# Population Genetics > mtDNA Haplogroups > L >  L0 in Northern Europe

## Geordiewarrior

I am an absolute newby to this forum, and to genetics. To keep it short, my wife's mtDNA is L0d1b1. She was born in England, has no indication of African descent. Does the same principle apply to L0 as I have read in this forum for L1, L3? Would this be due to genetic flow from Iberia maybe in the post-glacial period? I have not found any other references to L0 as far north.

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## elghund

> I am an absolute newby to this forum, and to genetics. To keep it short, my wife's mtDNA is L0d1b1. She was born in England, has no indication of African descent. Does the same principle apply to L0 as I have read in this forum for L1, L3? Would this be due to genetic flow from Iberia maybe in the post-glacial period? I have not found any other references to L0 as far north.


Perhaps, her maternal ancestor arrived in England in the nineteenth century. This haplogroup mostly populates the southern side of the African continent now, especially in Botswana and Angola:
https://yfull.com/mtree/L0d1b/

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## Ozzie

I am new as well, but I have dabbled in genetics for a while. Haplogroups are given too much emphasis in ancestry and it represents one line of ancestry which can be quite ancient and of general indication of the place of origin. In your wife's case it is sub Saharan Africa. As elghund said, the woman bearing that haplogroup could have arrived in the U.K in the 19th century, or even during the Industrial Revolution. Slavery ended in the UK in the 19th century. Rather than Iberia, the woman could have come from an African country colonized by the Germans (Namibia), Portugal (Angola), Britain (Botswana) or she may have been from nearby South Africa, a Dutch/KhoeSanid mix. Anyway, appearance and these minor pieces of dna, haplogroups, can be way off the mark after many generations of mixing.

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## Geordiewarrior

Thank you for the two replies. Although new to this, I think I had a clear understanding of the origins of L0, and I had thought slavery could have been involved. Portugal has been a longstanding ally of the UK for hundreds of years; so perhaps another open road via shipping lanes perhaps. I think most of all I was interested in the rarity of finding this hg in northern England. Like most northern Europeans, I am a common H1 so very interesting to find a rarity. Thanks for your thoughts.

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