Thank you. A hundred or more years ago, several hundred miles was a very long way from Northern Portugal. I was just curious. Thanks Ronnie ----- Original Message ----- From: "grandcross" <grandcross@swbell.net> To: "Ronnie French" <rmfrench@charter.net>; <prt-madeira@rootsweb.com>; "Katherine Hope Borges" <kvjjmmborges@msn.com>; <cherimello@gmail.com>; <kriolu@hotmail.com> Cc: <prt-madeira@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 2:44 PM Subject: Re: [PT-MADEIRA] Madeira and Galicia > > > >>I hope this is not too dumb a question. How do the Basque's fit in. >>Aren't they close by or partly in the Northern Portuguese area? Or do >>they fit in at all? >> >> Ronnie > > > There are no such things as dumb questions on this list. > > The Basques are genetically controversial. What I mean by that is some > people believe they have been in Europe the longest of any identifiable > group, and there is reason for so concluding on the basis of their unique > language alone. Others find fault in that thinking. Genetically, they > follow west European normal patterns for the most part, not much different > from their neighbors. One distinction that comes immediately to mind is > that Basqueland is a hot spot for mito V. Otherwise, all other haplogroups > are represented with perhaps slightly fewer so-called Neolithic types. > > They are situated several hundred miles from Portugal and, culturally, > extend from north central-eastern Spain into southwestern France. >