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
voi la
What an interesting thread this has become! Jahdey – congratulations on your site – and this string in particular – it provides much much food for thought.
In reading this over the past few years, its sad to see how many (but not all!) posters align themselves with those artificial labels of ‘black’ and ‘white’. We – ‘WE’ as a ‘people’ are so much more than those. These labels date back to slavery in the US; before then, people were labeled by their cultures. We are many, derived from few. Read Shakespeare – a Moor was a Moor, not black, not African…. Noble Drew Ali said we are different cultures…not skins.
If you MUST draw a line, draw it between male and female worship. The modern ‘Europe’ (or EU or whatever its called these days) was/is patrilineal…daddy rules! The older ‘european’ cultures were matrilineal, as was Africa (until recently) and those patrilineal cultures moved from the north and invaded (infected) those to the east and south. And west, counting the US. Where until then, life was matrilineal. And the havoc that ensued…..people – question everything they tell you!
After reading most of the above views and opinions, it concerns and saddens me that a debate about ‘Irish genetic origin’ can be reduced to nothing more than a argument on race, black against white and vice versa! I speak as an Irishman who to look at me, would not look out of place walking around the streets of Cordoba, Andulucia, for example. A city enriched in a long history of a multi-culturalism and ethnicity, including the Moors of North Africa, Muslims and Jews from the Middle-East and indeed the native Southern Europeans.
The simple fact of the matter is people have been migrating between continents for centuries, therefore it seems logical to conclude that we are all a vast array of many gene types, from many different locations.
It has been passed down by word of mouth on my Mothers’ side of the family that we are of Spanish origin somewhere along the line and by word of mouth on my fathers’ side that we are direct descendents of King Niall of th nine hostages, (as are 3 million other males in Europe and North America!) Digressing my point is, if my Mothers family are originally Spanish, they may before then of been Moorish and/or Middle-Eastern Muslims or Jews for that matter.
Therefore in conclusion we are probably all related somewhere along the line and if that is so we should treat eachother accordingly!
One Love! Peace!…Niall the Moor? (Probably!?)
u guys r gettin 2 hung up on colour, the fact is we all came from africa at 1 time or another, an i am proud 2 say we r all brothers:) i am an irish man from northern ireland an have been all my life, now, 2 me black irish has always ment descendants from those that survived the spanish armada that crashed in September 1588, whose ships were wrecked on a rocky coastline spanning 500 km, from Antrim in the north to Kerry in the south, an eventually settled with irish wives and had children, so that 4 at least some part explains the moor an spanish blood in ireland. and as 4 the myth of the fomorians, myth is jus fact that cant be proved any more, an as 4 black features an afros, well i c them every day, i totally get the author, an i have also noticed allot of very dark children that r still born 2 both white parents, anyway sooner or later we will all b th same colour agen, and that will b dark cos of those geans bein stronger.
we r all 1 people:)
thanks:)
axemangirv@hotmail.co.uk
you know with this new dna thing you can tell who is black and is not most findings i study shows a connec on every thing so lets see: 1) the picts,the basque,the danes have the same y-haplo group as the sinti gypsies who the so called white man call the black dutch and they also related to the people of northern camaroon anoher black people, if you look at these people they all have the same thing in common they are all dark people also if yo look at y-dna map you will see that R y-dna is related to Q y-dna wich is the y-haplo group of the native americans, which in turn prove what david mac ritchie said in his book (the ancient and modern britons )that the basque, and iberians are a dark people and are the descendants of the moors and gypsies who are all so-called black men. the white europeans y-dna is I and G ….not R so the real irish are a black people who are the descendants of the moorish gypsies and are related to the native americans and just incase some body say see the ancient russians are R-Y-DNA ALL THAT PERSON HAVE TO DO IS LOOK AT THE RUSSIAN ICONS AND YOU CAN SEE FOR YOUR SELF THE THE PEOPLE IN HISTORY THAT WAS KNOWN AS “THE RUS” WAS ALSO A DARK SKIN PEOPLE WITH BOTH CURLY AND WAVY HAIR LIKE THE MOORISH-GYPSIES AND NATIVE AMERICANS JUST A DIFFERENT STYLE OF CULTURE BUT THE SAME PEOPLE AND RACE…. THEY DID NOT LOOK LIKE SOCALLED WHITE PEOPLE WE MUST REMEMBER THAT HE’S NOT GONNA TELL US THE TRUTH OR OUR HISTORY CAUSE HE’S A CULTURE THIEF!!!! SO IT’S REALLY UP TO US TO TELL OUR HISTORY NOT HIM CAUSE IF HE DO SO, HE’S GONNA MAKE SURE YOU DON’T KNOW THE TRUE STORY AND LIE JUST LIKE HE ALWAYS HAVE…….. PEACE! AND LOVE TO ALL THE Y-HAPLO GROUPS WITH COLOR E,Q,O,C,H,J,M AND ALL RELATED
if any one have any questions be free to e-maill me at sonsoftheprophets@yahoo.com peace
I’ve been reading comments on this article for a year, and they get more and more ridiculous all the time.
Black racists say that Black people are the real heralds of civilization, and Whites are redneck barbarians.
White racists say that White people are the architects of the universe, and that Blacks are backwards spear-chuckers.
The truth of the matter is that every race in the world (and there are seven major ones, go look it up) has contributed something good to humanity. Racism is a sure fire way to keep everyone ignorant.
Nation of Islamers and Ku Klux Klan members can both go die in a fire. This is about unity, not division.
I myself am Scottish on my dad’s side and Irish/Welsh/Native American on my mom’s side. Most Scots that I’ve seen before have had either ginger features or darker tones and complexions, myself included. North African tribes were the first to colonize Britain and Ireland, and their genetic footprints still stand. In fact, according to genetic research, most of Scotland is still of Pictish descent, and the Picts were likely Afro-Asiatic!
Look at people like George Clooney, Colin Farrell, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Gerard Butler, and other Celtic actors. They have darker features and don’t look Aryan at all. One day, the racist Nazi and Klan fuckers will have to acknowledge that Celts have African, Medeterranian, and yes, even SEMITIC genetic contributions.
You can flame me all you want – I don’t care.
This business of ancient black africans coloizing Ireland is a propagandised lie with no basis in fact, forever pushed by multiculturalists to justify any homogenous culture to accept alien cultures and cross breeding. Inteligent educated readers demand hard verifiable facts to substantiate all of these types of claims. We also demand to know the qualifactions of the individuals responsible for making such claims as well. Since this claim has not been substantiated it is obviously invalid, hense the conclusion is invlid as well.
are you qualified and are you an intelligent educated reader ? well i guest you are not well read especially of historical materials ,you do not need to be qualified in history inorder to refer to historical facts from renowned qualified unbiased historians .please when making comments try to be level headed.and speaking about cliams being unsubstantiated and invalid well well my friend you not living in a realistic world any one who wants to obtain unbiased facts about history can do so once well informed and clearly you are not a well informed person. stone age wow.