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The Icelandic admixture problem

The Icelandic admixture problem The Icelandic admixture problem BY E. A. THOMPSON The Statistical Laboratory, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge I. INTRODUCTION Iceland was colonized by Norsemen between A.D. 874 and A.D. 930. By 950 the population was 50,000 and remained remarkably constant until about 1900 ; plague in 1402-4, repression and famine in the sixteenth century, smallpox epidemics in 1707-9 and mass emigration in the nineteenth century all contributed to keeping the population between 50,000 and 70,000. It has been estimated (J.H. Edwards, personal communication) tha.t the harmonic mean of the population size over the period since A.D. 950 is 60,000 and that the effective population size must therefore be about 30,000. Many of the Norse colonists had spent some time in Scotland or Ireland before colonizing Iceland and many had Irish slaves. Thus the Icelandic population of A.D. 950 was a Celtic-Norse mixture; only the proportions are in doubt. The sagas claim that the population was Norse, but these were written long after colonization. The language and culture are Norse, and all later political links were with Scandinavia. Although this indicates that the ruling classes, at least, were of Norse origin, study of blood-group gene http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annals of Human Genetics Wiley

The Icelandic admixture problem

Annals of Human Genetics , Volume 37 (1) – Jul 1, 1973

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References (10)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1973 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
0003-4800
eISSN
1469-1809
DOI
10.1111/j.1469-1809.1973.tb01815.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Icelandic admixture problem BY E. A. THOMPSON The Statistical Laboratory, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge I. INTRODUCTION Iceland was colonized by Norsemen between A.D. 874 and A.D. 930. By 950 the population was 50,000 and remained remarkably constant until about 1900 ; plague in 1402-4, repression and famine in the sixteenth century, smallpox epidemics in 1707-9 and mass emigration in the nineteenth century all contributed to keeping the population between 50,000 and 70,000. It has been estimated (J.H. Edwards, personal communication) tha.t the harmonic mean of the population size over the period since A.D. 950 is 60,000 and that the effective population size must therefore be about 30,000. Many of the Norse colonists had spent some time in Scotland or Ireland before colonizing Iceland and many had Irish slaves. Thus the Icelandic population of A.D. 950 was a Celtic-Norse mixture; only the proportions are in doubt. The sagas claim that the population was Norse, but these were written long after colonization. The language and culture are Norse, and all later political links were with Scandinavia. Although this indicates that the ruling classes, at least, were of Norse origin, study of blood-group gene

Journal

Annals of Human GeneticsWiley

Published: Jul 1, 1973

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