Over thousands of years, groups of people came from the continent of Europe to Britain. The very first people were Stone Agehunters living all over Europe and the British Isles. It was about 2400 BC when the first farmers arrived in England from southern Europe; these are the people who built the mysterious stone monuments like Stonehenge. Then, about 1700 BC another group of taller and stronger invaders who used metal tools came from Hollandand Germany. Like all the groups who invaded Britain throughout its early history, they married and mixed in with the native population.

 

The Celts came to England about 800 BC from Central Europe (France and Germany). Another group of warlike Celts invaded inthe 4th century BC and conquered land in the north of England and Scotland andIreland. They became the first aristocracy to control most of Britain. They imposed their language (Gaelic) on the people, which still survives today to some degree in Ireland and Scotland and Wales.

 

After the Celts, the next group of people to come to Britain and rule over it was the Romans. The Romans first came in 55and 54 BC. They lived peacefully in England for about 300 years. They broughtto Britain a highly developed legal system, system of taxation, engineeringskills, Roman architecture and the Latin language. In the 4th century Rome was converted to Christianity and Christian missionaries went to Britain to spread that religion.

Writing was also brought to Britain by theRomans. Rome ruled in Britain from 44AD to 410AD, but they only ruled Englandand Wales We sometimes can talk about this period as the Celtic-Roman periodbecause the two different cultures lived together peacefully. In the 4thcentury AD, during the period of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Roman troops in Britain left. Romans' northern boundary varied from time to time, and was marked for a while at Hadrian's Wall.

 

After the Romans, two waves of immigrantscame to Britain. The first were Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.English, the language, is a development from Anglo-Saxon Old English, and is aGermanic language. The second were the Vikings. The Angles, Saxons and Jutescame from West Germany and Denmark. They took control of most of the countrythey called “Aengla-land” between 450 and 600. They were agricultural peoplewho lived in long houses.

 

The Vikings came from Scandinavia. Theywere similar to the Anglo-Saxons, but more aggressive and warlike. Their Scandinavianlanguage (Old Norse) was also Germanic so that was relatively easy for them tocommunicate with the Anglo-Saxons who had come from Germany and Denmark years before.

 

When Vikings attacked in their long boats,the Anglo-Saxons united under King Alfred the Great (872-901) to try to fightthem off. King Alfred is called The Great because he kept part of England freefrom Viking control. After a time of raids, the Vikings also began to settle inEngland and to trade, eventually controlling an area called the Danelaw fromthe late 9th century. Viking rule left traces in the English language — becauseOld English was already related to Old Norse, many Norse words began to be usedin English at this time.