troung

Ireland... enough said...

You were mere pets to the dinosaurs until we freed you and gave you the gift of alchohol which has helped Irish civilization grow and prosper... wait...

He has been smitededen...

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To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

Lunatock

The Emerald Isle is still as beer soaked as ever...no word about Islamists stopping the flow of Guiness like the similiar acts they commited in other european countries.

SuperTrooper

It's the Celt's

durtyburd

A while back, I read an interesting article about the Picts having close genetic links to people in southwest Spain and southern Portugal. Apparently, the Tartessian and Iberian cultures might have been closely related to their northern Celt neighbors in the distant past. This wouldn't be surprising considering the coastal seafaring nature of the ancient Celts and Tartessian civilization (a lost civilization with a writing system that will never be deciphered).

Just a little bit of trivia: Some believe that the Tartessian civilization is referred to as "Tarshish" in the Old Testament. Tarshish provided precious metals to the Hittites as well as to the Isrealites during those times. Jonah tried to travel to Tarshish in the southern Iberian peninsula. According to myth, Jonah's intent to travel to Tarshish angered God because of the hedonistic nature of Tartessian culture, which is why he was swallowed by a whale. Apparently, however, not everyone was swallowed by a whale because by the time that the Carthagenians came to dominate the southern portions of the Iberian peninsula, there was already a vibrant Jewish community established.

According to some legends, the Tartessian civilization was centered in one large and wealthy city located on the Guadalquivir river. It was either located directly on the coastal delta of the river or a few miles upriver. The civilization collapsed after an earthquake sunk the city beneath the waters and mud of the Guadalquivir river delta. It goes to show that it's generally a bad idea to place the center of your civilization on a sandy river delta in an earthquake prone region. The Pheonicians and later the Cartheginians stepped in to fill the void after this collapse.

Some parts of Tartessian culture persisted into Roman times. The heirs of the Tartessian civilization were known as Turditani in Roman times. The Romans regarded the Turditani as a frustratingly stubborn people but held the Turdetani's mining talents in high esteem.

There is some speculation that the fall of Tartessus is what caused the Atlantis myth of Greek lore. It would make sense. If the city was located on an island of silt and sand on the Guadalquivir river delta and an earthquake made it sink into the water, then it fits the description of Atlantis. According to legend, Atlantis was an island just beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the straights of Gibraltar). The Guadalquivir empties into the ocean, conveniently, just west of the straights of Gibraltar.

Not much remains of the Tartessian civilization. Tablets containing the undecipherable Tartessian script have been found throughout southern Spain and Portugal, but no one can make heads or tails of what the inscriptions mean. A bust known as the "Lady of Elche" is the best preserved piece of Tartessian art. It is a bust of a lady (presumably a lady of high social status). They style of dress apparent on the bust is very alien to other western Mediterranean cultures and has many oriental features. The mines where the Tartessians mined copper and silver are still there, however. In fact, they're still being mined to this day. There's not much of scholarly value in the mines, however, since they have been mined continuously for a couple thousand years.

The capital of the Tartessians will probably never be found, unfortunately. The Guadalquivir has been depositing sediments in the delta for a long time. On top of that, there have been many major earthquakes which have actually moved the river considerably. The search area for the city is therefore absolutely huge and consists of very deep sediments deposited by the river.

Many people have attempted to find the city buried in the mud, but they have all failed.

Perhaps advances in ground penetrating radar will help to solve the mystery of the Tartessians, but I'm not holding my breath for it.

tankie

i think the only claim to being a true Brit , falls to the Welsh people, especially the south welsh people who inhabit cornwall ,

the rest of us are as has been said , mongrels ?


woof woof

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TANKIE , WITHOUT WAX

Julie

Whoa....you'd better not let Bluesman hear you say that ! You are in BIG trouble.

Boltonian

Most British people are English, and the English are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who came from what is now Germany and Denmark. That's why English is a Germanic language related to German. The Anglo-Saxons comprised of three tribes - the Angles (where England gets its name from), the Saxons and the Jutes. Even though England gets its name from the Angles - Angleland - the Angles were probably the smallest of the three tribes.

England used to be seven different independent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms - coolectively known as the Heptarchy - and each kingdom had it own king ("Bretwalda"). These kingdoms often went to war with one another. The seven kingdoms then became unified into one country under King Alfred - "Alfred the Great" - or, as the English know him today, the Father of England. Some names of English counties and regions are derived from these Anglo-Saxons - Essex means "East Saxon", Sussex means "South Saxon", Wessex means "West Saxon", Norfolk means "North People" and Suffolk means "South People". That's why the English use the word "folk" to mean "people" as it was the word that was used to mean "people" in the language of the Anglo-Saxons.

The Scots, Welsh and Irish are the natives of the British Isles, the descandants of the Celts. Scotland and Wales were formed when the invading Anglo-Saxons pushed the natives Celts into the extreme North and West of the island, thus forming the two modern day Celtic nations of Scotland and Wales with England occupying the rest of the island.

Boltonian

You have to remember that the Saxons were a Germanic people, but you have them separate in your poll.

dave lukins

Dustybird if that is "trivia"please dont write a tome...There is no nation who is not a bastardisation of other nations. There is no "True Nation" Celts Picts Scots Vikings Whoever, we all are but an Angels Breath on this Earth..Lets give it a chance and live together!!!

durtyburd

I know, there are a lot of typos in it. It won't let me edit the post any more.

When I put more effort into it and have plenty of opportunities to edit, I do write well.

Sorry.

dave lukins

Durtyburd, certainly no apologies required.."write until the fingers stop "an old Aztec proverb from the 20th Century!!!LOL

crooks

It's a tough question.

Native English are Certainly an Anglo-saxon/Norman mix, but if your talking "British" then the Welsh, Scots, Cornish and Isle of Man are Celtic.

Ireland is Celtic, and not linked with England in that way.

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'Liberty - it is newly strung and shall be heard.' - Motto of the United Irishmen.

standoh

the book 1066(Sellars and Yeatman) and all that explains this succinctly!

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The greatest instrument of moral good is the imagination.

PubFather

Ireland is interesting in its own right. Certainly not Anglo-Saxon, but significant Scottish, Norman, and Scandanavian influences. The cross/pollination between Scotland and Ireland is especially interesting - given that the "Scots" were originally from the North of Ireland themselves... and some theories state that they moved from Scotland to Ireland as part of migration pressures - part in due to the Romans...

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Nemo Me Impune Lacessit - Scottish Motto

"They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that dislike it, heresy; and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion” Thomas Hobbes - Leviathan

crooks

Very true, We have a facisnating link.

Ireland is still more Celtic than anything else, but culture here has been influenced greatly by as you said the Scots, Vikings and Normans.