by Nicholas Wade
International Herald Tribune
Published: March 5, 2007
Britain and Ireland are so thoroughly divided in their histories that there is no single word to refer to the inhabitants of both islands. Historians teach that they are mostly descended from different peoples: the Irish from the Celts and the English from the Anglo-Saxons who invaded from Northern Europe and drove the Celts to the western and northern fringes.
But geneticists who have tested DNA throughout the British Isles are edging toward a different conclusion. Many are struck by the overall genetic similarities, leading some to claim that both Britain and Ireland have been inhabited for thousands of years by a single people that have remained in the majority, with only minor additions from later invaders like Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings and Normans.
The implication that the Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh have a great deal in common with each other, at least from the geneticist’s point of view, seems likely to please no one. The genetic evidence is still under development, and because only very rough dates can be derived from it, it is hard to weave evidence from DNA, archaeology, history and linguistics into a coherent picture of British and Irish origins.
That has not stopped the attempt.
More here.
Thanks for very interesting article Nicholas. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more. So please keep up the great work. Greetings
Hi, I feel I need to clarify something about the British and Irish view.
According to historians, they claim that the irish, scottish and welsh are different people genetically than the english people. They say that the English descend from Germanic and Scandinavian influences whilst the Irish, Scottish and Welsh descend from the Celtic people.
I would like to point out that through my own research, I have not come across any real evidence to support any significant impact the germanic and viking people have had on English soil. We are told that the germanic tribes (angles and saxons etc) came to England in large numbers.
They say this but can’t put a true figure on how many arrived and settled in England.
Regardless of how many settled in England, what is significant is that all these four nations have been mixing for hundreds of years if not more. More recently since the 1950′s, there have been approx 800,000 people from Ireland who came to live in england, a quarter of the Irish population. There have been as many as 800,000 people from Scotland who have moved to England, one fifth of their population. There have been over 400,000 English people who have moved into Scotland. The statistics and findings go on. The point is, that we are all somewhere in our families related to one another whether we accept these findings or not. The sad thing is that so many people hold on to their percieved identities rather than their REAL IDENTITIES. This is particularly true in Scotland, Wales and more so in Ireland.
Historians didn’t rely on genetics to write their histories. It’s only in relatively recent times we’ve even had genetics as a science.
The impact of the Vikings upon England was profound and prolonged. English language, culture and politics were all changed as a result of invasions and settlements. One of the most significant of the “northmen” invasions was that of William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) in 1066, and his success at the Battle of Hastings resulted in the Norman control of England. The Norman Conquest is a watershed event in English history, and not at all insignificant.
The English have been intermarrying ever since. In fact, if you trace the current monarch’s family tree, you’d see that her ancestors were actually Germans, not English.
Good article