This article was originally published on August 5, 2010.
In 2003, a groundbreaking historical genetics paper reported results which indicated that a substantial proportion of men in the world are direct line descendants of Genghis Khan. By direct line, I mean that they carry Y chromosomes which seem to have come down from an individual who lived approximately 1,000 years ago. As Y chromosomes are only passed from father to son, that would mean that the Y is a record of one’s patrilineage.
Genghis Khan died about 750 years ago, so assuming 25 years per generation, you get about 30 men between the present and that period. In more quantitative terms, about 10 percent of the men who reside within the borders of the Mongol Empire, as it was at the death of Genghis Khan, may carry his Y chromosome, and so about 0.5 percent of men in the world, ...
