Are British people more similar genetically to Iberians or Scandinavians?

Question

Are British people more similar genetically to Iberians or Scandinavians?

Answer 1

It would be very surprising if the British were not much closer to Scandinavians even without all the immigration and conquest by the Vikings.  I have noticed how much many Scandinavians look Irish so I suspect that we Irish have much Scandinavian blood.  It also matches what you would expect considering the occupation of much of Ireland by Vikings.

Answer 2

Iberians, according to what I've read in the FamilytreeDNA site's findings.  See link below:

If you go to this site, you'll read about how the DNA is different for Scandinavians than it is for Iberian peoples.  So, it's easy to see the influence of both groups.

I had my own DNA tested thinking that I had Viking blood, since my surname originates on the Outer Hebrides, where the Vikings had great influence, but I found out that I'm more Iberian.

Answer 3

As others here have said, the Danes/Normans especially lived in France and moved up to England around the 11th century, and many noble english families (like the Spencers) go back to Danish blood.

I gave my brother a gift recently where he swabbed his mouth and sent the swab to a DNA lab where they trace the father's father's father's...etc all back via the male line. We are 3/4 Irish from our grandparents, but it came back that by the male line we are not native Irish but we go back to Macedonia, and probably came into Ireland by Roman soldiers, some of whom were Macedonian, and then they had babies with Irish women. So you never know where you really come from until you do a DNA test.

Answer 4

Whilst many British people have inherited genes from the Vikings, there is an admixture of genes from other countries because Britain is an island and immigration is high. Therefore the genetic mix is as diverse as the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, etc...........

Answer 5

Though language doesn't say it all, English is a Germanic language, like the ones in Scandinavia, The Netherlands, Germany, parts of Switserland and Austria. Large parts of the proto-historic population in the English Isles came from continental Europe (and not just the Vikings!): like Anglo-Saxons, and other Germanic tribes. However, before the influx of these bearers of "new" genetic material, there were the Picts, Celts and Britons, of course. In more historic times, again, new material was brought in by the Roman invaders. So, wheras one cannot exclude Iberian influences, the majority of the inhabitants of the British Isles will predominantly have Germanic genes. However, modern gene theory often refutes the link between language and genetic make-up.