History Page

(most links are teacher sites)

The first-known inhabitants of England were small bands of hunters.

Stone Age immigrants arrived around 4000 BC. They constructed the mysterious stone circles at Stonehenge and Avebury.

They were followed by the Bronze Age Celts from Central Europe who began arriving in 800 BC, bringing the Gaelic and Brythonic languages (the former is still spoken in Scotland, the latter in Wales).

The Romans invaded in 43 AD and within seven years, controlled most of England.

The Scottish and Welsh tribes were more of a problem, resulting in the building of Hadrian's Wall across northern England to keep out the marauding Scots. The Romans were never defeated, they just sort of faded away around 410 AD as their empire declined.

William of Normandy (soon to become known as William the Conqueror), after victory at the Battle of Hastings (1066), replaced English aristocrats with French-speaking Normans.

The Normans built impressive castles and imposed a feudal system.

In the 16th century, Henry VIII's matrimonial difficulties led to the split with Catholicism. Henry was appointed head of the Church of England by the English Parliament and the Bible was translated into English.

As England grew powerfull it, like many other countries, crossed the ocean and collected colonies down the American coast

At home, England controlled the British Isles. In 1772, the American colonies fought for their independence from Britian.

Meanwhile, Britain was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution as steam power, steam trains, coal mines and water power began to transform the means of transport and production.

Britain fought in WWI in 1914, resulting in many British lives lost. It also created a big difference between the ruling and working classes. That lead to the 1926 Great Strike and growing throughout the 1930s depression.

The guidance of Winston Churchill brought Britain through World War II, but the long fight left the country a weaker power than before.

It took until the 1960s for wartime recovery to be fully completed.

Problems in Northern Ireland led to the deployment of British troops in 1969.

In 1979 the Brits elected matronly Margaret Thatcher. She became the longest-serving prime minister this century.

England under Prime Minister Tony Blair is a changing place. The hopeful mood appears justified: the North Ireland peace process is getting on track, the young Princes are continuing on after the death of their Mother, Princess Diana, and England is adjusting to the new European currency: the Euro.