Brazilians retrace their African roots using DNA tests

In the heart of Rio, it's in this port district that the history of Brazil has its painful origins, which are the field of expertise of Taizhosa Piero. Why is this district called Little Africa? Do you have any idea? It's a tribute to the presence and influence of the Africans who populated this district and surrounding port area. She's a tour guide specialising in Afro Brazilian culture. Today she's giving a history lesson to two tourists from the Amazon. Many came from the Congo, Angola and the whole region. After the abolition of slavery in 1888, the Minister of Finance ordered the destruction of all documents relating to the slave trade. It took years of investigation to unearth the truth behind the local African heritage. This is the archaeological site of the Kais Valongo. This is where over a million Africans arrived and for a long time it was a bus station. For almost a whole century we didn't know the history of this place. My grandfather is European, Portuguese, and it's easy to know exactly where he comes from. On my mother's side, we're all of mixed race. We don't know if we're from Africa, if we're indigenous. Tais decided to go in search of her story. In 2017, she had Adna Test. Cameroon and Congo 37%, Nigeria 20%. I felt a bit Nigerian, maybe because I come from the state of Bahia in the north and there's a very strong influence of Nigerian culture there. Adna Test costs between 80 and €100. In Brazil, demand has exploded, with an increase of 1000% in the past three years. Meanwhile, 2 researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have gone to the heart of the Amazon. Kelly Nunez and Julio Andragi have come to a village inhabited mainly by Afro descendants. They're starting a new project, Brazil's first public DNA database. Around 50 village elders like Don Marcos are taking part in the collection. It was my grandfather who heard this story from his grandfather, that our village festival originated in Morocco at 75. His memories, however faded, are as precious as his saliva. Through the study of genetics, Kelly and Julio have also become historians. We're going to be able to trace the origins of your ancestors, your grandparents, great grandparents, where they came from in Africa. It's a historical reconstruction. It's not just about identifying where they came from, but when they came. And to reconstruct this journey, we need to collect as many memories as possible that will help us to interpret the results. Back in Sao Paulo, Kelly Nunez and her team will analyse the Salava samples in this university laboratory over the course of the next few months. All the samples have numbers and are completely anonymous, no names are written on them. It's this machine that will then separate the genome in the saliva. Human DNA is made-up of 3 billion letters. The researchers will analyse just 6 million of them, enough to be able to compare with other DNA banks around the world and identify similarities with other regions. Now we're going to interpret the DNA letters that are translated using this programme, so we can see from the fluorescent colours that certain individuals have identical letters and therefore this common gene. The aim is to enrich Brazilian history, but not only that. Certain diseases are more prevalent in certain regions of the world than in others, and understanding how they manifest themselves in people who are descendant from these regions helps us to understand why and how Brazilians also develop these diseases. This is very important for scientific research. It is a scientific and historical quest with lots of room to grow. This is Macapa, capital of Amapa, a small state in northern Brazil. International Africa Day is being celebrated. To mark the occasion, Kelly Nunez has come to train local nurses in DNA testing. For several days, there will be crisscrossing the region to collect DNA from 500 residents aged over 70, all of whom are of African descent. I want to know where I come from before the Almighty calls me back. There's a family here, for example, that has been called the Congo family for generations because the father always said that they were descended from the Congo, but his parents are already dead. And there are many stories like that. For example, my name is Almeida. The research we've done shows that we come from Weeda, but we have no idea if that's true. Weeda is a former slave port in Benin. A delegation from that country has been invited to the events. The mayor of Uida has no doubt that there is a connection. The results of the Brazil DNA project could strengthen ties between the two countries. We can say with a great deal of certainty now that we have relatives here. We'll know in the next few days, and we're going to confirm this by giving them benign nationality. As the president of Benin confirmed during a recent official visit, any Brazilian who can provide DNA proof will be able to obtain Benini's nationality, further strengthening partnerships with Africa, known here as the Mother Continent. On May 24th in Papua New Guinea, part of this mountain collapsed. My house was around here. I don't know what will happen to me. Overnight, this child became an orphan. His village was completely buried. With the threat of new landsides. Tribal wars continue to rage on, but managed to kill 60 people with this gun. For as long as I'm alive, I will encourage my child to take revenge. Papua New Guinea, a land ravaged by natural disasters and violence, watched reporters on France 24. None. France 24 your window on the world Liberty, egality, actuality.