`   ===Ancestry section of the Spanish people article===  Epf, what do you think of this version? Veritas considers it is ``Afrocentric``, I dont know why... All statements can be backed up with proper sources.  According to archeological and genetic studies, the genetic landscape of Europe has been shaped by two major influences from the Levant: One occuring during the upper Paleolithic period, when modern humans entered the continent around 40 000 years ago, and the second occurring around 10 000 years ago during the Neolithic expansion of agriculturalists.  The Iberian peninsula, is considered to be among the regions with less Neolithic impact due to its geographic position, consistent with the demic diffusion model of Neolithic expansion from the Balkans into Western Europe. This explains the high frequency of Paleolithic genetic markers and more specifically Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b, which, according to one recent study is present in around 60% of the Spanish males. The frequency of R1b reaches highs of 90% in the Basque region which straddles Northern Spain and Southern France and lows of 40% in Malaga province, although in most of peninsular Spain the frequency of R1b surpasses the 50% mark. Classical markers, Y-chromosome variation and Mtdna studies show that the strong Paleolithic element is the most salient feature of the Iberian gene pool.  The Paleolithic component, however, seems to be much stronger in Basques than in other Iberian populations. Alonso and Armour showed that the Basques diverged from other European populations by retaining less diversity and having a higher proportion of ancestral (paleolithic) autosomal alleles. Furthermore, the presence in high frequencies, of a number of rare haplotypes, both in Mtdna and Y-chromosome analysis, suggests that the action of genetic drift may have further accentuated their distinctiveness. For these reasons, genetic studies of Western European populations have tended to concentrate on the Basques, to the detriment of other Iberian populations.  A number of other studies have also examined the extent of African gene flow in Iberian populations. This region has historically had close relationships with North Africa due to its geographic proximity and particularly due to the nearly 8 centuries of Islamic rule in Iberia. Genetic results are, to a degree contradictory. Although classical markers have failed to detect this influence, around 9% of Y-chromosomes and up to 18% of Mtdna have been estimated to be of this origin. Moreover, unlike the rest of Europe, the presence of genetic markers of African origin, Mtdna U6 and Y-chromosome E3b point to recent historical admixture as opposed to the result of more ancient Neolithic population movements. The presence of E-M81, a subclade of Haplogroup E3b, is perhaps the most irrefutable evidence of the genetic impact of the Islamic period in Iberia. This clade, which is the most common in North Africa, has the lowest variance and a compact network, indicating either its relatively recent origin followed by expansion or its recent expansion after a bottleneck. In Europe, this clade is restricted to Iberia and some peripheral Mediterranean regions such as Sicily and Malta. The absence of microsatellite variation suggests a very recent arrival from North Africa, consistent with historical evidence. Nevertheless, historical North African admixture in Iberian populations should not be exaggerated and it is only relevant insofar it represents a significant portion of the non-paleolithic gene pool.   This cannot be said for the two million Canarian Spaniards, who have strong Guanche admixture (the original inhabitants of the Canaries) and whose gene pool can be considered to be half way between their North African and Iberian putative parents. Anectodally, sub-saharan influence in the Iberian peninsula (with a strong peak in Southern Portugal) seems to be higher than in the rest of Europe, as can be seen by the high frequency of Mtdna Haplogroup L. This can be explained by the slave trade which started in Muslim times growing to its peak in the 16th century.`