The DNA of Human History

Before Europeans arrived, what happened in North America? Who were the great conquerors? What events transpired?

Four centuries ago, Pilgrims and English settlers met Algonquian peoples on the Atlantic coast of North America. Algonquians had been on the East Coast for millennia—or had they? Tune in to discover a new account of the Algonquian peoples, from the Blackfeet to the Mohicans.

How does your family tree connect to Noah's? Are you the descendant of Shem? Ham? Japheth? How can you know?

Who gave rise to modern Europe? What's the ancestry of modern Europeans? Can anyone trace their ancestry back to the ancient Romans? The answers might surprise you!

What happened in the Americas before Europeans arrived? Were the Americas settled just once? Several times? Was there an active relationship between the Old and New Worlds long before Columbus set foot on American shores?

"Race": Biologically and genetically, is this fixed and unalterable? Might some blond and blue-eyed Scandinavians have had dark-skinned Nubian ancestors? Might dark-skinned African-Americans have had olive-skinned Central Asian ancestors?

How long has mankind been on earth? How old is the human race? Did humanity share a common ancestor with chimpanzees 6 million years go?

What happened to the ancient Egyptians? Do they have descendants to this day? Did the royal line of the Pharaohs disappear? Or might it have continued in unexpected places, like Scandinavia or Central Asia? Are sub-Saharan Africans related to the Pharaohs?

What happened to the ancient Sumerians? The ancient Assyrians? Babylonians? Persians? Do any have descendants today? Are they in places that we'd expect to find them? Or might they have ended up far from the place of their origin?

How many South Asian peoples can claim a genealogical connection to the Indus Valley civilization? Can any of them? How many times was South Asia settled? How many peoples trace their history to peoples outside of India? Who were the original settlers of Indus cradle of civilization?