The Spanish and Portuguese colonization of the New World, during the 16th century and later, brought individuals with the surname Perea and its various spellings such as Pereira, Pereyra, and Perera throughout Latin America. Individuals with this surname and its various spellings are also to be found through out Latin America ( with the highest concentration in Mexico and Brazil) - raising the probability of how many distant cousins could be united by a DNA project such as this.

This project, in its broadest sense, aims to find out just which Perea lines are connected and what is the genetic origin of these lines.