Why do the English pass better in the Isles than anywhere else?

[drb234]

The Anglo-Saxons who created England («*Angle - land*») were a Germanic people to begin with.

So? They heavily mixed with the native Celts.
Similarly, Shetlanders look very Scottish despite a strong Norse input.

[Watersater79]

So? They heavily mixed with the native Celts.
Similarly, Shetlanders look very Scottish despite a strong Norse input.

And.... the Gauls (mixing).

[Septentrion]

So? They heavily mixed with the native Celts.
Similarly, Shetlanders look very Scottish despite a strong Norse input.

Sure, everyone ends up mixing somewhere. Even here in Belgium, the Germanic Franks interbred with the local Belgae or Gallo - Roman population at their time of invasion. The British Isles aren’t the only ones. The Franks intermixed with Celts in the southern parts of the Netherlands and also in Germany, a mixture with Celts, Slavs and even later Huns (notably in Bavaria). In actual fact, the mixing in the Isles was less intense than in continental Europe. This is reflected for example when tracing the lineages. In England and parts of Scotland, the Germanic male line is in the majority (55% to 65%). After the Kelts, it’s the Anglo-Saxons who made up the greatest genetic impact in Britain to the point where a large part of England distinct enough. It is actually easier to study the British Isles when it comes to genetics than most of continental Europe. In Britain, what I personally would call «*genetic demarcations*» are much more easily to detect than in a country such as France or Germany or even Austria. This is due to much more intense intermixing. For example the frequency of Y-DNA lineage R1b-S145/L21 in the Britain, it’s highest in regions or areas where the Celts resisted Saxon intrusion the most. In other words, the Celtic Fringe. It’s also generally in these areas that the gene for red hair is strongest as well. To make similar correlations in Germany or the Czech Republic would be a lot harder. So I don’t think that the mixing is as strong as some of you tend to exaggerate it. This is due to the fact England genetically resembles its history.