Where do travellers come from?

Answer 1

The travellers are a nomadic subculture from Ireland whose actual origins are hotly debated among scholars. Some claim the travellers are descendants of landowners made homeless by Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland. One of the more far-fetched explanations for the travellers says they are descended from a tinsmith who helped craft the cross used to crucify Jesus. The tinsmith's descendants were said to be cursed to wander the earth until the messiah's second coming.

According to genetic tests performed on travellers, their actual origin can probably be traced to a single individual of non-Irish descent. The Irish travellers are considered a distinct ethnic group by British law but not by the Irish government. In addition, they possess a distinctive culture and dialect from their Irish peers. However, their surnames are generally Irish in origin.

Travellers are often associated with or even misidentified as gypsies, another nomadic ethnic subculture of Europe. They are, however, distinct groups with entirely different origins and cultures. Because of their clannish nature, both travellers and gypsies are often targets of prejudice and open discrimination.

why have u just mentioned Irish travellers? I'm a scottish traveller and am also a recgonised ethnic minority now in Scotland we share a simmilar but altogather diffrent language and history to that of Irish travellers and English and welsh travellers...there are sub romani groups in both England and Scotland,not all who say they are romany are and most people don't understand where the romany gypsies originally came from,its said it was from India and thair are darker haired skinned travellers in Ireland and Scotland and thair are some very white groups who call them selves romany...I'm not a geneologist but there needs more research into this...its a rich and diverse heritage and alliance between the gypsy/travellers