File:Map-of-human-migrations.jpg

World map of human migrations, with the North Pole at center. Africa, harboring the start of the migration, is at the top left and South America at the far right. Migration patterns are based on studies of mitochondrial (matrilinear) DNA.

Numbers represent thousand years.

The blue line represents area covered in or  during the last great ice age.

The letters are the haplogroups (pure motherly lineages); Haplogroups can be used to define genetic populations and are often geographically orientated. For example, the following are common divisions for mtDNA haplogroups:
 * African: L, L1, L2, L3, L3
 * Near Eastern: J, N
 * Southern European: J, K
 * General European: H, V
 * Northern European: T, U, X
 * Asian: A, B, C, D, E, F, G (note: M is composed of C, D, E, and G)
 * Native American: A, B, C, D, and sometimes X

Data derivation

 * Image:Northern icesheet hg.png shows the region that was covered by ice or tundra in the last


 * All migration data based on mitomap.
 * Geographic data from
 * and adding the following data we get this interesting result