Brits are more Germanic than they think . . .

[Z4 Pilot]

Ok . . . so I came across this article and found it very interesting. In essence it states that the UK was invaded by Northern Germans, and subjugated by them, centuries ago. The populations then blended with the Germans at the top of the social pyramid. Part of the evidence is the sharing of a particular gene which hails from Northern Germany. 17% of Americans claim German ancestry, but that's nothing compared to this. What do my UK friends say? Z4 Pilot

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,768706,00.html

 

[mcbeee]

The Angles and the Saxons ....hence Anglo Saxon.... this is in every history book I have ever read, did they just figure this out ??

Danes , Angles, Saxons, Jutes, everybody had a piece of the pie, then the Norman French showed up and took over. That's why the English language is such a mish mosh of stuff ....

 

[Z4 Pilot]

The Saxons ....hence Anglo Saxon.... this is in every history book I have ever read, did they just figure this out ??

Danes , Angles, Saxons, Jutes, everybody had a piece of the pie, then the Norman French showed up and took over. That's why the English language is such a mish mosh of stuff ....

True enough. I thought what was interesting was the substantial DNA evidence as well as the digs which found weapons in the graves of the Germans and not so much with the indigenous people. I.e., apparantly helping to show that the invaders became the big wigs. Z4 Pilot

 

[mcbeee]

It's probably from a period when the Germanic tribes had just moved in and taken over, the rulers usually kept the conquered unarmed , or they were the warrior class and kept the locals as farmers...

Another thing to consider is the equivalent movement of north American Indian tribes, one moves to another tribes territory and pushes the residents out,they in turn push another tribe out and the cycle continues. Is it reasonable to think that the local tribes of the Sonoran desert actually moved there of their own accord? They probably started off (genetically) somewhere up north in a milder climate and were pushed south, who did they displace? Sometimes it's best to just figure that whoever is there is there and leave it at that.

I think I have a retirement project figuring all that out...

 

[lacroupade]

I'm with McBeee - this old seriously old hat; we've been invaded more times than you can shake a stick at by just about everyone from continental Europe.....and I find it slighty ridiculous to describe these people as 'Northern Germans' - we're talking about a time when borders meant nothing in Europe because it was populated by a whole bunch of roaming tribes - and Germany didn't exist as such.

Must have been a slow news day or a precursor to WWIII? :?

 

[Z4 Pilot]

I'm with McBeee - this old seriously old hat; we've been invaded more times than you can shake a stick at by just about everyone from continental Europe.....and I find it slighty ridiculous to describe these people as 'Northern Germans' - we're talking about a time when borders meant nothing in Europe because it was populated by a whole bunch of roaming tribes - and Germany didn't exist as such.

Must have been a slow news day or a precursor to WWIII? :?

I dunno . . . but it was interesting that it was in a major German publication. Perhaps there is some form of wishful thinking underlying article . . . Z4 Pilot

 

[ChawenHalo]

Phaah, I'm froggy born, UK bred and have had more german geirlfriends than any other nationalities (and still living with one). Yep definatly loads of similarities with one exeption. They just don't take the mick out of other nationalities like we the brits or french do. Thats a lot of fun to miss :lol: out on.

 

[braingirl]

bearing in mind that we share >90% of our genes with a cucumber, the variation between humans is so trivial that it is crazy how much people like to say how different we all are. There's been so much interbreeding across most nations (especially across europe, and by extension any emigrates to North America/Australia etc), that there is probably a lot of germanic in most people.

However, I do think that social and cultural conditioning probably contribute more to characteristics than any gene variation. This may change with the advent of social networking which is leading to greater similarities in social environment.

Still, I would say that given that I drive an E89, with a DCT in space grey :bmwvhonda:

 

[ZED_NOT_ZEE]

However, I do think that social and cultural conditioning probably contribute more to characteristics than any gene variation. This may change with the advent of social networking which is leading to greater similarities in social environment.

Agreed.