The Y-DNA Tree of Humanity

A sparse map of major paternal-line branches. Start with the branch that interests you, or use the search to jump to your haplogroup.

What is this tree?

A short walk-through if this is your first time looking at a Y-DNA tree.

What does a Y-DNA tree show?

This is a tree of your direct paternal-line ancestors. Each branch is a group of people who share a common paternal ancestor many generations back. The deeper the branch, the older that shared ancestor is.
How do these branches connect to me?

Your sample sits on ONE specific branch. Everyone else on that branch shares a common paternal ancestor with you on the direct paternal line — on average thousands of years ago (the TMRCA — Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor — of your branch). Neighbouring branches descend from a slightly older common ancestor.
So are they like distant cousins?

Yes — everyone in your branch is your very distant genetic relative on the paternal line. The deeper the branch, the more distant the cousin. Neighbouring groups are also relatives, just through an even deeper shared ancestor.

Choose another region

Region switching coming soon.

Preview — high-level overview of major branches. Real-time region detection, live search, and the full haplogroup catalog ship in upcoming releases.