Searching for Viking Pirate Descendants

British scientists are collecting DNA from people in France to find descendants of the Vikings, sailors and pirates who set sail to invade Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries.

British scientists on June 15 began collecting DNA from people in the Cotentin peninsula, Normandy region, northern France, in order to find descendants of the Vikings.

The Vikings were very good at sea

The Viking pirates set sail across Europe, to the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, ... plunder, invade and settle in the captured land. In addition, they were explorers, merchants, warriors, and pirates formerly living on the Scandinavian peninsula, in present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

About 100 volunteers on the Cotentin Peninsula provided DNA samples to Leicester University scholars. They were chosen because the name is of Scandinavian origin, has lived in France since the tatkuinkcom 11th century or has grandparents living close to home, within a radius of 50 km.

According to history lecturer Richard Jones, the purpose of this is to understand more about the "invasion and propagation of Scandinavian colonists" in the 9th and 10th centuries, and to find out whether they married people of the same family, or was to marry the natives when they invaded.

However

the study is raising concerns that it will fuel racism in France, even though the French government has given the green light to the study.

"We are worried that this will create the perception that skull couple there are real Normans and fake Normans," said Jacques Declosmenil, head of the local anti-apartheid movement. "In the current xenophobic climate, it's dangerous."

Pierre Bauduin, a professor of medieval history at the University of Caen, also warned University of Leicester scholars that racial origin is an extremely sensitive topic in France.

In addition to Normandy, the team also conducted Viking posthumous searches in three other regions of England.