Greetings fyahman,

i probably should have been a little more specific, i dont think that were large scale african populations living as far north as the british isles. Around the mediteranean, for sure. I had a maltese lady friend for a while, and her complexion, language, and even the little i saw of some of their folkways definately had a north african influence.

As for the 'black irish', my guess is that this may well be a reference to folk with generally darker hair and eyes than the other genetic variation, those with fiar hair and eyes. I have read that this may well be due to a population influx from another region, in any case I dont think it is a hangover of a pre-existing african population unless it be many times removed by way of the celtic populations living in places such as northern spain.

All of this said, it is quite possible that there were short lived or isolated pockets of african civilization in some otherwise unlikely parts of europe. By way of analogy there is the famous mumies of urumchi which are supposedly of celtic folk who somehow ended up all the way over in western china and set up a little colony there whilst serving as mercenaries in a local army.

It is quite possible that small pockets of phonecian traders, for example, had outposts in europe. Some of the first christians to get to ireland were from africa, so it was obviously a fairly well worn trade path.

all intriguing stuff, the way culture and peoples diffuse is endlessly fascinating

love and life
paul