Where do dark skinned swedes originate from?

Question:My great-grandmother was born in Denmark, but both her parents emigrated there from Sweden. She was olive skinned, dark eyed, and auburn haired, not the typical Swedish complexion. I am curious to know if there were any indigenous native communities in Sweden, that may have intermarried with Swedes. Everyone in our family have been curious about this, but my mother said it wasn't a subject that my great-grandmother was keen on talking about. I assume there was a fair amount of discrimination where she lived, which is probably why she emigrated to America.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My great-grandmother was born in Denmark, but both her parents emigrated there from Sweden. She was olive skinned, dark eyed, and auburn haired, not the typical Swedish complexion. I am curious to know if there were any indigenous native communities in Sweden, that may have intermarried with Swedes. Everyone in our family have been curious about this, but my mother said it wasn't a subject that my great-grandmother was keen on talking about. I assume there was a fair amount of discrimination where she lived, which is probably why she emigrated to America.

(Apologies in advance, your question fascinated me so much I ended up writing a novel for an answer.)

The native population would be Sámi (ie, Lapplanders) but they come from the very far north of Sweden. But the Sámi people tend not to be noticeably darker in complexion than anyone else in Scandinavia.

Wikipedia has this to say however, which does fit in a little with what you mention:

"There are an estimated 30,000 people living in North America that are either Sami, or decedents of Sami.
...
t is common that these Sami immigrants decedents know little of this heritage because of their ancestors willfully hid their culture because of the discrimination that they faced by the dominate Scandinavian cutlture. This downplaying of their culture was done in order for them to blend into their respective Scandinavian cultures."

But, like I said, auburn hair, dark eyes and skin, would be as uncommon for a Sámi as any other Swede.

Another possibility is gypsy. The Swedish gypsies were always (and still are, to an extent) outsiders, sometimes subject to vicious persecution, and like all romany are dark in complexion, almost universally dark eyes and dark hair. They did not and still do not, commonly intermarry with anyone but themselves though. Good luck finding any much info if that's the case, there's not much to be had on the net at all.

The Flemish (Walloon) case is another possibility.

The walloon (French speaking Belgian) connection is a possibility, my husbands family is of Walloon extraction and we have a French surname. There was extensive migration around the early 1600's, so by the time your grandmother was born, they were well integrated into Swedish society.

If her surname (look out for spelling variants) or those of either of her parents are on this list (mine is heh), then that's at least something you can look into:
http://www.vallon.se/ind_forsk.htm

All that said however, most of my husbands extended family (and there's about a million of 'em) are blonde or dark blonde, with light coloured eyes, either green or blue. My own children are typically swedish skin colouring, tan after approx 3.4 seconds in the sun, blonde, and with green eyes, which is really hilarious to me, since I'm an olive skinned polynesian from NZ :)

I can't really find any references to typical colouring of belgians, either today or in the 1620's, though, to say either way how much the walloon influence shows through in our family, or if it's really just in name after 400 years.

Meanwhile, here's a really fascinating anthropological survey of the swedish population from 1927, with numbers. They tend not to record this kind of thing anymore, or at least, not make it public. And Sweden is of course a lot more culturally diverse than it was then, so current numbers wouldn't be much use, but 1927 is early enough that the general population was a lot more homogenous than it is now, so the numbers likely hold.

Scan here: http://runeberg.org/halsovan/1927/0182.h...

Quick translation of the relevant bit:
Eye colour:
86.9% light eye colour
8.1% medium eye colour
5% brown eye colour

Hair:
6.9% light blonde (I guess that really white blonde :)
62.9% blonde
25.1% brown
2.0% black (brown toned)
0.2% black (blue toned)
3.3% red hair

Keep in mind, Swedes tend to tan quickly and can appear quite unexpectedly dark skinned the minute summer hits. Think Britt Ekland (and try not to think of the results of all that suntanning later on in her life :)

Also, dark hair is quite common in Norway (noticeably more so than in Sweden, to my eye, although again, I don't really have numbers to back that up), and in Denmark, and people have always intermarried across the borders.

So, while there's lots of possibilities, there's also a chance she just lucked out on an interesting combo in the lottery that is genetics.

even if there were 'native' communities in the area, historically.. that is not going to guarantee that it was the source of the dark coloring. There is always the possibility of a scandalous dark haired traveling salesman or equivalent hidden in the past. which would account for the unwillingness to discuss it. Certain conclusions are such that they never (or very seldom) can be verified or proven. Or.. there ARE amazing finds that confirm someone (not necessarily gr grandma) was born without benefit of married parents.
Moral of my story is that you cannot assume things in genealogy, without some documentation.

The Dutch and Flemish did a good amount of intermarrying with the Swedes and Danes during the days of the Hanseatic League. The Flemish, in particular, were quite dark (like Audrey Hepburn), with black eyes and very thick dark hair. The Spaniards and Russians also had a "genetic presence" in the region, particularly after the 1700s.

If you're talking about your mother's mother's mother, then you can have a mitochondrial DNA test done to tell you whether your great-great grandmother's origin was European or Middle Eastern. It will cost over $100, easily, but I found it to be fascinating information to have. There are many reputable companies out there.

Something I've noticed in my tree is that more white men married brown women than the other way around.