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Genghis Khan died in 1227, meaning ~40 generations since then. If a random person sired two sons in 1227, and each of them had two offspring in each generation
by jpatokal 10y ago
Genghis Khan died in 1227, meaning ~40 generations since then. If a random person sired two sons in 1227, and each of them had two offspring in each generation who in turn had children, that's 2^40 = 1e12 progeny today.
- btilly 10y agoThey mean surviving progeny with his DNA. After 7 generations, most of your descendants are not actually genetically related to you. By contrast current estimates are that about 0.5% of the world has a y-chromosome descended from a relatively close ancestor of Genghis Khan. (When his horde burst out, both he and his male relatives took advantage of "mating opportunities".) See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_Genghis_Khan#DNA_evidence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_from_Genghis_Khan#DNA_... for more. A side note. His y-chromosome would have benefited more than his other chromosomes since many of his sons, grandsons and other direct male descendants also had good breeding opportunities. Those men had his y-chromosome, but not all of his other chromosomes.
- thaumasiotes 10y agoYour very own numbers should immediately tell you that they're useless, since there aren't 1e12 people today. What's the point of comparing Genghis Khan's empirical reproductive record to a hypothetical, known-to-be-impossible, known-to-be-not-even-slightly-related-to-what-could-have-theoretically-happened reproductive record?