Who were the settlers of prehistoric Britain?

Answer 1

As of 800 BC continental Celtic tribes came to Great Britain and established the first tribal societies without realisation of a united government. Romans did not face problems when they began the conquest under Julius Caesar in 55 BC. In 43 AD the occupied territory was the Roman Province Britannia, not earlier than in 500 AD did the Romans leave the country again.

In the Neolithic Age the first settlements were founded in Scotland. Excavated Bronze Age items of high quality prove the existence of a trade relation to the continent.

Since 400 BC Celtic tribes spread over Scotland's 77.171 km² including Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.

The Romans named the Scottish inhabitants Picts and closed off their own territory - the Roman province Britannia - by the Hadrian Wall between Solvay Firth and the Tyne mound. This wall is 80 miles long, 4,50 m high, 3 m thick and was built between 122 and 128 AD with 12 castles, 80 gates and 320 towers, another border wall is the Antoninus Wall.

Since the fifth century AD the Scots or Scoti came from Ireland and founded their first kingdom Dalriada in Scotland, later Celtic Britons who avoided contact with Anglo-Saxons migrated to Strathclyde, Angles dwelt in Lothian. Normans landed on the Scottish north coast and the northern isles to stay and live there.

Ireland was inhabited by a Celtic population as of 1000 BC, unaffected by the advance of the Roman Empire Ireland kept its structure of clans in five realms called Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Connaught and Meath.

The Christianisation of Ireland by Coptic bishops from Egypt began in the 3rd century and was accomplished around 500 AD, the Latin Christianisation of Ireland was ordered by Pope Coelestin I. in 431 AD. Saint Patricius (Patrick) explained the Holy Trinity to the Irish by the example of the clover or shamrock which became the herald plant for Ireland. From 564 onwards Irish monks Christianised Scotland, among them Kentigern on the Clyde and Columban the Elder in 564 on Iona island, after 596 Iro-Scottish monks like Gallus, Pirmin and Kilian brought the new religion south to England and to the continent.

Christoph