Spanish in Galway

poker_face

I'm a Galwegian and I have often heard that alot of Spannish people settled in Galway city (the Claddagh in particular) and Connemara. You can definitely see it in alot of people from Conemara that I know, who are a little tanned (yr round) with jet black hair. I was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge or sources about this. When did spannish people arrive in Galway and in what numbers.

ejmaztec

Didn't a lot of them arrive after the Spanish Armada got trounced in Elizabethan times, when they were being chased around the ocean by the English, not to mention extremely stormy weather.

At Clashmealcon in North Kerry, there's a Spanish sailor's grave (or more) near the cliff. This place is probably more famous for one of the Civil War dirty-deeds though.

Cato

it would be interesting to get more of a statistical insight into the Spanish settling here, and how many can trace their roots back to them...

brianthebard

you won't get any stats,its mainly related to the defeat of the armada as mentioned,in the sixteenth century.tbh its semi mythology,its hard to believe that a bunch of strange navy types who speak a different language washed up on the western seaboard and successfully interbred.also the suggestion that there are people who 'look spanish' as a result of one relation 400 years ago seems rather unlikely imo.

poker_face

It wasn't the spannish armada that I had in mind. I've heard that in medeivel times there was alot of trade between galway and spain. I have also heard that alot of spannish fishermen settled in the claddagh and some of the villages in Conamara.

brianthebard

Never heard that, but you are even less likely to get stats and figures for that era in any case.

mcyclist

Look for a documentary by Bob Quinn ( i think?) made in late seventies or early eighties. It was shwon on RTE
There is considerable evidence for trade with North Africa and west coast over a long period oftime. These peoples would have been alighned with the Moors in Spain.
I cannot remember all the evidence, nor do I remember further discussion, so it might have been refuted by now.
I think the number of Spanish who lnded safely from the Armada was quite small.

Pgibson

"Spanish Arch" near the Claddagh in Galways testifies to the extensive trade between Galway and Spain in pre-Armada times.

There probably was some inter-marrying.

As far as I know almost all the sailors who reached the Irish shore from the Spanish Armada were butchered.

A few did escape with their lives though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada_in_Ireland

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Belfast

mcyclist wrote: »

Look for a documentary by Bob Quinn ( i think?) made in late seventies or early eighties. It was shwon on RTE
There is considerable evidence for trade with North Africa and west coast over a long period oftime. These peoples would have been alighned with the Moors in Spain.
I cannot remember all the evidence, nor do I remember further discussion, so it might have been refuted by now.
I think the number of Spanish who lnded safely from the Armada was quite small.

it was bob quinn

The Atlantean Trilogy (1981/1984)
Atlantean was a trilogy of TV films made by Irish film maker Bob Quinn in 1983. These films dismissed as myth the popular belief in "Celtic" origins of the inhabitants of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Galicia. Focusing on the role of sailing in Connemara society, where his films were made, Quinn investigated the history of the Atlantic sea lanes from the Baltic Sea and the British Isles as far south as the Mediterranean and North Africa. Quinn suggested that Ireland's first inhabitants came by boat sometime after the end of the last ice age - probably from the warmer, more populous south. As navigation gave rise to coastal settlement over long periods of time, overseas trade and cultural exchanges continued until at least the Vikings. The Irish language, music and art was therefore related to ancient Iberian, Mediterranean and North African culture, in particular the indigenous Berbers of North Africa.

According to Quinn, the idea of "Celtic" origins was probably invented by Christian intellectuals in the Middle Ages eager to affirm a "racial" pan-European identity amongst the unusual inhabitants of the western seaboards.

Bob Quinn developed these ideas into a book: The Atlantean Irish.

The Celtic theory has long been questioned by academics. In recent years, the discovery of mitochondrial DNA has been used as a method to map the historical migration of mankind's genetic groups. Such genetic tests, conducted in Ireland in 2004, confirmed that the theory of Celtic origins in Ireland is genetically unfounded. In earlier tests, Bryan Sykes, genetic scientist and author of bestseller The Seven Daughters of Eve, while analysing European DNA groups identified what he called the "Clan of Tara" – a genetic group that included the coastal peoples of the British Isles, the Atlantic seaboards of continental Europe and the coasts of the Mediterranean. Sykes did not conduct genetic tests in North Africa amongst Berbers.
http://www.powerset.com/explore/semhtml/Atlantean_(TV_movie_trilogy)?query=Atlantean+(TV+movie+trilogy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Quinn_(Irish_filmmaker)

Pgibson

Belfast wrote: »

it was bob quinn

The Atlantean Trilogy (1981/1984)

Bob Quinn developed these ideas into a book: The Atlantean Irish.

I remember that well.

I remember him playing north African folk music in the background in a Connemara setting.

He then asked "Could we tell the difference?"

He omitted to mention that people were not listening to the "background"
music at the time when an interview was being conducted in the foreground.

The theory is RUBBISH from start to finish.

It is HE who was making up the fantastic tales.

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