As a Norwegian having spent a year in Scotland, never before have I felt more at home. The nature, the culture and people are very similar to what I'm used to back home.

The Vikings came to Normandy and stayed there, too. I also read that in Norse languages, the word "Viking" isn't a noun that describes a person, it is a verb that describes an activity: raiding up a river valley. Norsemen went Viking.

My wife and I are both Danish born and bred, lived for 13 years in England and then 17 years in South West Ireland. All the time we have seen our ancestry reflected in the local populations. It's in the eyes for a start, then there are other physical features and then of course the language. In fact, when we first came to Ireland we used to play a game between ourselves called Spot the Viking, looking at magazine covers etc. In County Cork, the singsong accent made us think there were Norwegian tourists everywhere. A Norwegian friend of ours even felt insulted, thinking that the local people she conversed with were making fun of HER English accent.

That makes loads of sense. Testing our family DNA shows that there is 7% Norwegian DNA in the mix, where we always believed it was pure Irish and Scottish. It was a surprise and yet kind of not quite. They conquered, stayed, intermarried, and spread out over the country, eventually.

When the Norse moved to uninhabited lands like the Faeros and Iceland, they were mainly men who stopped to pick up Celtic slaves to do the work for them, and the women to also bear their children. DNA work in both these places show that the present inhabitants descend mainly from Norse men and Celtic women. In conquering a place like Islay, that already had a resident population, I suspect many would have been killed (especially adult men) but most enslaved, with much of the following generation being fathered by the Norse lords. One way that Gaelic could have been so well preserved is that as the language of the women, it would have been the first language of the children, both those fathered by Norse and those fathered by Celts. After a few generations everyone would speak Gaelic, their mother tongue, and only the few who were children of Norse wives would really get to speak Norse comfortably, and since they probably had Gaelic-speaking nursemaids, and were surrounded by Gaelic-speaking serfs and servants, were comfortable in Gaelic as well. In Iceland and the Faeroes, with no large native Celtic speaking majority, the Norse would have demanded that their slaves spoke Norse to them, so it would have eventually predominated. Note that in some other areas, in particular some of the West Indies, this process led to people that had a "women's language", that of the conquered (Arawak), and a "men's language", that of the conquerors (Carib). Men could speak both, but only spoke men's language to other men, while women and young children spoke only the women's language. Men enforced this on women, so the languages never merged, nor did one supercede the other, as it did in Islay and elsewhere. Great video, and I learned how to pronounce Islay!

About 40 years ago I was on a Norwegian seismic boat surveying some of the island seas. We had local fishermen on board to liaise with local boats around us. I remember our Norwegian crew and the locals found they had lots of common words, especially slang terms, which supports the depiction of their history in the program.

My father's entirely Scottish ancestry, so we thought, turned out to be more Norwegian after a DNA test. His family came from Shetland before coming to mainland Scotland. It has been fascinating unraveling the family history.

I have a German mum from Hamburg and an English father from St Helens in Lancashire so expected to be roughly 50% English-German but instead I'm 83% Scandinavian. My nearest DNA relative apart from my father's kin is a cousin in the US who was from my Oma's sister. She's mostly Scandinavian too. I think the vikings were more settlers than hit and run.

This is fascinating! I had my DNA done through MyHeritage and the results were a total surprise to me. My Canadian maritime grandfather was of Scottish heritage. My great great grandparents came over from the inner Hebrides of Scotland. My DNA surprise result was that I have nearly 30% Norse DNA to go along with my Scottish DNA. This makes my family/clan history so much more thought provoking and interesting to me.

This is an amazing film. Confirms a few things in my mind about Scottish / Norwegian history. I believe that our cultural history goes back much further and more peacefully than history would lead us to believe.

American here, funny on the surface we we had a huge scottish bloodline. However, when a relative did our genealogy it revealed allot more Norwegian then we excepted. Also, Swedish.

I’m from Iceland (female) and I have 70% Norwegian DNA, rest is a mixture of Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh DNA. Always felt drawn to these countries and even though the reason I have this ancestry is not a happy story I’m proud to be connected to them.

Pity they do not seem to have investigated the male and female genetic lines separately. In Orkney, it was shown there was almost 100% replacement of the male line when the Vikings arrived, but far less on the female line (not even a majority). So very few Norwegian women immigrated, and pretty much no aboriginal men were allowed to breed, (whether they were killed, expelled, or enslaved). The fate of first generation aboriginal women may also not have been as kind as "wives" suggests. I use the term aboriginal because it is unclear if the Orkney population of the day were Celtic or pre-Celtic people. Genetically they could have been descendents of the Skara Brae folk.

I Just realised two things here, which i cannot fathom i have not seen before: The norwegian "nes" or "næss" is a protrution into the ocean/water and hence the same word as in "Loch ness" with the same meaning. - And "loch" is a bit alike the norwegian word "lukke". "Lukke" means "to close". And "loch" is actually "sea that is closed in" aka Water/sea etc. So "Loch Ness" actually means "Water/sea with a/plural ness/Næss in it". "Loch Ness" is actually a norse name!!!

I'm English (or so I thought). I done one of those DNA tests. My "Nana" was Scottish, Sarah Ann Stewart. But my test came back Nordic, Scandinavian. I'm blue eyed and one of my kids. I've been learning German for six years and recently decided to learn Norwegian. I don't know if it's because I've learned a language before but Norwegian is easy and comfortable to learn. Also great fun. I've also had the pleasure to work with Scandinavian people and they are so polite and easy to get along with. I'm proud of my ancestry results. And heritage.

Really interesting. I am surprised the Islanders were surprised to find their Viking roots. Anyone who has visited York knows the Vikings did settle and established roots in Great Britain. It would strange if the only place the Vikings put down roots is in the north of England.

Really well done, thank you.

I loved how surprised she was! It only illustrates how much we assume about our own families and involve our own pride in something that is completely beyond our control. Last time I checked, there wasn't a race of people on earth that weren't proud of their tough, brave, smart ancestors. I traced part of my own family back to 13th century Cheshire England; there were SO many lines died out in anonymity by then. I was struck by the fact it was easy to trace the rich ones, but the FAR more populous poor people were anonymous. What I took away at the end of that journey was how little effect those people really had on ME. Just 5 generations back, you're looking at 32 ancestors - of just that generation! You go back 500 years - and well, the connections are really meaningless. Early on I remember being pretty chuffed I was descended from Alfred the Great & Charlemagne, and slowly realizing that yeah, well, so were hundreds of thousands - probably millions of others. And that's if there was never a cuckold for 1500 years, which I highly doubt. We all have greatness in us, and whores & slaves & cowards & murderers. And lovely people who struggled mightily to feed their children & live in peace. We can no more blame them for our own failures than they can claim credit for our achievements.

Scotland looks like Newfoundland & Nova Scotia , Canada. Beautiful Island in our beautiful Atlantic.

Love that part of the world. The perception is a large piece of water separating Ireland from Scotland, the Scots Irish and the Norse both treated it as a highway. When in amongst it, sailing between Islay, Kintyre and Ireland, you can see all three very easily and you understand they are all very well connected ... we know how well the Norse and Celts built boats, as far south from Scandinavia as Normandy (Norseman's Land), they used the same sturdy boat designs. We live on a planet three quarters covered in water, we keep looking at it inside out.

Ireland had Viking influence too. "Finnigan" is an Irish family name meaning "son of the fair- haired stranger".

I'm an Aussie with a Scottish born Dad and a Norwegian born mother - as much as I love Australia, I've always felt out of place here. My loyalty to both cultures has resulted in a covering of Norse and Celtic inspired tattoos and a basic grasp of both languages.

Thank you so much for all these details !

In 2015 I spent 3 months in Ireland. My father's family was Scots, my mother's English, yet I felt very at home there, especially in the south around Cork, one of the areas settled my Vikings. I now understand why.

This was beautifully filmed!

It’s a wonderful, personalised and detailed example, but I don’t think this is news. It’s long been known that a hybrid culture, the “Norse-Gaels” developed in the Hebrides (outer and inner) and western mainland of Scotland which reached its zenith under the last “Lord of the Isles” - Somerled - in the 12th c. - and I believe that Islay was Somerled’s main base. Somerled’s sons divided his territories and their descendants were the founders of some of the major clans of the west and north, including Clan Ranald (McDonald) and McLeod. Their origin legends claimed Somerled as a Gaelic hero who fought the Vikings - but he was himself of part Norse, part Gael descent and married to Ragnhild the daughter the Norse King of Man. The clans nowadays acknowledge their links to Norse ancestry and DNA tests of men in Scotland of the relevant clan names have shown evidence of those origins. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled Incidentally, one of Prince Charles’ titles in Scotland is “Lord of the Isles” - and features on its ancient coat of arms two galleys - the “birlinn” warship of the medieval Gaels, modelled on the Viking longship.

Very well done and thoughtful.

Informative and very sensible. Thanks for that little video which would seem to be a small portion of the findings of a larger study. I'm from an island that became very important in the 16th century, Newfoundland.

The scots are our kin to some extend. Much love from Denmark 🙂

Fascinating. I wonder whether it may similarly be the case that there are still Danes in Lincolnshire? After all, it was part of the Danelaw, and so many of our towns and villages have names derived from Old Norse, and many roads (e.g. in Lincoln and also in the village where I live) have names that end in "gate" (meaning "street").

Excellent video, makes perfect sense, thankyou for uploading 🇫🇮🇳🇴

I an scots and did a dna test and found im viking too. My step mum and sister are Norwegian as my dad moved to Norway and married a Norwegian woman and now i am Norwegian too. Very proud!

Hey I'm a McKeachnie! Hello from Canada, long lost relatives !

I haven’t had my DNA tested but my MacLean ancestors on my father’s side came from Isley. His grandmother came from North West Ireland and so on. Now I’m thinking I should get tested to see what it reveals. This has been an interesting video.

Going to the highland games every year made me learn a lot about my Scottish side. Specifically that my clan, McKay, were native to the most northern top of the Highlands by the coast, and regularly traded with, faught with, and married vikings of swedish, danish, and Norwegian decent. Also discover the Germanic side of my family had been intermarrying with my Scottish side for generations before my parents met. Most notably that my father's side several generations back was taken in by the McKays and were a sept of them. Upon further looking into it I found the Barwicks, my dad's side, actually had their own tartan for a while, although it's been lost to History. And even the coat of arms for the family traces into highland origins. It's so interesting to learn how these cultures interacted, and blended together. Manu Forti.

There is Viking influence for sure. The Scottish history of the Lord of the Isles- Somerled, has always acknowledged it. I don’t completely buy into the notion that Islay is predominantly Norse DNA though. My ancestors were from Islay and when I look at ethnicity of my shared DNA matches on ancestry they are mostly highland Scots. Maybe 5% or less Scandinavian. If she is 80%+ Norse, that might be from one localized pocket of DNA. I would like to see more empirical evidence of the generalized claim that Norse is the dominant ancestry in Islay beyond the suppositions of her son’s DNA test.

It becomes even more interesting when you look at the spread of Scandinavian DNA over time. You have things like ubiquitous presence of latent Scandi DNA through Scottish and Irish populations, the Norse Gaels... and then Covenanters bringing it twice over with them to Ireland. You've Norwegian fishing companies setting up presence in Donegal, etc in the 19th century. And then, Scots-Irish and Scandinavian Diaspora settling together in America in the same regions. Faroe Islands, Iceland... there is Norwegian and Scottish always together. They're forever together, it seems.

I also had Norwegian DNA when I was tested. We originated in the isles, with more Gaelic. I had no idea Norway was in my background. Fascinating.

People who come from cold climates must be hard and strong, fierce. Do not be ashamed of where you came from.

Australian with a Scottish grandfather, we have Norwegian ancestry too. Have always felt an affinity with all things Scandinavian and the northern parts of Scotland.

My mother is a Graham descendent from Islay... specifically from Kilchoman and Conisby (one of the farms with a Norse origin to the name). This video was an exciting find!

I agree with so many posts that point out that it's hardly a revelation that the Scandinavian invaders stayed put (for the most part). I've never heard anyone who thought otherwise, although the historians and scientists on this video appear to have thought so. The title of the video is misleading, well in fact just plain wrong! It deals with one tiny island not Scotland itself. By the way, the 'Vikings' never left England, Ireland or Wales either.

Danish, Norway and Scottish DNA here. My grandparents immigrated here, the USA, in 1888.

My ancestry from the last 500 years is well documented. I have German, English, Scottish, Dutch, French, Spanish and Italian. But my DNA says I am 40% Scandinavian. Those Vikings got around!

My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all born in Cuba. (I did genetic testing.) Before that, his line was in the Azores (Portugal), before that, loads of genetic ties to Great Britain. Before that, a direct male ancestor, was discovered to have been buried in the 900's, in Ribe, Denmark (and by direct i mean: he's literally a great grand, but like 20 generations back..). Apparently, they never stopped liking the islands.. Guess it's in their blood. . Some, in my family likened my dad to that old Hemingway tale, 'The Old Man and the Sea', interestingly, about an old Cuban fisherman. Vikings settled everywhere their boats could take them. . We all have a bit. . But, it was nice to confirm, such an interesting journey. . There have been many a McDonald, or McCullen's, and 'Thompsons' in ancestry chat rooms who have ignored, and flat out critiqued my being there. Then along came this study, circa 2017, with 100%, documented genetic proof of direct ties to Viking era burial, in a viking hometown: ... And there i am, with the most Latin sounding surname in the room... 👁️👅👁️ ...lol 🤷🏻‍♂️😆

The mistake in the thinking is that Vikings were always just killing everybody. If there were just fishers and farmers in the island they weren't much of a threat to the vikings. On the contrary they would have gotten fish etc. from the locals. And anyways they weren't always "conquering" or pillaging, they were merchants above all and also settlers trying to find land to farm.

👍Great video. Thank you BBC.

My head is spinning l love how people got about so much of the world more than we probably know. I would love for people to check Bruce Fume on scottish history he is fascinating and great to listen to .watching from Scotland peace and love to all

I'm so happy they didn't force some apology for their bloody viking roots and history. The UK mainland would have also had strong viking history in the same way, but which, is increasingly becoming less noticeable due to the various migrations of different cultures through history and today, with over a hundred languages all influencing the traditional language, and the translation and original meanings of words being lost, except with the older population of the UK. Original place names are being changed to sound more appealing to new home owners and more inclusive to the modern society we live in, also to reflect the various cultures of modern Britain. I'm very happy this place in Scotland hasn't been affected by wide spread rubbing out of the past, this part of Scotland seems to have common sense and also have pride of their past, and hopefully their future.

Yeh no surprise. I was born in London. Mum is from Thurso up the top there, Thor-so. Did our dna recently, Highland scot and Scandinavian. They'd been trading and travelling up there way before Lindisfarne.

I find it odd that the World finds it odd that the Vikings conquered so much turf, then settled and left their mark there. The British Isles are right next to Denmark and Norway is just a stones throw.

So accurate and affirming. Retired reads would be wonderful: relationships including family, finances, creativity, focus issues, spiritual direction and connections.

I don't live in Scotland and I'm a 5th generation NZer and I've 40% scottish dna which makes sense as my grandmothers family came from Dundee and so did my fathers family bring Irish/scottish and english labourers with a lot of Scottish people on board to NZ, our schools are built around scottish institutions, our museum was designed by three architects, one being my scottish great great great uncle Kenneth Aimer, which has now stood tall for 100 years. I cry when I hear bagpipes and I have no idea why, I can't actually control it, it's very bizarre. Sometimes it doesn't matter where you end up these connections stay with you in some way or another.

Some of my Norwegian Swedish Ancestors were on the Isle of Man for years and ruled there and died there. I always find genealogical study so informative and interesting too.

im a georgeson.. from shetland my great grandfather and from past is from aith in shetland.. georgeson still stay in that area to this day

Terrifically interesting case, love it!

This doesn't surprise me. In the Middle Ages the Gallowglass, Galloglaigh in Gaelic meaning foreign warriors, came from the Scottish islands to Ireland. They were Gaelic-Norse warriors hired by the leading clans in Ireland for protection. Many Irish surnames today have a Gallowglass origin. McCabes were Gallowglass protecting the O'Rourke clan. The Sweenys were Gallowglass for the O'Donnell clan and became a prominent clan themselves.

Im definitely of the viking stock my mother grandmother and generations before were all from faroe islands and in 1946 my scottish grandfather who was working on the whaling with the merchant navy Married my granny Hansa petrea Mortensen and headed back to Edinburgh Scotland with his pregnant wife and the story of their lifes starts with 7 children and a happy 59yrs Married. Both have passed and sorely missed .love you Granny and Grandad Williamson.

A year late but wanted to share my observations (as an American) after binge watching a series that takes place on Shetland Islands (If named, comments won't appear) and also bingeing on a series a few years ago whose main characters were Claire and Jamie Fraser....In the first mentioned series, the actor Steven Robertson, portraying "Sandy" ,according to his bio, was born in the Shetland Islands and has a very memorable and charismatic accent which didn't sound totally Scottish. I researched and found that Shetland dialect is a combination of Old Norse and old Lower Scots. thus the Viking influence. I thought while listening to him, that the actor Joh Bell's accent, portraying " young Ian Murray" in second series,. sounded very close to Robertson's accent., but from his bio, he was born in Glasgow ...My research shows that the Glasgow area had also been invaded by Norsemen...very curious! And finally, the presenter of this video has the same fascinating accent and wonder if he is from Islay Isle. ... never to be read, but judt wanted to share...

I have 6 different countries in my background, mostly Germanic. My family kept good records. However I have often wondered how much if which I have but being a true Scots/Irish lass, (from my Grandmothers) I hesitate to spend my brass to pay to find out! This was very a very good presentation. Thank you.

I am nodding vehemently. I had done my ancestry by paper trail and was solidly Scottish as both parents are from Argyle/Ulster/Caledonia/Dal Riata. whatever you want to call it. I was satisfied with this and figured that it would be pretty much preserved and my mother had already done a DNA test which was almost entirely Scottish. Yeah, expected. but, her Grandparents were Irish. So, I took some DNA tests to finally determine if I was Irish or Scottish, and instead found Though mostly Scottish/English I had large traces of Norwegian. Now, I had read in historical records that so many ancestors were Island people, so I answered it quickly as sensible that they were from Shetland or the Orkney's which were at times actually part of Norway. It was just a matter of time until I found a paper trail to support my theory. But, I find this video now and that suggested a whole new theory instead of reworking family trees. It is quite possible the Norwegian DNA is from already discovered Scottish roots from Argyle area. I really like this idea!

It’s funny how much of an influence the vikings and Scandinavia actually has on Scotland. Orkney and Shetland were wedding gifts to the Scottish royals and even the Scots language mainly consists of old Norse and some Middle English.

Norman conquest had a major impact all over the British isles .

I found out through one of those genetic testing companies that a third of my recent ancestry is from SW Scotland--NE Ireland. And that the rest of my genes are from other areas of the British Isles. I also found out that 91% of my ancestry going further back is from the Swedish/Danish haplogroup (dating back from the Vikings). So, yeah, this video is really interesting stuff now knowing that my ancestors were these people.

I am a Mathieson living in Inverness. We are an old Highland Clan with Viking roots. There are many Mathesons in Norway and locals there have called us Vikings when we visited Norway 🇳🇴

My Mom, who was of Irish and English ancestry, had some Norwegian DNA, too. Her closest living kin, after us her descendants, were matched to the Dublin area, which, of course, was founded and settled by Norwegians, along with Limerick and Waterford, as trading posts. Her mother was of mixed, mostly Irish descent, but her father came from directly from The Netherlands, and interestingly, seems to have been of English ancestry. My Mom always thought she was Dutch, but such ancestry was not detected in her DNA profile. Of course, there has always been a lot of interchange between all these countries of the North, and with Northern Germans. My grandfather’s family might have migrated as dissenters to the Netherlands during the Reformation, many did, and have intermarried with fellow English immigrants for some time.

Testing my maternal DNA. I'm 54% Scandinavian, mostly Swedish. British nobility ancestor, King Richard III. Some Russian, and German nobility family the Von's, French, and Iberian. The Vikings were one of the most mobile populations in human history, as they sailed to almost all parts of Europe as far south as North Africa and as far east as Iran. My advanced mtDNA report dates back between 20,000 and 38,000 years ago. Present in farmers from the Early Neolithic, Near East, and among European farmers spread during the Bronze Age led to migration patterns into Germanic countries and Central Asia. Today mtDNA is particularly common in Northwest Europe.

Given that the island’s population is around 3000, it would have been more revealing to DNA test the whole indigenous population to see exactly what extent Viking influence remains today.

yeah thanks, we've known that for hundreds of years. They settled in Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and everywhere in between

This is very interesting. My family origin is from Ayrshire, which is right near Islay but on the mainland. When i got my DNA results i found that I was equally Scottish and Norse. When you look at the Donald clan origins it makes sense given the Isles were ruled by Viking King of the isles.

The Norse Viking were travellers and settlers and farmers.Their influence also extended down the east coast of England . Their influence in Scotland and especially the Orkneys Hebrides and North East Scotland can be seen and read in places names to this day. Its likely there was assimilation with local populations with Celtic , possibly Pict culture. .Shetland and Orkney were part of the Norse Kingdoms

I'm from new Zealand and have about 60% Polynesian ancestry and 40% scots Irish English french and scandanavian.

to a Danish viewer like me this is super interesting, there are lots of similar place names in my country (cities ending in "-dal" or "-by")

Great video. I am from the Appalachian Highlands, USA (where the states of Tennessee, North Carolina & Virginia meet), my DNA break down: England/Northwestern Europe 40%, Scotland 40%, Wales 9%, Ireland 6% & Sweden/Denmark 5%.

Islay looks like a place full of history. Would love to visit some day. :)

Interesting. I have 50% English/Northwestern Europe, 25% Scottish, 14% Sweden/Denmark, 8% Irish, and 2% Norwegian. I know my Scottish ancestors came from Jura, right next to Islay to the North/East, which was also a Viking conquered island. I am sure the Vikings attacked Jura at the same time, if not shortly after since Jura is really close to Islay. On another ancestral website it shows my ancestral DNA as Norse-Gael ancestry. On the same site it has my DNA connection to Icelandic Gaelic-Vikings, but the strongest connection is to Danish Vikings. I thought that was interesting too. My Scottish ancestral surname is "McDougald" in America, but traditionally "Mac DubhGhaill" from Scotland. This video makes a lot of sense from what I found out about my Scottish ancestry. MacDougall is a Norse-Gael Scottish surname (Mac DubhGhaill) amongst many other Norse-Gael surnames i.e., Mac Ìomhair, Mac Amhlaibh, Mac Ìomhair, Mac Raghnall. I have heard (Mac DubhGhaill) is interpreted as "dark stranger" referring to the Norse who came to the island. I know "Mac" means (son of) "dubh" is the color black, but I haven't been able to find "Ghaill" unless it's old Gaelic that isn't used anymore, not sure. I am guessing it must have something to do with an outsider, stranger, etc. I also know the MacDougalls along with MacDonald's have an ancestral connection to Somerled, King of the Isles who repelled the Viking invaders out of the Hebrides.

The Norse-Gaels of both the inner & outer Hebrides were the fiercest & scariest warriors of their post Viking era (1150-1450), the Western European equivalent of Japanese Samurais. Basically they possessed the skill & dexterity of an experienced Samurai yet the size, strength & toughness of their Norse Viking antecedents, with the ferocity of both. Terrifying!

I’m Swedish and apparently my ancestors came to Scotland from Scandinavia in the 9th century or so. But then came back here in the 17th century.

The story I heard was that Vikings in Scotland spoke a mixture of old Norse and Gaelic so even Viking named places could be in Gaelic.

What a gem to find on youtube. Thanks. I discovered a year ago via DNA that I am part viking and flemish. However I still consider myself 50% Scot!! Grandfather was from Uig (Isle of Skye). I am now in Aust.

Has anyone considered the possibility that people could have traveled between Scotland and Denmark, Norway and a lesser extent Sweden for centuries before the Viking era?

That fat, happy seal at the end--LOL, and LOVE!!!

5:31 minutes in they mention Glenekedale, "oak-three valley". In swedish ekdalen. But this "Glen" might be "klen" as in small or weak. Just ponder..

This was very beautiful

Yep. I'm Scots-Irish, but I'm also 23% Scandinavian. Somewhere along the long road of my people there was a Viking or two in the wood-pile!

My grandmother was rightly proud of her Scottish roots, so you can imagine my shock when I did a DNA test and found I have almost no Celtic blood.... (although nearly 40% Norse).

That explains a lot !!!

That was really interesting and something that think about

I'm American and I noticed that the Scots, Welsh, and Irish seem to have a lot in common, especially in attitude and looks, more so than with the English. I do know that the English are a mixture of different ancestors but their attitude seems very different from the Irish and Scottish. I had an Irish friend who told me a little bit about the history of the Irish and English and then I understood. The Scottish and Irish seem very down-to-earth but I cannot say the same for the English LOL.

I know it's easy just to say but as a Scandinavian I wouldn't doubt she was Norwegian if someone told me

That is so interesting.

I spent some months in both Sweden and northern UK. Used to the lilting musicality of swedish speech, I thought northern english sounded very similar even if the words were different.

As a descendent of primarily northern England and Scottish people I wasn’t surprised when my DNA test came back 35% Scottish, 30% English and 20% Norwegian (plus some Welsh and Irish).

They didnt kill the locals, what mostly happen is that they killed most of the men to take their lands (making the few men left slaves) and marrying by force the local women. Some women probably were also sold in the slave trade to places like Iceland etc... In fact, places like the Western Scotish Isles, Orkey, Shetland, Feroe Iceland etc have a predominant female celtic DNA from the British Isles, while having predominant Viking male heritage.

Please add subtitles :)

This makes a lot of sense for me, particularly my moms side of the family. Apart from some Anglo-Irish and Romani heritage, she's almost entirely Scottish from the Hebrides + Highlands. Considering she has a lot of family from the Isle of Skye and Iverness, both of which were Viking controlled for lengthy periods, I was amazed to find out the Isle of Skye's flag is almost a carbon copy of Sweden's, with a viking boat for added effect. Hard to believe I'm mostly Nordic after thinking I was mostly Celtic for so long. Crazy how ancestry works.

I’m nz Maori with a Scottish ancestor and iv always known that Scottish are descendants of the Scandinavian Vikings. I thought everyone knew

Beautiful place. Interesting observations. 👌

I am surprised by the surprise in the video. It has been known for many years that while Vikings did sometimes raid, they were first and foremost settlers, so naturally they stayed. I guess the romantic image of fierce warriors carrying off the monastery treasures is more interesting than people settling in and starting to farm the lands.

Thank you for sharing! Very fascinating! I had my DNA tested through Ancestry and have 18% Scotland 2% Norway.