Half Of Brits Have Immigrant Ancestors
A total of 30 million Brits have foreign ancestors, with 23 per cent originating from Ireland.
One in five Brits is of French or German descent with more than half able to trace their roots to outside the UK, according to new research.
Britain's foreign descendents originate from the following countries (in percentage): 1. Ireland 23%, 2. France 10%, 3. Germany 9%, 4. Scandinavia 6.5%, 5. Canada 5%.
Source
One in five Brits is of French or German descent with more than half able to trace their roots to outside the UK, according to new research.
Britain's foreign descendents originate from the following countries (in percentage): 1. Ireland 23%, 2. France 10%, 3. Germany 9%, 4. Scandinavia 6.5%, 5. Canada 5%.
Source
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Comments
I'd like to know the time line of each migration.My family here in the United States have been here
only 145-115 yrs grew up knowing that all sides of my family's came from Germany.I can understand that after a few hundred years things may be forgotten,most here will say I've got this an this in them and are not even interested in genealogy-guess the families don't gather as much or grandparents are not talking about family-to me this is a mystery.
It is disturbing to me that the article is somewhat "white".. What about the large percentage of the English whose ancestors are from Asia or the Caribbean?
What exactly is a Brit?
The "original" inhabitants of the British Isles are mostly all of Celtic heritage. Through the years Britain has been colonised by many:
• Romans (the Roman Legions that invaded England and parts of Scotland came from North Africa and Spain.
• Angles and Saxons, from Saxony/Germany.
• Danes/Norwegians/Swedes, etc. (Vikings, most of the major Irish cities have Viking roots).
• Normans/Vikings.
In more recent times, peoples from all over the Commonwealth settled in Britain, peoples from modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Part of China, West Indies, etc. Same can be said for Holland, France, Russia and other countries, the point being, is that most regions are ethnic/cultural melting pots.