page_title: Malagasy people
section_title: Genetics
hierarchical_section_title: Malagasy people / Genetics
caption_attribution_description: English: Merina girls of highland Madagascar
context_page_description: The Malagasy are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the island country of Madagascar. They are divided into two subgroups: the "Highlander" Merina, Sihanaka and Betsileo of the central highlands around Antananarivo, Alaotra and Fianarantsoa, and the "coastal dwellers" elsewhere in the country.
context_section_description: Recent genetic studies on the Malagasy people showed that all have mixed African and Asian ancestry. Three Malagasy populations, Temoro, Vezo, and Mikea, have approx. 70% African ancestry and 30% Asian ancestry while others have lower African ancestry .
  In a recent island-wide survey the male-only Y chromosomes of African origin are more common than those of East Asian origin but it varies depending on the study (70.7 vs. 20.7% or 51% vs 34%). However the mtDNA lineages, passed down from mother to child, are the opposite (42.4 African origin vs. 50.1% East Asian origin).
  In a 2010 study, the Polynesian motif (mtDNA haplotype B4a1a1a) frequency varied among three ethnic groups: 50% in Merina, 22% in Vezo, and 13% in Mikea. There are two additional mutations (1473 and 3423A) found in all Polynesian motif carriers of Madagascar, hence named the Malagasy motif. The most likely scenario is that Madagascar was settled approximately 1,200 years ago by a very small group, which consists of approximately 30 women; where 28 (93%) of them have maritime Southeast Asian descent and 2 (7%) of them have African descent. The Malagasy population was formed from the small founding population who intermixed.
  The closest Asian parental population of the Malagasy are the Banjar  and other South Kalimantan Dayak people of south east Borneo. Language footprints of their ancestors from Southeastern Asia can presently be witnessed by many shared basic vocabulary with Ma'anyan, a language from the region of the Barito River in southern Borneo.
caption: Merina children
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D5000", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Nikon Transfer 1.4 W", "Image DateTime": "2011:04:12 18:43:57", "Image ExifOffset": "198", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "926", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14744", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "16", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Unknown", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:03:26 08:39:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:03:26 08:39:23", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "5", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "141/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode, return light detected", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "82", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "6520717", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 7/2, 28/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6"}