# Population Genetics > mtDNA Haplogroups > H >  H1 mtDNA 16262T 16278T as a genetic signature of the Portuguese maritime expansion

## Ricardo

My mtDNA is also a component of the Brazilian Portuguese foundation. The Women related to my mtDNA genetic signature were part of the genetic founding stock related to the Portuguese Language and they were among the first to navigate the Atlantic Ocean with their Husbands and Sons. They belonged to the Portuguese Kingdom, the Portuguese Empire and finally they could reach and expand a lot in Brazil, always keeping the same language, religion, culture and State Continuum.

I have the rare HVR1 16262T 16278T 16519C mtDNA belonging to haplogroup H1

Frequencies of the rare 16262T, 16278T motif in three different databases:

SMGF Brazil 1348/2. (Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina)
FTDNA 430/2. Portugal (Brazil and USA with documented genealogies to the Ribeirinha, Terceira, Açores, Azores)
Terceira Island 18/2, Azores (total) 120/2. Mitochondrial DNA patterns in the Macaronesia islands: Variation within and among archipelagos

In the H1 FGS Project the next "close" match (without the rare 16262T) is RY9WZ from Valladolid, Spain at the cluster Z1a, but there’s a good distance. So that’s an old Iberian lineage

The 16262T 16278T motif seems to be related to a single woman as a founder colonist in the Terceira Island, Azores. That’s a presumable representative of the first Atlantic embarked European mtDNA in the 15th century and it’s an ethnic and national genetic signature of the old Portuguese Empire. Usually the Portuguese haplotypes are distinctively found clustered only in the Western Iberian Portuguese speaking areas and in the main Colony of Brazil as their big territorial expansion. 

The theory of sampling obeys the principle of statistical regularity and the 16262T 16278T mtDNA genetic signature presents specific frequencies and the haplotypes can be analyzed as a more or less regular percentage found in diverse samples from the Azorean and Brazilian populations.

Ricardo Costa de Oliveira

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## Knovas

> Usually the Portuguese haplotypes are distinctively found clustered *only* in the Western Iberian Portuguese speaking areas and in the main Colony of Brazil as their big territorial expansion.


I'm sure there'll be also strong connections with Galicians, who don't speak Portuguese. Just wait for more samples.

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## Jacker22

Isn't H1 the most common type of H in Europe? Why do you call it rare? Is that a particular subclade?

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## Ricardo

Yes, the 16262T, I only have one match in the entire FTDNA database. No new article about the H1 subclades was released in the last year. The mitochondrial DNA accumulates mutations at the rate of approximately one every 3,500-4,500 years.

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## Maciamo

> Yes, the 16262T, I only have one match in the entire FTDNA database. No new article about the H1 subclades was released in the last year. The mitochondrial DNA accumulates mutations at the rate of approximately one every 3,500-4,500 years.


I checked the PhyloTree and this 16262T mutation is not yet listed, which means it is still considered a private mutation. People who have it are surely related to you within 1000 years or so, which means that most of them are probably of Portuguese or even Spanish descent. However I fail to see why you dub it "genetic signature of the Portuguese maritime expansion". It's only one of the thousands of mtDNA lineages that are linked to Portuguese or Spanish ancestry.

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## sparkey

> However I fail to see why you dub it "genetic signature of the Portuguese maritime expansion". It's only one of the thousands of mtDNA lineages that are linked to Portuguese or Spanish ancestry.


To be fair, he does call it _a_ genetic signature of the Portuguese maritime expansion, which is probably true. Like my 16214A private mutation within U4 is apparently _a_ genetic signature of Cornish miner's wives. These private mutations can tell a family a good deal about their history, but I'm not sure that they're especially interesting to analysts outside of the family they're relevant to.

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## Maciamo

> To be fair, he does call it _a_ genetic signature of the Portuguese maritime expansion, which is probably true. Like my 16214A private mutation within U4 is apparently _a_ genetic signature of Cornish miner's wives. These private mutations can tell a family a good deal about their history, but I'm not sure that they're especially interesting to analysts outside of the family they're relevant to.


Ok, but we could start thousands of similar threads then.

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