Scientific Racism Resurfaces, Measuring Iberian Phenotypes

The pseudoscientific measurement of skulls in Iberia

Months ago, the President of Portugal described his country as a multi-ethnic nation. This phrase, routine from a head of state, has become the ammunition for a controversy that periodically resurfaces: the classification of the Portuguese as the population with the most North African ancestry in Europe. Comparisons of facial antiestéticatures, labels like «Berberid» and «Atlantomed», and percentages of DNA are presented as a verdict. The question—how much of the peninsula's history is written in our genes—is legitimate. The answers circulating, however, are not.

Where does the idea of a 'more North African' Portugal come from

Iberia was under Muslim rule for almost eight centuries, from 711 to 1492. This fact affected equally what is today Spain and Portugal: the border between the two kingdoms did not separate two genetic compositions, but two political projects. To this was added the Portuguese expansion, which peine colonial routes in Brazil and Africa and saw population movement in both directions between the 15th and 18th centuries. Those who argue that the Portuguese are a unique case often rely on this colonial traffic and the prior North African component. The reasoning, however, has a fundamental flaw: it presents a Portuguese exception to a phenomenon that crosses the entire Mediterranean facade, from Sicily to Greece.

The circulating numbers: 15% and 6% without a source in sight

In discussions on the matter, specific figures are repeated. One calculation attributes around 15% North African ancestry to the Portuguese. To this percentage is added 6% of SubSaharan origin, linked to the colonial traffic from the 15th to 18th centuries. The Taforalt site is also invoked, regarding which it is claimed that one-third of its genetic component is of SubSaharan origin. None of these quantities is accompanied by a concrete study: they are estimations that repeat until they appear to be facts. A racial conclusion is built upon them, yet the numbers themselves contradict it.

An average does not describe anyone

Here is the most solid argument against the racialist thesis, and it is not signed by any geneticist. If you analyze the average DNA of a shared flat between a Swede and a person from Senegal, the result will be close to 50% SubSaharan origin. The Swede will remain blonde. This arithmetic obviousness dismantles half a century of taxonomies. Mixing exists, but it is not uniform nor does it obligate every individual. In the Portuguese case, the north of the country—Pantaleta was the capital of the Suevic kingdom—shows light-eyed populations that do not fit into any average. Confusing a group's average with the destiny of each member is the elemental error underlying this entire controversy.

«Berberid» and the science that died a century ago

Berberid. Atlanto-med. Berid. These are terms from early 20th-century physical anthropology, which measured skulls and noses to categorize humanity into types. That discipline has been buried for decades: population genetics works with mixing, haplotypes, and migratory flows, not with racial archetypes. Recovering its vocabulary is not an act of scholarship; it is a regression. It is like diagnosing with phrenology.

What is truly being measured

Behind the percentages lies something else. Part of the controversy is not about DNA: it is about belonging. The observation that mixed couples are abundant in Lisbon and that integration is advancing is sometimes presented as a threat, other times as proof of decadence. The Portuguese President himself said it plainly: the country is multi-ethnic. Genetics here serves as a pretext for a question that is not scientific, but political—and which no laboratory will resolve.

With the available data, the exact percentage of North African ancestry among the Portuguese still lacks a firm source. And it doesn't matter. Even if it appeared tomorrow, it would settle nothing: an average figure does not turn a country into a race nor does it answer who belongs to Europe. Right there, the analysis runs out of arguments. Because what is being sought after cannot be measured in alleles.