Ancient History of British Isles

The History of the British Isles. Around 3000 years BC many parts of Europe including the British Isles, were inhabited by a people called the Iberians. Some of their descendants are still found in the North of Spain (the Iberia Peninsula). We don’t know much about these early people. We can learn something from there skeletons, their weapons. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. During the period from the 6th to the 3rd century BC, a people called Celts, spread across Europe from the East to the West. During the iron age the Celtic tribes invaded Britain.

Celtic tribes called the Picts and the Scots inhabited the north of the country. The Britons a powerful Celtic tribe held most of the country and gave the name to the islands and to the country later. The Iberians were weak to fight back the attacks of Celts who had metal weapons. Most of the Iberians were killed driven into the mountains or mixed with the Celts. The Celts didn’t write down any events. The Greeks were the first to mention the British Isles. In the 1st century BC when the Romans came to Britain the Celts lived in tribes and obeyed chiefs.

They had no towns, the cultivated crops, wore woden clothes, kept large herds of cattle and sheep. So they lived under the primitive system. Nowadays the descendants of Celts live on the territory of the British Isles. The Welsh, who live in Wales care of Celtic origin. They speak Welsh a Celtic language. The Roman conquest of Britain In 55 BC the Roman army invaded Britain, but the Celts bravely resisted their attack. Only 100 years later in 43 AD the Roman army conquered the South-East of Britain. Other parts of Britain were taken during the next 40 years.

The Romans were unable to conquer the hilly districts of the West and Scottish highlands. The Romans built towns, willas, public baths, and stone roads. Together, with a high civilization, the Romans brought slavery to the British Isles. The noble Celts adopted the way of life of the Romans. They lived in rich houses, dressed as the Romans, and spoken Latin. But common people spoke their native Celtic languages. The Romans stayed in Britain for about 4 centuries and during that time Britain was Roman province governed by Roman governors.

At the end of the 4th century the Romans left Britain to defend the continental provinces from the attacks of the Germanic tribes. Many things in Britain remind us of the Romans. The wells dug by the Romans, still give water today. The ruins of public baths, parts of the Roman bridges, the chief roman roads can still be found all over Britain. Many words of modern English have come from Latin. The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain From the middle of the 5th century the Germanic tribes: the Angles, the Guts, and the Saxon began to attack Britain.

By the beginning of the 7th century the Germanic tribes had conquered the greater part of Britain and several kingdoms had been formed on the territory of Britain conquers by the Germanic tribes. The new conquers brought new changes. They disliked towns, they destroyed the beautiful buildings, bridges, roads. Many of the Celts were killed or made slaves. The Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population in Britain. Their customs, religion and languages became predominant.

At the end of the 8th century another branch of Germanic people began to attack Britain. They were the Danes. They were pagans and still lived in tribes. At that time there were several separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms on the territory of the British Isles. They constantly fought among themselves, and, so became an easy target for the invaders. The Danes were well-armed and had a good fleet. So they conquered Britain. But at the end of 9th century King Alfred the Great united and headed some of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms with the center in Wessex.