The Fomorians
There are many oblique references to the presence of Black people in ancient Ireland. Ancient Irish mythology refers to the original inhabitants of the island as being a giant, sea-faring people called the Fomorians (Fomors), which means “dark of the sea”. According to the ancient lore, they were a cushitic people from the African continent. Often depicted as demons, they defeated the first few incoming waves of invaders, but could not defeat the Firbolgs, who settled the land and lived side-by-side with the native Fomors.
Those myths may have a factual historical basis. It is proposed that the Formorians were a real people who were in all likelihood sailors from the African continent.
Two more invasions, the first led by the godly Tuatha de Danaan, and the second by the Celtic Milesians, took control of Ireland, mixing together with the Fomorians until they were no more.
There are credible sources for the African association with Ireland. The most likely of these is that they were Phoenicians and/or Egyptians. The Phoenicians were Canaanites, which came from the line of Ham. Ham is the mythological ancestor of the Black nation.
The Phoenicians were also well-known for their sailing skills, and are said to have traveled to the British Isles, which they called the “Tin Islands”. Perhaps, before Ireland was a Celtic domain, which it wasn’t until a few centuries BCE, the Phoenicians colonized it. It is noteworthy that the name Fomorians sounds a bit like Phoenicians.
There is also a legend that an Egyptian princess, Scota, left Egypt with some followers and journeyed to Ireland. Legend has it that Egyptians left many ancient tin mines all over Britain but especially Ireland which was their major source of the valuable metal.
Another idea is that they were Taureg Berbers. The Berber language is Hamitic, and the Berber people live in an area from which travel to Ireland would be easily accessible. The Berbers perhaps set sail from western Morocco, and settled on Ireland before the Celts, making it their new home.
Moorish Science Temple founder Drew Ali teaches that Ireland was once part of a Moorish empire, and that the Irish are a Moorish people. Perhaps there is a common root between the “moor” sound in Fomor and the word Moor?
Selkies and Half-Breeds
Another Irish legend tells of the Selkies, a sort-of “wereseal” that is a seal during day, but a human by nightfall. Sometimes, in an Irish family of fair-skinned, light-haired people, a child is born with dark hair eyes, and skin, and is called a Selkie.
The concept of the Selkies appears to make subliminal reference to the half-breed children that resulted from the extensive miscegenation that occurred between the Celts and the dark skinned original inhabitants that they had met upon their arrival in Ireland.
Many people of Irish descent have distant and recent African roots, and these features can still be seen in the people and in the culture. There are some Irish people with Afros (just like Andre the Giant a late continental European wrestler with afro-hair). In Southern Ireland, some people, referred to as “Black Irish”, are noted for their strikingly dark features, as opposed to the fair-skinned, light-haired north.
Although many Irish descendants are particularly pale, they do have pronounced Africoid facial features, as well as dark brown eyes, and dark brown hair that is sort-of kinky, especially in moist conditions. A sub race of the Irish called the Bronn are noticeably Mediterranean (read: African) in features especially their hair.
In addition to all of this, Celtic music is distinctly different from the rest of Europe, and easily comparable to African music.
Black, Viking and Irish
Unlike Scotland and England, Ireland was never colonized by the Romans. As a result, Ireland remained relatively isolated.
The Vikings established port cities like Dublin. The Viking texts left stories and descriptions of African soldiers captured in Ireland whom they called blaumen[blue-men].
Most Viking references to ”black” in Norse would have signified having black hair as opposed to skin color but blaumen meant black skinned. Most of these blaumen were captured soliders from Moorish Spain. It was observed that:
“A prominent Viking of the eleventh century was Thorhall, who was aboard the ship that carried the early Vikings to the shores of North America. Thorhall was “the huntsman in summer, and in winter the steward of Eric the Red. He was, it is said, a large man, and strong, black, and like a giant, silent, and foul-mouthed in his speech, and always egged on Eric to the worst; he was a bad Christian.””
“Another Viking, more notable than Thorhall, was Earl Thorfinn, “the most distinguished of all the earls in the Islands.” Thorfinn ruled over nine earldoms in Scotland and Ireland, and died at the age of seventy-five. His widow married the king of Scotland. Thorfinn was described as “one of the largest men in point of stature, and ugly, sharp featured, and somewhat tawny, and the most martial looking man… It has been related that he was the foremost of all his men.””
What about Scotland and Wales?
“Any comprehensive account of the African presence in early Europe should include England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Scandinavia. The history and legends of Scotland confirm the existence of “purely Black people.” We see one of them in the person of Kenneth the Niger. During the tenth century Kenneth the Niger ruled over three provinces in the Scottish Highlands.
The historical and literary traditions of Wales reflect similar beliefs. According to Gwyn Jones (perhaps the world’s leading authority on the subject), to the Welsh chroniclers, “The Danes coming in by way of England and the Norwegians by way of Ireland were pretty well all black: Black Gentiles, Black Norsemen, Black Host.””
Ogu Eji Ofo Annu
Sources:
Ancient And Modern Britons, by David Mac Ritchie
Nature Knows No Color-Line, by J.A. Rogers
Thorvald Blakson. I am of West African origin but I am going to probably adopt Asatru/Heathenism as my faith. I am not ashamed of West African culture I am just attracted to Norse culture more. If you can prove African involvement in Norse history it would be much appreciated.
90% of Irish are descended through paternally to what appears to be the pre-Gaelic population who drove out the Neanderthal from France and Spain 30,000 years ago. See the R1b genetic marker of the Y-chromosome on the genographic study on the National Geographic web site, and compare to the archeological history of Europe. The question is, where did the other 10% come from? From further north, east or south? The genographic researchers should know this informaton, but it was too small of a detail to be mentioned by the genographic web site.
I am of Gypsy,Jamaican and Scottish roots,aside that human(un)kind come from Eden,Iteopia,Afrika.I and I all Afrikan to a degree.Point is some know,some don’t.”Know god and ye shall know yourself”.Africa for all Africans and people who acknowledge their African roots and heritage at home and abroad!one love and one I-nity,Selassie-I,Jah Rastafari,Fiquir Bandinet!
The Celts originated in Central Europe, in the La Tene culture, not sub-Saharan Africa. They are genetically identical to other Europeans, the only significant difference existing in culture and language; but here, of course, there is great relatedness, especially to the Germanic people in culture, rather than to black African peoples. The music of the Celtic people also closely resembles Native American and East Asian music, but that doesn’t indicate influence or common origin. Ireland isn’t the only place of Celtic settlement, by the way. If Ogu Eji Ofo Annu had an education, he would know that Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia are also strongly Celtic regions; but Celtic ancestry can be found in people from Iceland to Turkey, and from Portugal to Ukraine. There were no “black” Vikings, either. The Vikings encountered black Africans off the Iberian coast, but there’s no indication that they ever spirited any of them away back to Scandinavia, or made them kings. The Vikings made it to North America and the Middle East, too, yet there were no Vikings or Viking kings from these places, either. On this subject, the author could have at least cited Runoko Rashidi, whom he plagiarized in the “Black, Viking and Irish” and “What about Scotland and Wales?” sections. The Fomorians are *mythical*, and this essay is yet more support for the assertion that Afrocentrism is “an excuse to teach myth as history”. There is no intelligent reason to believe that Negroids somehow sailed to Ireland and laid the genetic foundations of the island, because, as I’ve indicated and has been pointed out, there’s no genetic or archaeological support for this contention. Also, what Irish person, or person of Irish descent, has “Negroid” features that distinguish them from other Europeans? Colin Ferrell? Catherine Zeta-Jones? Nicole Kidman? Liam Neeson? Pierce Brosnan? I, for one, have never observed anything particularly “Negroid” about the features of Irish people, because there *isn’t* anything particularly Negroid about Irish people, nor of Celtic people. Are dark hair and eyes, or curly hair and round features, proof of Negroid ancestry? No. Just ask a geneticist, or do some genetic research, or get some common sense if you don’t believe me. Here’s a good site. Another important point to make is that no Mediterranean is black; neither is any Berber (excluding some Tuaregs, who are highly mixed). An *actual* Mediterranean appearance can be seen in some of the individuals I’ve already listed, and none of them are black. I pity those of you vulnerable enough in intellect and constitution to submit to this garbage presented in this essay.
Well to be quite honest person i kinda agree with you. To let you understand where im coming from I am of West African origin, but I am deeply drawn to Heathenism ( The beliefs and customs of the vikings), but I dont think that European culture is better than African culture I am just drawn to the Vikings.
I can see why you are getting upset. Black people for a long time have always been told that they are inferior, which is obvoulsy not true, but the mistake that black people make is that they start saying that black people are responsible for everything.
The fact of the matter is both Europeans and Africans should both be proud of their cultures and both races have contributed to this planet.
I think it is highly unlikely that black people travelled to Ireland and set the genetic foundation, but you have to be aware that even far back in ancient times that people still travelled far. For example the vandals conquered part of North Africa when they got kicked out it is likely they may have taken some slaves with them. In the middle ages there were muslims in Spain and France alot of them were African. So it is not impossible for African people to have travelled as far as Ireland.
As for the formorians they are described as being black. Ok bare this in mind what happened between the formorians and the Tuatha de dannan is not clear cut proof that this happened but to be quite honest mythology sometimes can be used as a source of history.
For example alot of stuff that happened in the Trojan war can actually be verified. Some of the Norse Sagas help you to understand Scandanvian history eventhough they can be considered myth. You see in the past myth was actually used as away of telling history, so evnthough the tale of the Tuatha de danaan is myth it would not be wise to completely reject it or take it as a gospel truth.
Also bare in mind just because the Irish people dont look similar to black people doesnt mean that they have no black blood in them. I have portugese blood in me because some portugese people settled in West Africa but you cant tell by looking at me because the number of portugese people that settled in West Africa was not enough to leave a lasting influence.
So this is what I think, I dont believe that black people settled in Ireland and are responsible for the genetic make up of the Irish. I do suspect that the formorians could have possibly been African because there is a tendency for myth to be used as a source to record history and even in those days African and Europeans did travel to each others lands.
This message goes to the spineless non-entity abusing the cover of annonymity trolling out racialist foolishness:
Africa is the roots of all Europe and Ireland is no exception.
The Neolithic graves in Europe and Africa throw some interesting light on the African roots of Ireland in particular and of Europe as a whole.
It is said of those graves that “they are constructed on similar lines, and the great majority of the skeletons they contain are remarkable for their uniformity of type.”
“So striking”, writes Professor Elliot Smith, “is the family likeness between the early Neolithic peoples of the British Isles and the Mediterranean and the bulk of the population, both ancient and modern, of Egypt and East Africa, that the description of the bones of an Early Briton of that remote epoch might apply in all essential details to an inhabitant of Somaliland.” (The Ancient Egyptians, p. 58.)
What the Professor is saying is that Blacks have always lived in Somaliland. Blacks lie at the root of all that Europe claims to be, and all that it will ever be.
And finally:
The article relied on primary and secondary sources for its information many of which have been cited.
Runoko Rashidi the godfather of Afrocentrism was unintentionally omitted as a result of formatting error.
Rather than deny Runoko Rashidi’s inspiration we are always privileged to acknowledge his scholarship.
Yet, the point made in the essay remains unanswerable. Africa is the roots of Ireland.
Jahdey
Scientists, archaeologists and others have proven that all men originated out of Africa and migrated all over the world, thus the original African were black, the original Europeans were black, the original Asians were black and the original Native Americans and Australians were black too, til a mutated gene came in and became an albino (white) and then mixing in creating red, yellow and other so-called sub races!