Celts around the world…
Explore the Celtic Nations…
Introduction
Emigration from the Celtic nations has been a feature for at least the last five hundred years.
Driven by necessity (unemployment and even famine at home), or by economic opportunity abroad (in the mining industry, for example) the Celts moved overseas to start new lives in enormous numbers.
There are likely more than 120 million people of Celtic descent in North and South America, Australasia, Africa and Europe. The largest single group is from Ireland, followed by Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. The biggest single destination for migrating Celts, and hence the home of the majority of those with Celtic ancestry today, was the United States.
Celtic culture remains vibrant in these diaspora countries, from the gigantic St Patrick’s Day parades in New York and Boston to festivals of Celtic music in Canada, the US and Australia. From the hundreds of Highland Games festivals and even the Welsh Eisteddfods in the remote Argentine province of Patagonia, people strive to keep their Celtic heritage alive and pass it on to the next generations.
Here we will document and celebrate the Celts around the world, highlighting the organisations and events keeping the flame of the ‘old countries’ burning brightly in their new homes.
Brittany
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Cornwall
It used to be said that ‘A mine is a hole anywhere in the world with at least one Cornishman at the bottom of it.’ A neat way of summing up the fact that many of those who emigrated from Cornwall were miners.
Ireland
The Irish make up by far the biggest proportion of overseas Celts. Up to 10 million people are estimated to have emigrated from Ireland and more than 70 million people around the world claim Irish descent – around 11x the current population of the island of Ireland. It’s no surprise then that the constitution of the Republic of Ireland recognises the importance of the diaspora: ‘…the Irish Nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.’
Isle of Man
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Scotland
Scots are second only to the Irish in terms of the numbers who have left home for a new life elsewhere. Between 1821 and 1945, and in waves concentrated particularly in the 1850s, 1870s, early 1900s and the interwar period, over two million migrants left Scotland. More than half to the USA with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand being other important destinations. It is estimated that there are now around 50 million people worldwide with Scottish ancestry.
Wales
Welsh emigration has historically been on a smaller scale than that from Ireland and Scotland, with the overseas Welsh diaspora estimated at 3 million.
