READING 4 Genealogy and the Genographic Project

Genealogy and the Genographic Project

Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 9.5

Genealogy1 is one of the most popular hobbies in the United States. The percentage of Americans interested in family history has been increasing steadily. This increase has to do with the ease of searching on the Internet.

Cyndi Howells quit her job in 1992 and has been working on her family tree ever since. To help other family historians, she created a website called Cyndi’s List. Over the years, this site has been growing.

Although the Internet has made research easier, it is only the beginning for serious family historians. Genealogists2 still need to go to libraries to find public records, such as the U.S. Census. Since 1790, the U.S. Census Bureau has been conducting a census every 10 years.

But genealogy research on the Internet and in libraries can only go back a couple of hundred years. Then it stops. In the past, that meant the end of one’s family search. But since the beginning of the twenty-first century, serious family historians have been using genetics to trace their backgrounds. This technology shows the relationship between people, going back thousands of years.

In 2005, National Geographic started the Genographic Project. Since then, it has been collecting and analyzing DNA3 from people all over the world. Dr. Spencer Wells, founder of the project, has been using this information to understand how we are all related to each other.

How does this project work? People get a DNA kit, put in a bit of saliva, and send it back. Dr. Wells has concluded that all humans alive today descended from early humans who lived in Eastern Africa around two hundred thousand years ago. Dr. Wells has been studying human migration4 from Africa to other parts of the world. Dr. Wells thinks that by understanding who we are and where we came from, we will have a better sense of where we are going.

1 genealogy: the study of family history 2 genealogist: family historian 3 DNA: the molecules that carry genetic information and define the traits of a person, plant, or animal 4 migration: movement from one place to another, usually in large groups

Dr. Spencer Wells, director of National Geographic's Genographic Project