The Nordish Race

The Nordish Race

by
Richard McCulloch

Life, in all its many and varied forms and manifestations, high and low, is the product of the process of divergent evolution. The Nordish or Northern European race, centered in northern Europe, is one of those forms of Life, distinct from all others, and exhibits within its varied ranks many traits that are unique unto itself.

Perhaps nowhere on earth is there a greater amount of human variety within a similar area than in Europe. It is a rich treasure house of human diversity, each of its many nations and peoples a treasure of humanity to be cherished and preserved. The development and preservation of this extensive diversity was long nurtured and protected by Europe's relative geographic isolation. This was especially true of western Europe, which "...was a cul-de-sac at the end of the inhabited world, with only fairly narrow access routes from the east, none from the west or the glaciated north, and none from the south before humans could navigate the Mediterranean." [Note 1] As one would expect from this protected insularity, all of the indigenous races of Europe belong to the same subspecies -- the Caucasian. (Non-Caucasians did not begin entering Europe in significant numbers until 1955). But they do not all belong to the same race, as they are not all able to interbreed without negating or diminishing the racial traits of one or both parent stocks. In fact, the European population consists of several different regional racial groups or geographic races whose traits are not genetically compatible but are negated or diminished by interbreeding between the groups.

There are three main regional racial groupings in Europe. The southern region (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece) is a racial clinal zone (a border area where different races meet and intermix) where the Mediterranean racial group -- which inhabits southwest Asia (the "Middle East") and northern Africa as well as southern Europe -- has long intermixed with invaders from the northern areas of Europe. In this southern European "melting pot" -- which has dissolved many peoples into its solution -- the Mediterranids, in various local types, are generally dominant, having assimilated most of the other elements with which they have been hybridized, although some remnants of the other elements still survive.

In the middle region the Alpine racial group -- including the Alpinid, Dinaric and Ladogan races of southern France, northern Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, the Balkans, Ukraine and eastern Russia -- is predominant.

The northern region is inhabited by the Nordish racial group ("Nord" being the word for north in both French and German). The latter can be divided into two subgroups: an Inner or Central subgroup consisting of the Nordic, Borreby, Brünn, Fälish, Trønder and Anglo-Saxon subraces and subtypes of the British Isles, Scandinavia, northern Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium; and an Outer or Periphery subgroup, which includes the Atlantid subtypes of the British Isles, and the Noric, East Baltic and Neo-Danubian subtypes which predominate in northern France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Baltic States, Poland and northwestern Russia. These last inhabit the racial clinal zone between the Central Nordish and Alpine racial groups, and are intermediate types resulting from hybridization or intermixture between these two groups, with the Nordish element being generally more numerous and predominant. The term Nordish is here used to refer to the indigenous peoples of northern Europe as a whole, including both Central and Periphery types, and also those peoples in North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and elsewhere whose ancestors were of Northern European racial origin.

Although this system of classification is too simple to be completely accurate, and certainly too simple to be regarded as complete, it is tolerably accurate in identifying those European population groups which have a sufficient degree of genetic similarity and compatibility that they can interbreed more or less freely within the group without negating -- or significantly altering or disrupting -- their unique and distinctive ensembles of genetic characteristics. These racial groups can therefore be defined as races. Consequently, although these races can be further subdivided into a richly diverse variety of subraces and subtypes, the racial level of classification will be regarded as sufficient for most discussions in this work. A more detailed description of the subdivisions -- subraces and subtypes -- of the Nordish race is given in the outline below, followed by a listing of the countries of Europe showing the distribution of the different European racial types. For a more detailed outline of the Mediterranean, Alpine and other racial groups see The Races of Humanity .

The Nordish race, like many others, can be conceived as a series of concentric circles, with the innermost circle, the racial core or navel, consisting of the most distinct and definitive subracial types, in relation to which, in degrees of closeness or distance, the subracial types of the outer circles are defined. The racial outline given below is based on this principle. Some of the names are derived from archaeological sites where early examples of the types were found, others are based on geographical regions with which the types are associated.

Nordish or Northern European Race

1. Inner Circle of Core or Central Subracial Types a. Aboriginal Northwest European subraces (The descendants of the first peoples to settle in northwest Europe, who retreated to refuge areas in southern France and northern Spain during the Last Glacial Maximum of 20,000-15,000 years ago [18,000-13,000 B.C.], and then re-expanded northward along the coasts of the Atlantic and the North Sea during the final phase of the Upper Paleolithic period circa 15,000-10,000 years ago [13,000-8,000 B.C.]) 1.) Borreby subrace (named after Danish island site where paleolithic remains were found; principal element in Denmark, southwest coast of Sweden, northern Germany, the Rhineland and the Ruhr, majority element in Wallonia) 2.) Brünn subrace (named after paleolithic site near Brno, or Brünn, Czech Republic; predominant element in western Ireland) b. Nordic or Nordid subrace (The modern Nordic subrace is probably descended from an ancient blending of several proto-Nordic populations whose ancestors spent the Last Glacial Maximum in refuge areas in the Balkans and Ukraine -- the "Kurgan" or burial-mound people of the Ukraine, the "Corded-ware" pottery or battleaxe people of the southern Baltic region, and the "Danubian" or Linearband pottery Neolithic farmers of central Europe -- whose combination and expansion in northern Europe circa 5,500-2,000 B.C. is probably associated with the spread of Neolithic agriculture and the Indo-European language. The "Corded-ware" element is stronger in the Hallstatt Nordic type while the "Danubian" element is stronger in the Keltic Nordic type.) 1.) Hallstatt or Österdal type (named after Austrian site where remains were found and Norwegian valley near Oslo; predominant element in Sweden and southeastern Norway, common in Denmark, western Finland, eastern England and northern Germany) 2.) Keltic type (predominant element in Flanders, majority in the Netherlands and northern and western Switzerland, primary element in England, eastern Scotland and old Frankish country in southwest Germany, common in Wales and Ireland; ancient Franks and northern Kelts [the Germanokelten] were of this type which, despite its name, is perhaps most closely associated with the westernmost and southernmost of the ancient Germanic peoples and their descendants) c. Blended types of above subraces 1.) Anglo-Saxon or Old Germanic Reihengräber type (Nordic- Brünn blend; predominant element in the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia) and the Dutch and German Frisian Islands, common in southeast England and northwest Germany) 2.) Trønder type (Brünn-Nordic blend; predominant element in Trøndelagen area of western Norway [whence the name] and Iceland, common in northeast England and Scotland) 3.) Fälish, Dalofalid or Dalo-Nordic type (Nordic-Borreby blend; names from Fälen [German for "plain"] and Dalarna region of Sweden (Kopparberg); primary element on the north German plain, Jutland and the Swedish province of Kopparberg)
2. Outer Circle of Periphery Subracial Types a. Northwestern periphery types (ancient stabilized blends of Inner Circle or Central Nordish inhabitants of northwestern Europe with Atlanto-Mediterraneans who migrated from the Iberian peninsula up the Atlantic coast as far as Norway during the Mesolithic period circa 8,000-4,500 B.C. They entered Great Britain from the west coast whereas Nordic elements later entered from the east coast from northwest Europe.) 1.) North-Atlantid type (associated with megalithic monuments and long barrow burial sites; primary element in Wales, southeast coast of Ireland and western Scotland, common in England; in coloring commonly combines dark hair with light eyes) 2.) Palaeo-Atlantid type (common in Wales and in western England and Scotland from the Midlands to Glasgow, minor element in Norway; hair and eye coloring both dark) b. Southern and Eastern periphery types (ancient stabilized blends of Inner Circle Nordish types with neighboring Caucasoid races) 1.) Neo-Danubian type (eastern periphery blend of original Danubian and Kurgan proto-Nordics with Ladogan, with the Nordic element dominant; majority element in Poland and Belorussia, primary element in Hungary, west Ukraine and northwest Russia, important in Finland and the Baltic States) 2.) East Baltic type (northeast periphery blend of Borreby and/or Fälish with Neo-Danubian and/or Ladogan; majority element in Finland and the Baltic States, formerly predominant in Old Prussia, but this element now dispersed throughout Germany as a result of the post-war expulsion of the Prussian population from its ancestral homeland) 3.) Noric or Sub-Nordic type (southern periphery blend of Nordic with Alpine and/or Dinaric, with the Nordic element dominant; principal element in northern France, important element in central Germany and Austria, common in Transylvania and western Ukraine, minor in British Isles)

Dominant or predominant = over 60% majority
Majority or major = 50-60% majority
Principal or primary = 25-49% plurality; less than a majority, but most numerous racial type
Important = 25-49% minority; not most numerous racial type
Common = 5-25% minority
Minor = less than 5% minority

There is regional variation within the types, forming local subtypes and varieties. Of the three central Nordish subraces, the Borrebys and Brünns tend to have somewhat larger heads, broader features and heavier body builds than the Nordics. In height they are essentially the same. Of American presidents in this century Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and George Bush are good examples of the Nordic subrace, Theodore Roosevelt and Gerald Ford of the Borreby, and John Kennedy of the Brünn. The Palaeo-Atlantids are typically dark-eyed (brown or dark-mixed, the latter a mixture of brown with blue or green). The other Nordish types are predominantly light-eyed (blue, gray, green or light-mixed). Light-mixed eyes (a mixture of blue and green) are particularly common in the Nordic subrace. The two Atlantid types are dark haired. Among the other types hair color is variable from very dark to very light, with the light and medium brown shades generally the most common among adults. Hair color is lightest among children, and usually darkens with age. Among adults the incidence of blond hair varies, from lows of 13-15% in the Walloon Borrebys and the Irish Brünns, to highs of over 50% among the Hallstatt Nordic, Trønder, Borreby and Fälish peoples of Scandinavia, the Anglo-Saxons of Frisia, and the East Baltics of Finland. In England, Scotland and Ireland the incidence of blond hair is much higher in the east than in the west, in Germany it is much higher in the north than in the south. As a rule, the higher the incidence of blond hair the higher also is the proportion of the light blond shades to the dark blond. Red hair is common in the Brünn and Borreby stems (and in those of partial Brünn or Borreby derivation), minimal in the Nordic. For reference, an estimate of the distribution of racial types in the indigenous European populations is given below.

Estimated Racial Composition and Nordish Percentage of Indigenous European Populations:

Sweden = 70% Hallstatt Nordic (Carleton Coon described Sweden as a refuge area for the classic Nordic race), 10% Borreby (most common in the southwest coastal region), 10% Fälish (most common in Dalarna [Kopparberg] and the southwest coastal region), 5% Trønder (most common near the central Norwegian border), 5% East Baltic = 100% Nordish (95% central and 5% periphery types)
Norway = 45% Trønder (most common in the west), 30% Hallstatt Nordic (most common in the southeast area around Oslo), 10% Borreby (most common in the southwest), 7% Fälish (most common in the south), 5% East Baltic (most common in the far north), 3% Palaeo-Atlantid (found in western coastal areas) = 100% Nordish (92% central and 8% periphery types)
Denmark = 40% Borreby, 30% Fälish, 20% Hallstatt Nordic, 5% Anglo-Saxon, 5% East Baltic = 100% Nordish (95% central and 5% periphery types)
Iceland = 60% Trønder, 22% Borreby, 15% Brünn, 3% Palaeo-Atlantid = 100% Nordish (97% central and 3% periphery types)
England = 25% Keltic Nordic (derived from pre-Roman invaders), 15% Anglo-Saxon (post-Roman Germanic invaders, most common in the southeast, especially East Anglia), 15% Brünn {indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants}, 15% North-Atlantid and 10% Palaeo-Atlantid (blend of Mesolithic Atlanto-Mediterranean invaders with both earlier and later arrivals; most common in the Midlands and northwest), 8% Hallstatt Nordic (of Viking and Norman derivation), 5% Trønder (of Norwegian Viking derivation; most common in the northeast), 3% Borreby and 2% Fälish (both of Viking and Norman derivation; associated with the landed gentry; source of the "John Bull" type), 2% Noric (from Bronze-Age invaders) = 100% Nordish (73% central and 27% periphery types)
Scotland = 25% Keltic Nordic, 22% Trønder (most common in the northeast), 10% North-Atlantid (most common in the west), 10% Anglo-Saxon (most common in the southeast), 10% Palaeo-Atlantid (most common in the southwest), 10% Brünn, 5% Hallstatt Nordic, 4% Borreby, 4% Noric = 100% Nordish (76% central and 24% periphery types)
Ireland = 40% Brünn (indigenous Paleolithic inhabitants, most common in the west), 30% Keltic Nordic (most common in the east), 9% North-Atlantid, 9% Borreby, 3% Palaeo-Atlantid, 3% Trønder, 2% Noric, 2% Anglo-Saxon, 1% Hallstatt Nordic = 100% Nordish (86% central and 14% periphery types)
Wales = 35% North-Atlantid, 30% Palaeo-Atlantid, 30% Keltic Nordic, 5% other types = 100% Nordish (35% central and 65% periphery types)
The Netherlands = 50% Keltic Nordic (of Frankish derivation), 20% Borreby, 10% Anglo-Saxon (most common in Frisia), 10% Fälish, 10% Hallstatt Nordic = 100% Central Nordish
Belgium = 60% Keltic Nordic (most common in Flanders, derived from the ancient Belgae and Franks), 35% Borreby and 5% Alpine (both most common in Wallonia) = 95% Central Nordish
Luxembourg = 80% Alpine, 15% Borreby, 5% other Nordish types = 20% Central Nordish
Germany = 25% Borreby (most common in the Rhine and Ruhr valleys and the north), 20% Fälish (most common in the north), 15% Alpine (most common in Baden and Bavaria), 15% Noric, 6% Keltic Nordic (most common in the old Frankish country in the southwest), 5% Anglo-Saxon (most common in the northwest), 5% East Baltic, 5% Dinaric, 4% Hallstatt Nordic = 80% Nordish (60% central and 20% periphery types)
France = 30% Alpine, 30% Noric (most common in the north), 20% Mediterranean (most common in the south and Corsica), 15% Dinaric, 3% Borreby (in the northeast), 2% Nordic = 35% Nordish (5% central and 30% periphery types)
Switzerland = 40% Keltic Nordic and 30% Noric (most common in the north, west and center), 15% Dinaric and 15% Alpine (most common in the south and east) = 70% Nordish (40% central and 30% periphery types)
Austria = 35% Noric, 25% Dinaric, 20% Alpine, 15% Keltic Nordic, 5% Hallstatt Nordic = 55% Nordish (20% central and 35% periphery types)
Poland = 55% Neo-Danubian, 10% Ladogan, 10% Alpine, 10% Dinaric, 5% Hallstatt Nordic, 5% Noric, 5% East Baltic = 70% Nordish (5% central and 65% periphery types)
Finland and the Baltic States = 50% East Baltic, 15% Hallstatt Nordic (most common in the Swedish-settled areas of Finland), 30% Neo-Danubian (most common in southeast Lithuania and northeast Finland), 5% Ladogan = 95% Nordish (15% central and 80% periphery types)
The Czech Republic and Slovakia = 40% Alpine and 15% Noric (most common in Bohemia), 25% Dinaric (most common in Moravia), 20% Neo-Danubian (most common in Slovakia) = 35% Periphery Nordish
Hungary = 35% Neo-Danubian (most common in the northeast), 25% Turanid (of Magyar derivation), 20% Dinaric (most common in the southwest), 15% Alpine (most common in the south), 2% Nordic, 2% Noric, 1% East Mediterranean = 39% Nordish (2% central and 37% periphery types)
Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine = 40% Neo-Danubian (most common in Belorussia and western Ukraine), 35% Ladogan, 8% Nordic, 7% East Mediterranean (most common near the Black Sea coast), 5% Dinaric (most common in eastern Ukraine), 5% Noric = 53% Nordish (8% central and 45% periphery types)
Spain and Portugal = 85% West Mediterranean, 9% South Mediterranean, 5% Dinaric, 1% Nordic (most common in the remnants of the Visigoth aristocracy) = 1% Central Nordish
Italy = 50% Dinaricized Mediterranean (most common in the south and Sicily), 20% Dinaric (most common in the north), 15% Alpine (most common in the northwest), 10% West Mediterranean (most common in Sardinia), 4% Noric (most common in the north, 1% Nordic (most common in the remnants of the Ostrogoth and Lombard aristocracy) = 5% Nordish (1% central and 4% periphery types). Italy, much like the other southern European countries of the Mediterranean region -- Spain, Portugal and Greece -- experienced several waves of Nordish invasions during ancient and early Medieval times, from the Danubians (circa 2,000-1,500 B.C.), who brought the Indo-European language that developed into Latin, and the Kelts (beginning circa 500 B.C.), to the Germanic Ostrogoths and Lombards (A.D. 400-700). These Nordish elements have been gradually assimilated into the majority Mediterranean population, but some of their genetic traits, existing in solution, occasionally recombine to appear in individuals whose other traits are mostly non-Nordish.
Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Macedonia = 75% Dinaric, 10% West Mediterranean (most common on the coast), 10% Noric and 5% Neo-Danubian (most common in the north) = 15% periphery Nordish types
Romania = 35% Dinaric (most common in the west), 25% East Mediterranean (most common on the coast), 20% Neo-Danubian (most common in the northeast), 10% Alpine, 7% Noric and 3% Nordic (most common in the west) = 30% Nordish (3% central and 27% periphery types)
Albania = 75% Dinaric, 10% West Mediterranean, 10% Alpine, 5% Noric = 5% periphery Nordish
Bulgaria = 60% East Mediterranean, 15% Alpine, 15% Dinaric, 5% Turanid, 5% Nordish
Greece = 40% East Mediterranean, 25% Dinaricized Mediterranean, 20% Alpine (most common in Epirus), 10% Dinaric, 5% Nordish (partly assimilated remnant, or genetic recombinations from solution, of various past Nordish invaders, mostly of Danubian type, going back to the ancient Achaeans and Dorians; most common in the north)

Extra-territorial non-indigenous European ethnic groups:

Jews -- Divided into Ashkenazic, Sephardic and Oriental branches. All trace their pre-Diaspora (the dispersion of Jews outside of Israel) origins to the ancient Hebrews, who originally belonged to the Orientalid or Arabid subrace of the Mediterranid race. It is likely that by the beginning of the Diaspora they were already hybridized with Armenid elements. Racially, the Diaspora is largely a history of further hybridization with the populations of the different regions in which the various Jewish groups resided. The modern Ashkenazic branch associated with eastern Europe, by far the most numerous, is a primarily Armenid blend including lesser elements of Orientalid, Turanid, Ladogan, Alpine, Dinaric and Nordish origin. The Sephardic branch is primarily an Orientalid-Armenid blend hybridized with West Mediterraneans. The Oriental branch remains basically true to the pre-Diaspora type.
Gypsies -- originally from India; of Dravidic and Indic races

[Link to Racial Average is Racial Destiny]

In many areas (e.g., Denmark and northern Germany) the various Nordish types are inextricably intermixed (as is also common among Northern Europeans in the United States), often with different subracial classifications between siblings or between parent and child, and with many individuals intermediate between types, but assigned to the type they favor most strongly. The relatively homogeneous population of Hallstatt Nordics in southeast Norway and central Sweden, which Carleton Coon called "a refuge area for the classic Nordic race," is an exception to this rule.

The above outlines and estimates are a synthesis derived from several sources, chief among which are John R. Baker's Race (1974) and Carleton S. Coon's The Races of Europe (1939). The population estimates do not include recent (post-1955) non-European immigrants (e.g., in 1955 the non-European population in Britain was only 50,000), the extra-territorial elements (Jews and Gypsies) of longer standing but ultimately non-European origin, or the Lappoid element in arctic Europe.

The elements classified above as Nordish have been present in Europe since Paleolithic times or before (i.e., before 8,000 B.C.) although there has been extensive movement of elements within the area since then. These elements can be regarded as aboriginal or indigenous to the general northern European area. Before the present (post-1955) era non-Nordish intrusion into this area was very limited, so that a protected racial environment, like that of the Mongoloids in central China or the Congoids in the Congo river basin, could be said to exist. Northern European elements expanded eastward and southward out of this racial heartland, but there was little racially significant intrusion of non-Nordish elements into it. Exceptions to this rule include: the preexisting Lappoid element which remained unobtrusive in the far north; the gradual blending of Borrebys and the original Danubian Nordic Slavs with non-Nordish Ladogans on the eastern periphery; the intrusion of partially Mongoloid Turanid elements from central Asia into the eastern periphery, from the Huns to the Magyars and Tatars, leaving its westernmost influence in Hungary; and the intrusion of extra-territorial elements of non-European origin (e.g., the Jews from Roman times and the Gypsies after 1300). In the post-1955 period this situation of ancient standing has been changing drastically and rapidly due to the massive immigration of other races into Europe, initially into the former colonial powers, then into all the noncommunist countries.

The Nordish people have greatly expanded from their European homeland in the last four centuries. Their greatest acquisition was the North American continent north of the Rio Grande, from which they created the United States and Canada. The celebrated voyages of Christopher Columbus, beginning in 1492, opened Central and South America and the Caribbean for Spanish and Portuguese conquest and settlement, but had relatively little meaning for the Nordish race or for North America. More than a century passed from the time of the last voyage of Columbus to the founding of the first permanent Nordish settlement in the continent that, over the course of the next several centuries, became a vast new homeland for the Nordish race. But contrary to Nordish racial interests -- which required a racially homogeneous Nordish nation to ensure racial independence and preservation -- part (about one million, or about 5%) of the massive traffic in Congoid slaves, originally and primarily directed to Caribbean and South American markets, was redirected to the southern English colonies. This was the beginning of the racial problem, a wound that festered, often bled, defied solution, expanded, spread and grew to the point where the predominance, or very survival, of the Nordish race in North America, and even in northern Europe, is now threatened.

In 2000 the Nordish race numbered about 530 million people, constituting about 21% of the Caucasoid subspecies and about 8.8% of the world's total human population. But due to the drastic decline in its birthrate since 1970, to less than half the world average (to about 1.8 births per woman, or 15% below the replacement level of 2.1 per woman), only about 4.4% of the world's children and new births are Nordish. Of the 530 million Northern Europeans, about 260 million are central and 270 million periphery types. Approximately 345 million are in Europe (135 million central and 210 million periphery types) and 185 million outside Europe (125 million central and 60 million periphery types) in the new Nordish homelands of the United States (142 million), Canada (21 million), Australia (15 million), New Zealand (2.8 million) and South Africa (4.5 million).

The almost reverse proportions of central and periphery Nordish types between the European and overseas populations is noteworthy, and is due to the leading role played by the predominantly central Nordish peoples of northwest Europe, especially the British Isles, in the settlement of the new racial homelands. As a result, the new Nordish homelands outside Europe, which have only 35% of the total Nordish population, have fully 48% of the central Nordish population. To illustrate this, the 142 million Northern Europeans in the United States are about 65% central and 35% periphery types, whereas the Northern Europeans in the countries of eastern Europe are about 15% central and 85% periphery types. There is also a difference in the periphery types themselves, as a major part of those in the U.S. are of the northwestern Atlantid types, chiefly of British derivation, whereas those in eastern Europe are of the eastern types, especially the Neo-Danubian.

In the peopling of the earth during the last five centuries there have been great racial migrations and the creation of new racial homelands. The Nordish or Northern European race, in particular, enjoyed extensive geographical expansion during this period, acquiring the American continent north of the Rio Grande, Australia and New Zealand as new homelands for its further growth and development. But great opportunities are often accompanied by great perils, and the manner of this expansion created new and unprecedented racial dangers for the race that conducted it. In its efforts to remake the world in its own image it sowed the seeds whose harvest now threatens it with destruction.

In almost two centuries of global dominance the Nordish race changed the world, for both good and bad. In changing the world the Nordish race itself did not remain immune from change, for both good and bad. It set forces in motion that eventually exceeded its power to control, but what was done could not be undone. Pandora's box was opened, the dragon's teeth were sown, other races were stimulated, energized and mobilized to pursue their own goals and interests, and to challenge and threaten the most vital interests of the race whose light touch, or heavy hand, had set them in motion.

The Nordish race went out from its homelands to gain the world, but is now in peril of losing everything it has, and everything it is and can be. In its attempt to gain all it unknowingly and unwisely risked all, and is now in danger of losing all. The nature of that ultimate risk and danger is the subject of other essays on this site.

1. Christopher Stringer and Clive Gamble, In Search of the Neanderthals, (Thames and Hudson, 1993), pp. 121-122.

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