic groups.  Members of these individual groups share a common ethnicity, which means that they have shared language, historical, cultural, and sometimes, religious, traditions in common.

There are several groups in Spain, for example, that are descended from the ancient migrants to the region.  The Asturians, Basques, Castilians are just a few of the many groups.

What are Typical Iberian Physical Characteristics?

I should start by saying that there is no “typical” way that a person who lives on the Iberian Peninsula “looks”. This is because our phenoytype, or how we look, has little to do with where we are from.

Instead, our phenotype has more to do with genetics. However, in many regions of the world, there are certain physical characteristics that appear to be more common than in others. 

I am not a fan of distinguishing between people by their outward appearance, but I know that this question comes up a lot in genetic genealogy.  People are often curious about where their “looks” come from.

In my own family, family lore attributed my paternal grandmother’s darker hair and “olive” complexion to hidden Native American ancestry, but when her DNA test results came back, it was clear that we were wrong. 

My grandmother had no Native American ancestry, but did show 15% Iberian DNA.  While we don’t really know where my grandmother’s physical characteristics come from, her Iberian heritage is one possible explanation.

I haven’t tried it with my grandmother’s DNA yet, but I did get a report from Gene Heritage which showed me which alleles of the OCA2 gene had the biggest influence on me having light eyes.  It won’t help you with family history research, but it is fun to know why we look how we do.

Is Iberian Hispanic?

Since the definition of Hispanic is “relating to Spain or to Spanish-speaking countries, especially those of Latin America,” and Spain is on the Iberian Peninsula, you could say that Iberian can sometimes be Hispanic.  Portugal is not considered to be Hispanic, however. 

If you have Iberian Peninsula in your DNA results, and you would like to know if you should consider yourself to be Hispanic, you would really have to begin work on your family tree to find out where your ancestors were born.

If you haven’t started a tree yet and you need help with the basics of how to do research and where to start, I highly recommend checking out my softcover book on Amazon, Family Tree Building Basics: A Book for Beginners, which is also available via immediate PDF download.

I always love to build my family trees on Ancestry – it’s very quick and easy, especially if you have a subscription, which I recommend while you are actively doing research.

Is there Iberian DNA in Britain?

About 24% of natives of Britain will show at least some genetic connection to the Iberian Peninsula.  It is conceivable (and probable) that the average amount of Iberian DNA inherited by the average Britain has fluctuated over the centuries, especially during periods of intense conflict, invasions, and migrations. 

Many people with Colonial US roots find that they have higher than expected amounts of Iberian DNA.  I’ve written a post based on a hypothesis that the amount of Iberian DNA in Great Britain was actually much higher during colonial times than it is now.

Is there Iberian DNA in France?

Because of the geographical proximity to the Iberian Peninsula – it’s literally right next door, and you don’t even have to cross any water to get there – it is logical that there was admixing between the residents of the two countries. 

As evidence of this admixing, we see Iberian DNA in about 18% of the residents of Western Europe DNA region, which covers the area from France to the most eastern parts of Poland. 

As far as I’ve seen, there haven’t been any major studies on how French the average French person is, but we can deduce that since a typical native of Western Europe only has about 48% Western Europe DNA, the rest of their DNA is made up from nearby regions- including the Iberian Peninsula. 

Since France is geographically and genetically an integral part of Western Europe, yet located directly adjacent to the Iberian Peninsula, people in France are likely to show Iberian DNA.

Do French Canadians have Iberian DNA?

Since most French Canadians can trace most of their ancestors back to France, then it would seem that we could expect to find Iberian ethnicity in the DNA results of French Canadians. 

Anecdotally, based on the results I’ve seen and what my readers have reported, someone with recent French Canadian ancestry should expect to see Iberian in their DNA results, but the exact amount will depend on their unique genealogy.

Is the Iberian Peninsula Native American?

There is no genetic link between the Iberian Peninsula and Native Americans, so the answer is no. While all humans do share a common ancient ancestry, Iberian Peninsula results on a DNA test do not mean that a person has Native American ancestry. 

One of the most common reasons for people to ask this question is because they have both Native American and Iberian Peninsula DNA ethnicities show up in their results, which can sometimes imply Latin American ancestry.

Read more about Iberian Peninsula plus Native American in DNA results.

Is there such thing as Irish Iberian DNA?

There is some evidence that the ancient peoples in Ireland were descended from groups that migrated there from Iberia.  This makes sense, since we know that the people from Ireland had to come from somewhere! 

The  most reliable evidence that I have personally seen that this might be the case is from a study that was completed in 2015.  Thousands of residents of the British Isles did a Y-DNA test, and the largest majority of the test takers shared the strongest genetic connection with people who live in Southern Europe – specifically, the Iberian Peninsula.

This is great, but there is one major caveat:  The “Irish” genome, as the study names it, was established at least 4,000 years ago.  The type of DNA test that we generally do in genetic genealogy is an autosomal DNA test, which typically only can show ancestry based on the past 300-500 years. 

While it is conceivable that ancestry from slightly further back than 500 years might be discovered from an autosomal DNA test, when you consider that it is possible for ancestry to fade away after only 5-7 generations, it seems a fanciful idea that after 150 generations many people would still show this ancient Iberian connection.

Also important from this study was the fact that not all Irish (or the rest of the British test subjects) showed this genetic connection with the Iberians.  The researchers were able to find corroborating evidence to theories about migrations from other parts of Europe, and many of these test takers showed genetic links with these other groups.

If you have Irish roots and show Iberian DNA, I would encourage you to consider the possibility that you inherited it from one or more more recent (300-500 years) ancestors.

Conclusion

I hope that this post has helped you learn a little bit about the ethnicity of the people of the Iberian Peninsula, and what it means to have Iberian in your DNA results. 

If you have any questions about something that you read here, or would like to share your own experience about finding Iberian in your DNA ethnicity estimate, I would love to hear from you in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

You might also be interested in:

• Iberian Peninsula DNA Ethnicity
• Iberian Peninsula People:  A DNA Perspective
• Colonial Ancestors and Iberian DNA
• Is Iberian plus Native American Hispanic?

Share the knowledge!