[Wallace T.]

The "Black Irish" are those who, like the Welsh, have a great deal of genetic resemblance to the Basques of northern Spain and extreme southwest France. It is possible that Phoenicians and residents of Asia Minor and other Mediterranean countries contributed another short, dark type via trade routes to Cornwall and other parts of the British Isles where tin, and to some extent, silver and gold were found. They inhabited Ireland and Britain before 500 BC and did not speak an Indo-European language like the Gaelic that was brought to Ireland from Galicia in Spain or the Low Countries. Generally speaking, western Ireland, less affected by fairer Celtic, Viking, and Anglo-Norman invaders, tends to have a higher concentration of "Black Irish" than eastern Ireland.

The "Black Irish" are sometimes attributed to shipwrecked Spanish invaders following the defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588. However, it appears that most of the survivors were imprisoned or killed if they landed on Irish shores. Additionally, many Spanish sailors were Galicians, and thus did not fit the swarthy stereotype of Spaniards. In fact, many of them would have resembled the fairer Celtic Irish. Furthermore, the general absence of Spanish surnames would indicate that there was little effect from the shipwrecked maritimer. Rather, the "Black Irish" reflect a much older population.

The Celtic invaders of the British Isles were generally fair haired and light eyed, and, while they brought their language and culture to Ireland, the Celts did not exterminate the inhabitants. Irish mythology generally pictures the heroes as fair complected, and in all likelihood, the aristocracy had that appearance. The Vikings and the Anglo-Normans brought into Ireland a large number of Scandinavian, English, northern French, and Flemish genes well before the Reformation. Names thought of as "typically" Irish like Doyle, Burke, and Clarke reflect Scandinavian, Norman French, and English origins.

The "real" Irish are a mixture of pre-Celtic, Celtic, and Germanic origins, as indeed are their British neighbors and, to some extent, the inhabitants of the Low Countries. They can be dark and almost Latin looking like Colin Farrell or Moira Kelly, redheads (Neanderthals?) like James Cagney or Maureen O'Hara, or blonde and almost Scandinavian looking like Peter O'Toole or Grace Kelly.

[TheLionessRN]

How did we go from Scottish to Irish in this post? I am always interested in my ancestry, since it is almost exclusively from the British Isles, including Ireland, but does anyone know more about Scots to input on this discussion? I would hate for it to be left to the Neanderthals at this point! LOL!

[avitot]

grace kelly looked aryan because her mother was german