Studies of human mitochondrial DNA suggest that all humans share common ancestors from Africa, originated in the southwestern regions near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola at the approximate coordinates 12.5° E, 17.5°S with a divergence in the migration path around 37.5°E, 22.5°N near the Red Sea [REF].
Because of the large numbers of West Africans enslaved in the Atlantic slave trade, most African Americans are likely to have mixed ancestry from different regions of western Africa [REF].