History of England
History of England
This article is part of a series
Prehistoric Britain
Roman Britain
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Norman England
House of Plantagenet
House of Lancaster
House of York
House of Tudor
House of Stuart
The Protectorate
Commonwealth of England
Stuart Restoration
Glorious Revolution
Kingdom of Great Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
England Portal
The history of England did not begin until
the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, when the
partition of Britain into several countries
largely began. It was the history of Britain
that began in the prehistoric during which
time Stonehenge was erected. At the height
of the Roman Empire, Britannia was under
the rule of the Romans. Their rule lasted until
about 410, at which time the Romano-British
formed various independent kingdoms. The
Anglo-Saxons gradually gained control of
England and became the chief rulers of the
land.[1] Raids by the Vikings were frequent
after about AD 800. In 1066, the Normans
invaded and conquered England. There was
much civil war and battles with other nations
throughout the Middle Ages. During the
Renaissance, England was ruled by the Tu-
dors. England had conquered Wales in the
12th century and was then united with Scot-
land in the early 18th century to form the
Kingdom of Great Britain. Following the In-
dustrial Revolution, Great Britain ruled a
worldwide empire, of which, physically, little
remains. However,
its cultural
impact is
widespread and deep in many countries of
the present day.
Prehistory
Stonehenge, thought to have been erected
c.2500-2000BC
Archaeological evidence indicates that what
was later southern Britannia was colonised
by humans long before the rest of the British
Isles because of its more hospitable climate
between and during the various ice ages of
the distant past.
The first historical mention of the region is
from the Massaliote Periplus, a sailing manu-
al for merchants thought to date to the 6th
century BC, although cultur