File:Phylogenetic structure of Africans.png

English: Phylogenetic structure of Africans; displaying the genetic affinity and distance between different African (and derived non-African) lineages and their inferred diverging patterns. The graphic "Phylogenetic structure projected on a map" (upper left) shows the distribution of ancestral components and inferred migration routes within, out and into Africa. Taken from (File:African phylogenetic structure projected on a map.png). The phylogenetic tree is based on multiple papers on the genetic diversity of Africans and their internal and external genetic affinities. There are broadly 3 distinct African major lineages: Southern African hunter-gatherers (SAHG) or Khoesan, primarily distributed in Southern Africa, represented by modern Khoesan peoples; Central African hunter-gatherers or Rainforest hunter-gatherers (CAHG or RHG), primarily distributed in Central Africa, represented by modern "Pygmy people" such as Biaka and Mbuti; and West/East African populations, historically located in West Africa and the Middle Nile region/East Africa, today found throughout Africa, represented by modern Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Omotic-speaking populations (or EAHG). While Africans displays the highest genetic diversity of humanity, their genetic makeup and relationship correlates largely with linguistic and ethnic identity, althought subsequent admixture and migration events may have caused language shift. The by far most dominant component today is represented by modern Niger-Congo speakers, which major expansion can, in part, be linked to the spread of West African agricultural and material culture technologies, and which migration resulted in a "genetic continuum among Niger-Congo speakers" throughout the continent. The exact relationship between EAHG groups (primarily Omotic-speaking groups, Sandawe, Hadza and the historical Mota specimen) is not clear yet, but were found to share more ancestry with each other than to other African groups, and share higher affinity to Niger-Congo-speakers, followed by possible geneflow from a Khoesan-like group, and from an Eurasian source.