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A general introduction to the origins and history of Latin American populations is followed by a systematic review of the data from molecular autosomal assessments of the ethnic/continental (European, African, Amerindian) ances-tries for 24 Latin American countries or territories. The data surveyed are of varying quality but provide a general pic-ture of the present constitution of these populations. A brief discussion about the applications of these results (admixture mapping) is also provided. Latin American populations can be viewed as natural experiments for the in-vestigation of unique anthropological and epidemiological issues