Swarthy Bretons

[Scouseman]

In Armorica, Remote Region but little visited ancient customs maintained themselves longer than in the more accessible parts of France, and the Druids enjoyed most power. The modern Bretons are, no doubt, to a large extent, the descendants of the ancient Armoricans, but kindred Celtic tribes driven from Great Britain through the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons, settled amongst them. These new arrivals founded the towns of St. Brieuc, St. Malo, and others. Being superior in intelligence to the aboriginal population, they soon gained a preponderance, and Armorica became Brittany, or Little Britain.
The descendants of these immigrants still differ from other Bretons. They are tall, fair, and blue-eyed, with these features being most prominent on the islands of Batz and Ouessant. The Bretons living to the south of the northern coast are less tall, brown-complexioned, and have round heads; but they, to, have dark-blue eyes. Some of the inhabitants of the islands and of remote districts are said to be of different origin. As a rule the Bretons bear a striking resemblance to the Limousins and other inhabitants of the plateau of Central France. They have even been likened to the Kabyls of Algeria. Dr. Bodichon, himself a Breton, says that "the Breton of pure blood has a thick skull, a palish yellow skin, a brown complexion, black or brown eyes, a squat build, and black hair. He, like the Kabyl, is stubborn and indefatigable, and his voice has the same intonation."

https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2...ferent&f=false

It’s mainly South coast and interior Bretons that are darker than typical Northern French.

[Deneb]

Sometimes those dark Bretons remind me of Basques.
According to Eupedia could be associated with the spread of Proto-Italo-Celtic people from Central to Western Europe in the Bronze Age, starting circa 4,500 years ago. Their lineages belong to haplogroup R1b-S116 (aka P312), in other words most of the European R1b minus the Greco-Etruscan R1b-L23, the Germanic R1b-U106 and R1b-L238, and the Proto-Celto-Germanic L11, L51 and L150. S116 includes subclades associated with non-Indo-European languages such as Basque, and the ancient Gascon and Iberian languages. Since it is unclear exactly when and where Celtic languages developed and whether some Proto-Celtic speakers might have adopted indigenous languages in the land they settled (especially in Gascony and Mediterranean Iberia), all lineages were included for the purpose of this map, giving priority to Y-DNA over languages.

[Grace O'Malley]

Sometimes those dark Bretons remind me of Basques.
According to Eupedia could be associated with the spread of Proto-Italo-Celtic people from Central to Western Europe in the Bronze Age, starting circa 4,500 years ago. Their lineages belong to haplogroup R1b-S116 (aka P312), in other words most of the European R1b minus the Greco-Etruscan R1b-L23, the Germanic R1b-U106 and R1b-L238, and the Proto-Celto-Germanic L11, L51 and L150. S116 includes subclades associated with non-Indo-European languages such as Basque, and the ancient Gascon and Iberian languages. Since it is unclear exactly when and where Celtic languages developed and whether some Proto-Celtic speakers might have adopted indigenous languages in the land they settled (especially in Gascony and Mediterranean Iberia), all lineages were included for the purpose of this map, giving priority to Y-DNA over languages.

Interestingly if you look at genetics the Bretons are the most distant to Basques, Iberians and Italians out of all the French.

[Deneb]

Interestingly if you look at genetics the Bretons are the most distant to Basques, Iberians and Italians out of all the French.

It makes sense, since the Bretons are geographically further. But I agree with the OP that the Bretons are sometimes surprisingly "dark", often more so than the Central French. IDK why I'm not an expert.

[Grace O'Malley]

It makes sense, since the Bretons are geographically further. But I agree with the OP that the Bretons are sometimes surprisingly "dark", often more so than the Central French.

I don't know if they are dark or not but genetically they are closer to British Isles and Northern populations than they are to many of their fellow French which is very interesting. I don't think that happens in many countries.

[Creoda]

Interestingly if you look at genetics the Bretons are the most distant to Basques, Iberians and Italians out of all the French.

The genetic divide between Brittany and SW France that it borders is huge, it may sometimes be a case of spillover of SW French people in Brittany making them look darker than they are.

[Centurion]

Litorid and Eurafricanid influence I guess. If you read theses articles, you can see that theses 2 subraces are well present around Brittany and south west of Great-Britain where many Breton's ancestors are come from.

http://humanphenotypes.net/Litorid.html
http://humanphenotypes.net/Eurafricanid.html

My grand-mother is native of Morbihan and looks like a mix of Litorid and West-Alpine. On her branch of her family everybody including herself look South-European and would pass without problem either in Spain, Italy or Portugal. Even some of my great-uncles were mistaken as North-African when they fought during the Algerian War. They don't have any non-Breton in their close ancestry.

Obviously, there's a close connection between Bretons and British Islanders. I'm only 1/2 Breton and score 53% Irish and Scottish. I've seen a girl who was fully Breton and scored 100% British Isles. She looked like the actres Lola Le lann who is half-Breton and half-Alsatian. Her look is pretty common in Britanny including in my family.



I have also suspected that there's some sort of distant connection between some Bretons and some Kabyles, but I don't know much about that.

On the other side my grand-father is native of the north of Finistere and was redhead with blue eyes and looks Irish more than anything else. Bretons seem to be a mix of Eurafricanid, Litorid, Nordid, Keltic, Brunn and West-Alpine IMO, with a strong part of the population being Atlantid, Atlanto-Med and North-Atlantid as a result. There also can be some Baskid influence.

[Deneb]

Nolwenn Le Magueresse (born 28 September 1982 in Saint-Renan, Brittany, France), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy , is a French singer-songwriter, musician and voice actress. In some photos looks British and other ones looks Iberian or Italian. I think she has an interesting look.

[Centurion]

Nolwenn Le Magueresse (born 28 September 1982 in Saint-Renan, Brittany, France), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy , is a French singer-songwriter, musician and voice actress. In some photos looks British and other ones looks Iberian or Italian. I think she has an interesting look.

Good exemple. I have a cousin who looks like her, but with the skin a little darker. Her look is very typical.

[aherne]

It is abundantly clear that, in France at least, Aryan element is the main reason for lightness. It first came 3500 years ago with Keltic invasions and got replenished by Germanic invasions 2000 years later. This is why eye/hair pigmentation maps show a North-South, East-West cline. Armorica being farthest of immigration path, it got least influenced hence many people look like those originally posted.