People of the British Isles + Irish DNA Atlas projects

This study is a few years old now, but is still the most comprehensive one to date for the UK.

http://www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/

I think it's interesting. There was a study done that showed that different parts of England (the UK) settled in different areas of the US. This seemed to have a real impact on the character/culture of the various areas.

I'm surprised at how much French they have, and also that Spanish runs up throughout the Island even north to Scotland. I have an American friend of English descent who took a DNA test through Ancestry and he had some marginal Spanish. He doesn't look it in the slightest.

This DNA study focussed more on Ireland was published two weeks ago. It might as well go in this thread.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17124-4

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/irish-ancestry-dna-map-ireland-vikings-genetics-science/

"A team led by Gianpiero Cavalleri at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin pieced together the new map using the genetics of 536 Irish individuals. The work, published in Scientific Reports, built on the People of the British Isles project, which previously looked at genetics in rural England, Scotland, and Wales. The thinking was that by putting together a separate and finely detailed genetic landscape of Ireland, regional distinctions would emerge . . .

The researchers expected to see differences from south to north and from east to west, similar to how lineages are organized in Europe and the U.K. more broadly. But in Ireland, genetic signatures are clustered very strongly with the four ancient kingdoms of Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Ulster genetic signature is different from those across the rest of Ireland. That's probably a result of the Ulster Plantation settlements of the 1600s—a time when Irish Catholics were being forced off the land by the English monarchy—and more frequent travel between Scotland and northern Ireland over time . . .

Plenty of clues already showed that Vikings had been to Ireland, including ruins, artifacts, and Norwegian family names. But this map provided the very first DNA evidence of the Irish and the Norse intermingling. The signatures that turned up in Ireland are most similar to those from the north and west coasts of Norway, where Vikings were most active.

The team did compare the modern group with two ancient genomes from Ireland. One came from a person who lived near Belfast during the Neolithic, around 5,000 years ago. The other was from a person who lived on Rathlin Island in the late Bronze Age, from 2000 to 1500 B.C. The scientists were hopeful they’d find genetic affinity, or relatedness, between the Bronze Age genome and modern inhabitants of the region where those bones had been found. No dice. The ancient genomes mainly served as a nice background reference to highlight variances between the modern groups."

I rearranged the component bar for Central Ireland in a rough north-east to south west direction:




I also took the bars for the main areas of Ireland and Britain for a simpler comparison:

The thing is, what academics call 'big differences' often look like no big deal to most people

Very interesting! :-P

I do remember reading about this study awhile back. Irish having more French and Scandinavian-like dna. Whereas English people have more Belgian and Danish like dna.

Nevertheless, despite these findings, I would say the whole genetic composition of the British Isles and Ireland are quite similar to one another; both having a shared/proud history with one another is something they should pride themselves in collectively.

Il not very surprising .. England is our former colony

Kidding you NK !

Aëlwenn wrote:Il not very surprising .. England is our former colony

Kidding you NK !

If Normandy becomes independent and wants a monarchy, does that mean the Queen of England becomes the Queen of Normandy as well?

Neon Knight wrote:

Aëlwenn wrote:Il not very surprising .. England is our former colony

Kidding you NK !

If Normandy becomes independent and wants a monarchy, does that mean the Queen of England becomes the Queen of Normandy as well?

I think so. A bit like Jersey and Guernesey. We already have the lion’s flag

I will look for the royal chronology of England and Normandy, it’s interesting to understand the history between this two lands.