New Englander
Regular Member
- Messages
- 379
- Reaction score
- 38
- Points
- 0
- Location
- United States
- Ethnic group
- Italian, Jewish, British
- Y-DNA haplogroup
- R1b U-152
- mtDNA haplogroup
- J1c8
[FONT="]English[/FONT]
[FONT="]Britain - specifically the eastern region of the British Isles - has been populated continuously for at least the past 15,000 years, with recent ethnic stock (from before the 11th century) including pre-Celts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse, and Normans. More recently - that is, since the Middle Ages - other ethnicities migrated to Britain, whether by invitation (European Jews in 1070, by William the Conqueror, though they were expelled about 200 years later), by virtue of the African slave trade (dating back to the 1730s CE), or trade (including the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating back to the 19th century). After World War II, that diverse immigration increased by leaps and bounds, so that the melting pot of English ethnicity has seen increased diversity from the Caribbean, South Asia, and Africa. That said, the dominant “original” British ethnic group is dominated by the English, of course, and includes the Celtic heirs, as some of Welsh, Scottish, and Irish descent respectively have settled in modern-day England.
Irish, Scottish, and Welsh
The western region of the British Isles is populated by peoples descended from the six Celtic nations, three of which had settled in what became Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (the other three were in Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man). Each of these three nations has spoken some variant of its original Celtic dialect continuously. The Irish, the first people to settle in Ireland about 9,000 years ago, share heritage, culture, and language (Gaelic). They were organized by clan, or kin groups. The Scottish are similarly famous for the clans, but from the time of the Middle Ages have been a composite nation of Picts, Gaels, and Britons. So that the northern population speaks a version of Gaelic, while those in the south speak what came to be called Scots. Their neighbors the Welsh are called such dating back to the Germanic labeling of them as “walhaz,” meaning “foreigner” or “stranger” - the language of Wales is similarly called Welsh. The area was overrun by Anglo-Norman conquerors in the Middle Ages, and English colonization in the 16th-17th centuries changed the ethnic composition of the British Isles altogether, introducing ethnic English. Despite the unification of these countries as part of the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) in the present day, the people in each locale take great pride in their independent ethnicities, and accompanying cultures - from the family divisions as clans to the respective alcoholic beverages (Wales has a more English cuisine). The ingathering of several ethnicities in such a small space has facilitated interesting genealogical discoveries as well as mysterious connections to unravel - and for all the different heritages, nearly everyone there now speaks English.
North and West European
The population of Northern and Western Europe mainly includes German, French, and Dutch people. This region has been influenced by significant historical events including the formation of the Catholic Church, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution. Imperial conquests and the age of colonization have spread Northern and Western European peoples across the globe, with significant populations across the Americas and in parts of Africa and Oceania. The area is the birthplace of Western culture, including innovations in art, literature, philosophy, and scientific methodology that have become standard around the world. In particular, Western Europeans take food very seriously. European culinary practices and dining etiquette are highly developed, with artisanal wine and cheese-making, pastry baking, and cooking having been elevated to an art.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Britain - specifically the eastern region of the British Isles - has been populated continuously for at least the past 15,000 years, with recent ethnic stock (from before the 11th century) including pre-Celts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Norse, and Normans. More recently - that is, since the Middle Ages - other ethnicities migrated to Britain, whether by invitation (European Jews in 1070, by William the Conqueror, though they were expelled about 200 years later), by virtue of the African slave trade (dating back to the 1730s CE), or trade (including the oldest Chinese community in Europe, dating back to the 19th century). After World War II, that diverse immigration increased by leaps and bounds, so that the melting pot of English ethnicity has seen increased diversity from the Caribbean, South Asia, and Africa. That said, the dominant “original” British ethnic group is dominated by the English, of course, and includes the Celtic heirs, as some of Welsh, Scottish, and Irish descent respectively have settled in modern-day England.
Irish, Scottish, and Welsh
The western region of the British Isles is populated by peoples descended from the six Celtic nations, three of which had settled in what became Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (the other three were in Brittany, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man). Each of these three nations has spoken some variant of its original Celtic dialect continuously. The Irish, the first people to settle in Ireland about 9,000 years ago, share heritage, culture, and language (Gaelic). They were organized by clan, or kin groups. The Scottish are similarly famous for the clans, but from the time of the Middle Ages have been a composite nation of Picts, Gaels, and Britons. So that the northern population speaks a version of Gaelic, while those in the south speak what came to be called Scots. Their neighbors the Welsh are called such dating back to the Germanic labeling of them as “walhaz,” meaning “foreigner” or “stranger” - the language of Wales is similarly called Welsh. The area was overrun by Anglo-Norman conquerors in the Middle Ages, and English colonization in the 16th-17th centuries changed the ethnic composition of the British Isles altogether, introducing ethnic English. Despite the unification of these countries as part of the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) in the present day, the people in each locale take great pride in their independent ethnicities, and accompanying cultures - from the family divisions as clans to the respective alcoholic beverages (Wales has a more English cuisine). The ingathering of several ethnicities in such a small space has facilitated interesting genealogical discoveries as well as mysterious connections to unravel - and for all the different heritages, nearly everyone there now speaks English.
North and West European
The population of Northern and Western Europe mainly includes German, French, and Dutch people. This region has been influenced by significant historical events including the formation of the Catholic Church, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution. Imperial conquests and the age of colonization have spread Northern and Western European peoples across the globe, with significant populations across the Americas and in parts of Africa and Oceania. The area is the birthplace of Western culture, including innovations in art, literature, philosophy, and scientific methodology that have become standard around the world. In particular, Western Europeans take food very seriously. European culinary practices and dining etiquette are highly developed, with artisanal wine and cheese-making, pastry baking, and cooking having been elevated to an art.
[/FONT]