This is a vast topic. But this is a
start to one of the largest topics published here. Any comprehensive account of the African presence in early Europe should
include England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Scandinavia. The history and legends of Scotland confirm the existence
of "purely Black people." We see one of them in the person of Kenneth the Niger. During the tenth century Kenneth the Niger
ruled over three provinces in the Scottish Highlands.
The historical and literary traditions of Wales reflect similar beliefs. According
to Gwyn Jones (perhaps the world's leading authority on the subject), to the Welsh chroniclers, "The Danes coming in by way
of England and the Norwegians by way of Ireland were pretty well all black: Black Gentiles, Black Norsemen, Black Host."
There is also strong reason to suggest an African presence in ancient Ireland.
We have, for example, the legends of the mysterious "African sea-rovers, the Fomorians, who had a stronghold on Torrey Island,
off the Northwest Coast." The Fomorians, shrouded deep in mist, came to be regarded as the sinister forces in Irish
mythology.
A prominent Viking of the eleventh century was Thorhall, who was aboard the
ship that carried the early Vikings to the shores of North America. Thorhall was "the huntsman in summer, and in winter the
steward of Eric the Red. He was, it is said, a large man, and strong, black, and like a giant, silent, and foul-mouthed
in his speech, and always egged on Eric to the worst; he was a bad Christian."
Another Viking, more notable than Thorhall, was Earl Thorfinn, "the most distinguished
of all the earls in the Islands." Thorfinn ruled over nine earldoms in Scotland and Ireland, and died at the age of
seventy-five. His widow married the king of Scotland. Thorfinn was described as "one of the largest men in point of
stature, and ugly, sharp featured, and somewhat tawny, and the most martial looking man... It has been related that he was
the foremost of all his men."
Contributor: Runoko Rashidi
SOURCES:
Ancient And Modern Britons, by David Mac Ritchie
Nature Knows No Color-Line, by J.A. Rogers
