How are the descendants of 10 peoples that marked the history of humanity

Egyptians, Assyrians, Aztecs, Incas — all these people are associated with ancient times and many believe that they eventually disappeared in the course of history. However, their descendants continue to exist to this day.

We, from awesome.club, we love ancient history. With that in mind, we made a post about who the descendants of great ancient civilizations are and how they live, which many believe have been lost in time. And in the end, you will find out where there are more chances to find a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. Check out!

The Quechua were the most powerful and most developed civilization in the Americas before the arrival of the Spaniards. It was they who founded the state in the Andes called Tawantinsuyubetter known as the Inca Empire.

Today, there are between 10 and 11 million Quechua Indians spread across Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. Their main occupations continue to be agriculture and livestock, but they often also work in mining. Many of them live in communities united by common territory, kinship and ancestor worship.

More than 3000 years ago, the Argonauts from Ancient Greece went to conquer the Black Sea region and settled there. They even had their own language called Pontic Greek. However, unfortunately, there are almost no speakers of it anymore, as the descendants use either Modern Greek or the language of the country they currently live in. Today, there are about 2.5 million representatives of this people around the world.

Half of Europe and virtually all of Russian territory has already come under the influence of the Nogais. Currently, representatives of this people live mainly in the North Caucasus and in the southern region of the Volga River. From this ethnonym comes the name Espepe Nogai — a settlement area where many descendants live on the territory of Dagestan, the Stavropol region and the Chechen Republic.

In recent decades, large Nogai communities have formed in other regions of Russia such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the Yamala-Nenetsia Autonomous Okrug and the Khantia-Mansia Autonomous Okrug. Turkey and Romania also have representatives of this people who moved there in the 18th and 19th centuries.

About 4,000 years ago, the Phoenicians were the main navigators and merchants of the Mediterranean. They founded many colonies, including the famous Carthage. They were also, by the way, the ones who invented writing based on letters, not hieroglyphs.

Some of the direct descendants of this people are the inhabitants of Lebanon, where the ancient territory of Ancient Phoenicia is located. However, scientists have discovered that there are other peoples who are also ancestors of this ancient civilization. During research, it was found that 30% of DNA samples taken from Maltese inhabitants have genetic material in common with the Phoenician civilization, known as haplogroup J2. By the way, it was even suggested to rename Malta as the Republic of Phoenicia.

Once the Scythians dominated Asia Minor, the Black Sea region and what is now Ukraine, they invaded the Balkans and held the Greeks at bay, but were later conquered by the Sarmatians. One of the Sarmatian tribes — the Tribe of the Alans — occupied the territory of the Azov regions (southern Russia) and the Caucasus, from where they invaded Crimea, Transcaucasia and Asia Minor.

The direct descendants of the Alans are the Ossetians, who intend to recover their historical past. However, other heirs of this proud nomadic people live in Hungary and call themselves Iassics. Their ancestors settled on the plain east of the Danube. The Yassians completely lost their ancient language in the 18th century, but in recent years there has been an increase in their historical awareness. So, nowadays festivals about the culture of the Yassians are held regularly. Furthermore, they have also increased interest in their own history and established connections with the Ossetians.

The Huns invaded Europe in the 4th century and from there began a great migration. Some scholars believe that the Unlar are direct descendants of these warriors. Its representatives live mainly in the Karaidel district of Bashkortostan, another part in the Buraevsky district and in two or three villages in the Baltachevsky district, all in Russia.

The name “Unlar” comes from the name of the Huns, more specifically the combination of “huh” with the suffix “home”, which indicates the plural in Turkic languages. Modern representatives of this ethnic group are descendants of Hun nomads who failed to reach Europe, and are even related to Genghis Khan himself.

The Copts are direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians. This name was given to this people by the Arabs who invaded Egypt in the 7th century. And they adopted the calendar of their ancestors. The Coptic calendar year has 13 months: 12 months of 30 days and an additional month of 5 or 6 days, depending on whether the year is a leap year or not. The New Year for them begins on August 29, or August 30 if the year is a leap year.

The Nahuatl people, better known as the Aztecs, created the strongest empire in Central America, which was eventually destroyed by Spanish conquerors led by Hernán Cortés. The descendants of this great people speak the Nahuatl language, and most of its speakers are located in the Mexican states of Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi and Guerrero. Also, as a result of emigration to the United States, Nahuatl diasporas were formed in New York and California.

A curiosity, in November 2019, the Mexican Federico Acosta, who is a descendant of the Aztec emperor Montezuma II, met the Italian Ascanio Pignatelli, whose lineage comes from Hernán Cortés, 500 years after the Spanish conqueror arrived in Mexico. At the time, Cortés’ descendant apologized to Federico for his ancestor’s attitudes, but the Mexican said he had no resentment against Spanish colonizers.

The descendants of the creators of one of the world’s first civilizations and the founders of Babylon today live mainly in Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Their communities are also spread across Lebanon, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Georgia, Armenia, Germany, Great Britain and other countries. The language of modern Assyrians goes back to the Aramaic dialects of the West Asian population, but many representatives of this people no longer speak it.

The Gagauz are a Turkic people settled mainly in the region of Bessarabia, although representatives of this ethnic group can also be found in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Greece. In its DNA, the heritage of several great peoples of the past was mixed simultaneously: Cumans, Pechenegs, Volga Bulgars and Seljuk Turks.

Despite the Turkic origin, the Gagauz people do not differ in appearance from their European neighbors. Most representatives of this people are Christians, but ancestral traditions are still very important, such as the cult of the wolf, which is even represented on the first flag of independent Gagaúzia.

Statue of Genghis Khan in Tsongzhin-Boldog in Mongolia

Genghis Khan lived about 800 years ago, and he had only 5 officially recognized children. However, there is the possibility that there were other unrecognized children. By the calculations of scientists, after 300 years Genghis Khan could have 5 million descendants.

Russian researchers decided to try to find these descendants through DNA tests. They studied the genes of 1,437 men, including Kazakhs, Teleutes, Caucasians, Tuvans, Tajiks, Buryats, Evenkis, Mongols, Kurds, Persians, Russians, among others. Genetic material was obtained from male students.

Ultimately, more than a third of Genghis Khan’s alleged descendants inhabit the territory of Mongolia. Among the inhabitants of Russia, most of the blood of the conqueror was present in the Kazakh genetic code (8.3%). And among residents of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, the Republic of Tuva and Kalmykia, between 1.7 and 3.4% of genetic correspondence was found.

Do you know who they are and the history of their ancestors? Tell us in the comments section.