Haplogroup H1
H1 is haplogroup H's largest branch — expanded from the Franco-Cantabrian Ice Age refuge, it peaks in Iberia and the Atlantic west of Europe. Explore the branch in the full mtDNA haplotree — sub-branches, defining variants and where its testers live. Free, no account needed.
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Origin and distribution of H1
H1 is the largest single branch of Europe's dominant maternal haplogroup, and its geography still traces the Ice Age. As the glaciers withdrew, populations sheltering in the Franco-Cantabrian refuge — southern France and northern Iberia — expanded north and out, carrying H1 with them: today it reaches its highest frequencies among Basques, Iberians, western French and the Atlantic edge generally, fading eastward across the continent.
The lineage also crossed into North Africa, where H1 is notable among Berber populations of the Maghreb — one of several genetic threads tying the two shores of the western Mediterranean together. Within Europe its dozens of sub-branches (H1a, H1b, H1c…) are young and dense; a consumer kit usually resolves H1 itself, with the finer twig needing full mitochondrial sequencing.
One line among many: your mtDNA haplogroup traces a single maternal line — mother to mother into deep time — so it is a thread of ancestry, not an ethnicity and not a percentage of who you are. Two people in the same branch share a foremother; the rest of their genomes are their own story.
Frequently asked questions
What is haplogroup H1?
H1 is haplogroup H's largest branch — expanded from the Franco-Cantabrian Ice Age refuge, it peaks in Iberia and the Atlantic west of Europe. It is a branch of the mtDNA tree: everyone in it inherits the same set of defining mutations from one shared foremother.
How do I find out if I belong to H1?
If you have already tested with a consumer DNA company, the free mtDNA Haplogroup Finder reads a raw DNA export and places you on the tree at the resolution your file supports — free, and the file is discarded after analysis. A dedicated mtDNA sequencing test resolves deeper branches than a genotyping chip can.
Does belonging to H1 make me related to one people?
No. A haplogroup follows a single maternal line — one ancestor per generation — while the rest of your ancestry doubles every generation back. It is a deep-time thread, not an ethnicity, and two members of the same branch can otherwise be as genetically different as any two strangers.
What does this page's tree data show?
The live browser below shows the branch inside the full mtDNA haplotree of tested lineages — its sub-branches, the variants that define them, and the countries its testers report. Counts reflect people who have taken a mtDNA test and shared an origin, so they describe the tested world, not ancient frequencies.
Keep exploring
Don't know your haplogroup yet? The free mtDNA Haplogroup Finder reads it from a raw DNA export. Or browse the whole tree in the mtDNA Haplotree. Other major branches: