Lithuanian.HO raw DNA 23andme format

Lithuanians are a Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, a country situated along the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea. They speak Lithuanian, one of the oldest living Indo-European languages, closely related only to Latvian. The Lithuanian people trace their origins to ancient Baltic tribes who inhabited this region for thousands of years, maintaining their distinct language and culture despite centuries of outside influence. By the Middle Ages, Lithuania had emerged as a powerful state in Eastern Europe under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later forming a historic union with Poland that would shape its destiny for centuries to come.

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, established in 1569, became one of the largest and most influential political entities in Europe. In 1795, Lithuania was annexed by the expanding Russian Empire, beginning more than a century of imperial rule.

Under Russian occupation, Lithuanian identity came under threat as the Tsarist authorities attempted to suppress the language and Catholic faith. The Lithuanian press ban of 1864 to 1904 sought to erase national consciousness, but instead fueled a cultural revival through underground book smuggling and resistance movements. After a brief period of independence between World War I and World War II, Lithuania was once again subjugated, first by Nazi Germany, and then by the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation brought decades of repression, forced deportations, and attempts to erase Lithuanian sovereignty.

Despite this, the Lithuanian spirit endured. In the late 1980s, amid the crumbling Soviet system, Lithuania became a focal point of the Baltic independence movements. The peaceful demonstrations known as the Singing Revolution and the massive Baltic Way human chain united millions across the Baltics in a call for freedom. In 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence, marking the rebirth of a proud and resilient nation.

For this video, I’ve gathered the raw genomes of 10 ethnic Lithuanians from the human origins dataset. I used academic tools such as admixtools 1 and 2, but also tools I developed myself, such as mageplot, and Trait predictor, to analyze their genetics and generate the content you will see in this video.