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- For the cocktail sometimes called a "Black Irish", see bolded entry in White Russian (cocktail) or for people of African descent in Ireland, see Black people in Ireland
The term Black Irish is a term used by some descendants of Irish emigrants to describe their ancestors. The term is found in Australia, Canada, Great Britain and the United States. It refers to the possessing of very dark hair and eyes as opposed to the caricature of Irish people with red or blonde hair and blue eyes, a difference which is possibly due to less Scandinavian or Germanic ancestry being found in people on the west of Ireland Y-chromosome variation and Irish origins (PDF File). The term is often accompanied by a claim that the darker features are due to Spanish descent. The related term Black Scot or Black Scots is less common, but is referenced in several passages of the Norman Maclean's 1976 novel A River Runs Through It. [http://www.barrsenglishclass.com/river.html
Origin
Although the term is often accompanied by a claim that the dark features were due to descent from survivors of the Spanish Armada, the genetic contributions of this group were likely to have been insignificant, as most Armada survivors were killed on the beaches, and most of the remainder were able to eventually escape Ireland after a short time. A few Spanish soldiers ended up serving as armed retainers (Gallowglass) for the Irish chiefs O'Rourke, Sorley Boy Macdonnell, and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, so they might have lived in Ireland long enough to father children, but they were very few in number.This Armada myth is likely to have been a corruption of the story of the Milesians (not to be confused with the ancient Greek people of the same name), the purported descendants of Míl Espáine (latin:Spanish soldier), thought to represent Celtic speaking peoples from the northern Iberian peninsula who began to migrate to Ireland and Britain in the 5th Century B.C., the supposed ancestors of the Gaels. New genetic research does show a strong similarity between the Y chromosome of Basque males and Irish males with Gaelic surnames,The Longue Durée of Genetic Ancestry: Multiple Genetic Marker Systems and Celtic Origins on the Atlantic Facade of Europe October 2004 with a notable difference between the west of Ireland and the east of Ireland, in that those in the west of Ireland have less input from Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian populations (see below).
Other uses
Other explanations of the term "Black Irish" are connected with the immigrations from Ireland resulting from the famous potato famine of 1847 which turned the blighted potatoes black and as a result drove thousands of Irish to America's shore.
The term has also been used to refer to the offspring of Irish and African slaves in the Caribbean, and many Irish surnames can still be found in the region. Montserrat is the Caribbean island with the greatest levels of Irish heritage as it was forcibly settled by the English crown using Irish slaves. These Irish slaves were eventually replaced by West African slaves who took on the names and surnames of the prior inhabitants, much as African slaves in the United States took on the names of their owners.
In the United States, people with Native American or other tan-skinned ancestry may historically have called themselves "Black Irish", "Black Dutch" or "Black German" to explain their coloring.
See also
Notes
External links
- DNA shows Scots and Irish should look to Spain for their ancestry
- Genetic study that links the Irish to Basques *
- A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.
- Discussion on the Black Irish
- Southern Methodist University's curriculum material
"Black Irish"