is further genetic convergence between North and South Iberia. North African influence A number of studies have focused on ascertaining the genetic impact of historical North African population movements into Iberia on the genetic composition of modern Spanish and Portuguese populations. Initial studies pointed to the Straits of Gibraltar acting more as a genetic barrier than a bridge during prehistorical times, while other studies point to a higher level of recent North African admixture among Iberians than among other European populations, albeit this is as a result of more recent migratory movements, particularly the Moorish invasion of Iberia in the 8th century. In terms of autosomal DNA, the most recent study regarding African admixture in Iberian populations was conducted in April 2013 by Botigué et al. using genome-wide SNP data for over 2000 European, Maghreb, Qatar and Sub-Saharan individuals of which 119 were Spaniards and 117 Portuguese, concluding that Spain and Portugal hold significant levels of North African ancestry. Estimates of shared ancestry averaged from 4% in some places to 10% in the general population; the populations of the Canary Islands yielded from 0% to 96% of shared ancestry with north Africans, although the Canary islands are a Spanish exclave located in the African continent, and thus this output is not representative of the Iberian population; these same results did not exceed 2% in other western or southern European populations. However, contrary to past autosomal studies and to what is inferred from Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial Haplotype frequencies (see below), it does not detect significant levels of Sub-Saharan ancestry in any European population outside the Canary Islands. Indeed, a prior 2011 autosomal study by Moorjani et al. found Sub-Saharan ancestry in many parts of southern Europe at ranges of between 1-3%, "the highest proportion of African ancestry in Europe is in Iberia (Portugal 4.2±0.3% and Spain 1.4±0.3%), consistent with inferences based on mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes and the observation by Auton et al. that within Europe, the Southwestern Europeans have the highest haplotype-sharing with North Africans." In terms of paternal Y-Chromosome DNA, recent studies coincide in that Iberia has the greatest presence of the typically Northwest African Y-chromosome haplotype marker E-M81 in Europe, with an average of 3%. as well as Haplotype Va. Estimates of Y-Chromosome ancestry vary, with a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics using 1140 samples from throughout the Iberian peninsula, giving a