The Home of the Celts

Even nowadays with the turning of the century, the Celts do not cease to amaze us, and we are still digging up the truth about these European peoples who shared a similar culture, beliefs and traditions. For the last century, historians believed that the homeland of the Celtic-speaking peoples lay in central Europe, thus, from there they spread across the European continent in several waves of migration. Spreading their language, culture, traditions and way of living to almost every corner of ancient European landmass. It is told that the Celts originated during the late bronze and early iron ages, in communities of southern Germany and northern Austria, and such knowledge became the default reading of early Celtic and indeed early European history.

However, we often encounter problems in these so called historical facts. Amongst the professional academic cerclis, this theory is suspected to be wrong, and many state that it is wrong indeed, and for decades they know about it.

The homelands of the Celtic-speaking peoples were never in central Europe it seems. They were in the one place where Celtic-speakers have always been known to exist and where some still do exist, the north-western and western Europe. The modern nations and territories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, England, Brittany, western France, Spain and Portugal form the historic heartland of the Celts and their ancient place of origin. It was thought that the Celts came from Nowadays Germany and Austria into the western lands, but in truth they originated in the Atlantic regions, went to central Europe and then their migrations in mass started from there and came back (some never left) to the Atlantic regions, to their ancestral lands.

The BBC has news on a new three-year project to trace the origins of the Celtic peoples, including an interview with Professor John Koch, who points out the failure of the old theories to explain the origin of the Celtic-speaking nations. Even myself, I have been studying about European cultures for the past 8 years, not only the Norse as you might think when reading my blog, but also the Celts. Amongst my colleagues of History and Archaeology, we too have found a lot of evidence that strongly supports this theory.

Viking Invasions in the Iberian Peninsula

Viking Invasions in the Iberian Peninsula

ATTENTION! Read the description below. This is NOT Fiction. This is my final work after 6 months of research, from historical books and documentation as my source of study.

As you can see in this map that I have made, the red area are the territories where the Vikings have been. Between the IX and XI centuries the Vikings invaded the Iberian Peninsula. They did not only raid territories, but also made settlements, colonies, winter camps and also made a living. More than 200 years of Viking presence in the land, documented in that time by the peoples that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula. Lots of raids, battles, colonisations, invasions, and so on, have been registered, but I'm certain that the Vikings went further inland, because they used the rivers as their routes to spread all over the land. Note that in these 200 years, the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and their boundaries changed a lot. Territories have been conquered and lost, the christian kingdoms of the North against the Muslim kingdom of the South. The christian kingdoms of the North belonged to the Germanic descendants of the Iberian Peninsula who made the first Christian Kingdoms of the land, after the decline of the Roman Empire. The kingdoms were formed around the V century C.E. by the Swabians, Vandals, Goths and Visigoths, all germanic peoples from nowadays Germany, Norway and Lower Sweden respectively. In the beginning of the VIII century C.E. the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Muslims, who pushed the germanic territories to the north, thus ending the germanic nations of the Iberian lands. Between the IX and XI centuries, the Vikings invaded these lands, and fought against the descendants of their ancestors and also against the Muslims of the south. Many battles were recorded, on both land and sea. But the Vikings also colonised territories, such as modern Povoa de Varzim in northern Portugal, and left many decendents in other places. Archaeology helps digging up the truth, and we are still finding a lot of Norse evidence in the land. We also know that defeated Vikings couldn't return home, and they ended up living all over the landscape, such is the case of the city of Cordova in modern southern Spain. Most Vikings raided during Summer, and they didn't return home to pass the Winter, they just built winter camps along the coast and near the main rivers, waiting to raid again when the warmer seasons started.
The christian kingdoms of the north conquered many territories to the Muslims, and the christian faith was spreading all over Europe, and would soon came to Northern Europe. The crusades were formed, and after these 200 years of Viking raids in the Iberian Peninsula, the Vikings (now christianized) helped the Kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, to defeat and drive away the Muslims from the land. There are thousands of documents about this and also paintings that depict these events, Viking longboats side by side with the boats of the soon-to-be Portuguese, invading Nowadays Lisbon for example, and taking back the land, battling and making siege against the Muslims. The Kingdom of Portugal (and also the other Kingdoms of Spain) rewarded the Norse men for their help against the Muslims, and gave them lands to inhabit. Once in a while we find and dig their graves and watch the modern people of those lands and see their descendants, wearing the glimpse of their Norse ancestors. 
Not many historians talk about the Norse peoples of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), so I have made this map to show that these countries, not only have a rich germanic history, but also a very rich Norse history, as well as Celtic and Roman. Once again I must point out, that this map is NOT the source of Fiction, it is the final work of 6 months of research. I hope you all like it.

Made with watercolor and gel pen.

Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing of the Viking Invasions in the Iberian Peninsula, made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Note2: If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me at http://ask.fm/ArithHarger