British History-The Romans

The island of Great Britain was controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. First, they named the territory Britannia and brought new developments in agriculture, urbanisation, industry and architecture, leaving a legacy still existing today. Most knowledge of Roman Britain stems from archaeological investigations and especially epigraphic evidence. The first Romans to campaign in Britain were the troops of Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC, another military strategy of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons had been helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition, more a reconnaissance than a full invasion, was undermined by storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry, which made it impossible to advance further. The expedition was a military failure, but was at least a political success. The Roman Senate declared a 20-day public holiday in Rome in honour of the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain. Following the conquest of the native Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged, and, at some point around 197 Britannia was divided into two provinces, Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior, and later, it was the subject of barbarian invasion and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and pretenders. The Roman empire established their culture across the southern half of Britain, between the rivers Humber and Severn. Beyond these territories was a peninsula later called Wales. Each town was held by a Roman legion of about 7, 000 men and the total army of Britain was about 40, 000 men. Even though they didnt conquier Caledonia, the later Scotland, they spend over a century trying to. They built a strong wall along the northern border, which later became the borderline between Scotland and Britain. The forces of the Roman empire in Britain collapsed somewhere around the attacks by celts of Caledonia in AD 367 and the Roman legions found it difficult to stop the Germanic groups, Saxons and Franks who crossed the Hadrians Wall. In AD 49, a civil war started between the Romanised Celts, the Scots, the Irish and Saxon raiders from Germany.

Britain of early times was influenced by the British Celts, who developed farming techniques and helped Britain in becoming an important food producer. The Romans, on the other hand, brought the skills of writing and reading and even "trained the sons of chiefs in the liberal arts .. . the result was that the people who used to reject Latin began to use it in speech and writing. Further the wear ing of our national dress came to be valued and the toga [the Roman cloak] came into fashion." But Latin completely disappeared both in its spoken and written forms when the Anglo-Saxons invaded Britain in the fifth century AD. The Roman character was settled especially in towns, which were the basis of administration and civilisation. Roman charter established different types of town. These were the coloniae, towns populated by Roman settlers and the municipia , large cities in which the whole population was given Roman citizenship. The third kind, the civitas, included the old Celtic tribal capitals, through which the Romans administered the Celtic population in the countryside, all defended by stone walls. Many of the towns were at first army camps called castra and had streets, market and shops, connected by roads who resisted until nowadays. Outside the town, the most important activity was the growth of large farms, called villas, held by rich Britons. Each villa had many workers, and that made a huge difference between the rich and the ones who actually worked. Life expectancy in the early Roman Age in Britain was low. Half the entire population died between the ages of twenty and forty, while 15 pet cent died before reaching the age of twenty. It is hard to tell how many people lived in Britain when the Romans left. Probably over five million, because the Romans brought the economic life , although, the increase of invaders changed all that.