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
In the infamous words of Rodney King……….”can’t we all just get along?”
I’m an Italian, English, Irish mixture, with dark features and nostrils wider then then the Holland Tunnel. I truly believe that I have more of a mix in me then the afore mentioned 3 heritages.
But one question remains; why can’t I dance??
What is so very sad about this entire discourse on racial history is that few if any of you actually can see that humanity is only one race of people. If, for instance a Swedish individual needed a bone marrow transplant, it is very possible that someone from the Congo in Africa may actually be a better match than any family member of that Swede. This is a medical fact. There was a time when ignorance resulted in the death of some whites with rare blood types in hospitals in America simply because their racism would not allow them to accept the blood of an African American who may have had the same rare blood type. Since indeed blood is now transfused dependent on type rather than a “race,” then doesn’t that say that this whole idea of “race” is socially constructed without a true biological basis? While it cannot be argued that their is a continual gradation of color ranges from darkest brown to ivory, all nose types, lips, and even eye color is found among all skin colors. I have seen thick lips and noses among Russians and Britons and thin lips and noses among Black African peoples. There are also Black peoples with naturally blonde hair in Australia, Melanesia, and New Guinea. So, what is a race? While it is indeed true based upon genetic, anthropological, and first hand historical records, that Africans were indeed in Europe from antiquity, it is a waste of time to attempt to re-educate those who have been so conditioned to a belief system of racism to accept the truth even if it comes from verifiably accurate first hand sources. Leaving that aside, humanity as a whole has another non-human enemy that remains hidden and behind the scene, but we as fellow human beings are only one race and must cease to view ourselves as enemies. The real enemy of humanity will conquer and take planet Earth from us all if we do not wake up soon and unite.
If nothing else, listen to Scottish folk music and then listen to West African folk music and tell me there’s not a similarity! The Celts had tribal music that was very drum-based and involved numerous melismatic chants.
If a survery has a “white/caucasian” option, I’ll choose it, but if it’s just “white”, I choose “other”. Celts were largely Aboriginal islanders when Romans found them and weren’t “much better” when the Anglo-Saxons came. There was a connection to the land the Celts had that didn’t exist in many European states.
we all have some N*gga in us. No doubt anyone from New Zealand has more then anyone Mc-Cabbage Land.
Get over it; unless you’re a slant eye from Chinktown we all get chawky without lotion.
no what I mean homey, won’t cha blow me?
I think it would be more productive to providing a frame of reference for the Out of Africa theory. The bottom line is that at one time Europe and Africa (Egypt) were connected. The first migrations of these Africans was easy because the two lands were connected. It is in this manner that the Africans were able to move into Europe and set up house. When the continents were separated and the Mediterranean Sea was pushed up into the strata of the land between these two land masses, those Africans who had set up house underwent a physical change and because the climate in Europe was cold the need for the advanced melanin of the original African became less important. So, before we all through out the truth because it is racially based, we should consider the time it would have taken for the original African to lose his color, the shape of his eyes, the color of his eyes, and the purpose of a nose that became more elongated and obviously less snubbed. The point here is not that all men did not originate from Africa, but that with each physiological change, a new racial type evolved to be a working model in its new environment. Now, if any of you really have a problem with evolution as the principle of mankind, that is an altogether different problem. However, it is undeniable, that even if some of you want to claim that the original Africans were not Negroes, the argument is based on the fact that the European lays claim to everything anyway. This is not new to any non-white peoples anywhere in the world. I find it just as interesting that there are white people in the world who call themselves niggas because it is the rage. Listen, the time will come, when someone will get it into his head that Niggers were not Africans, but only white men who were enslaved by other white men and the trans-atlantic slave trade will become the history of the new niggas of European descent. PLEASE! Stop pretending to be what you are not and accept that the people of color all around the world do not buy into the so called scientific proposition that people of color do not have a genetic origin to the black-African.
Thank you for a most insightful, though provoking article. As a person of Irish/Celtic background, this is of particular interest to me. I have the typical red hair/grey-blue eyes of many Celts, as well as the wavy/curly/kinky hair. Although my skin is as white as the proverbial driven snow, I still wonder at an African connection for my Celtic ancestors. After all, if you look at the Irish/Gaelic lanuage, it has as much in common with Semitic lanuage groups as with socalled European (Teutonic/Romance) languages. I would like to see what a thorough genetic study would yield. While I’m waiing for that info to come through, I’m just enjoying the Celtic/Semitic/African music produced by such groups as Afro Celt Sound System …
I have viewed ancient art and artifacs extensively, and have read numerous books on anthropology and acient civilations. I also have a BA in religion and acient history. Let me cut to the quick, there is a lot of African revisonist historical crap that is being passed on to students as history and human origins studies. Egypt was not a negroid civilation, though it did absorb some negroid stock. It’s depicted in their art. The source of slavery in subsarah africa was not Europe, It was Islamic. The biggest and most brutal slave masters of Africans were Arab Muslims. They pre dated Europe in African slavery by at least 800 years. Africans were their primary allies in the distruction of African civilation. This is well documented by Arab or Muslim early writers. In addition the brutallity of African chieftins against their neighbors almost defies description. The Europeans were late commers, and they were the ones who abolished slavery while Africans and Muslims still practice it today.