A Long and Illustrious History

People have lived in Britain for thousands of years, going back to the Stone Age. Stonehenge, in southern England, was built around 5,000 years ago and remains one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world. Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland, is one of the best-preserved Stone Age villages in Europe.

From around 55 BC, the Romans, led first by Julius Caesar and later by the emperor Claudius, invaded and ruled much of Britain for nearly 400 years. They built towns, roads, and Hadrian's Wall, which stretches across northern England and once marked the northern frontier of Roman Britain.

After the Romans left in around AD 410, Britain was settled by tribes from northern Europe known as the Anglo-Saxons. They established kingdoms across what is now England and brought the language that would become English. From the late 700s, Vikings from Scandinavia raided and settled in parts of Britain.

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror), defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became King of England. The Norman Conquest brought lasting changes to language, law, architecture, and society. The Domesday Book, completed in 1086, was a great survey of land and property in England ordered by William.

In 1215, King John was forced by his barons to sign Magna Carta at Runnymede. This famous document limited the power of the king and is seen as an important early step towards modern ideas of human rights and the rule of law.

The Hundred Years War (which actually lasted 116 years, from 1337 to 1453) was a long series of conflicts between England and France. Famous battles included Agincourt in 1415, where King Henry V led the English to a celebrated victory.

The Black Death, a devastating plague, reached Britain in 1348 and killed roughly a third of the population. The shortage of workers that followed weakened the feudal system and gave ordinary people more economic power.

The Tudor period began in 1485 when Henry VII won the Battle of Bosworth Field. His son Henry VIII famously had six wives and broke with the Roman Catholic Church to establish the Church of England in the 1530s.

Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth I (reigned 1558 to 1603) is one of the most celebrated English monarchs. Her reign saw the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the flourishing of English drama and poetry (including the works of William Shakespeare), and the beginnings of English overseas exploration.

After Elizabeth died without children, James VI of Scotland became James I of England, uniting the two crowns. His son Charles I quarrelled with Parliament, leading to the English Civil War (1642 to 1651), in which Parliament's forces under Oliver Cromwell defeated the king. Charles I was executed in 1649 and Britain briefly became a republic, called the Commonwealth.

The monarchy was restored in 1660 with Charles II. In 1688, the so-called Glorious Revolution removed James II and brought William of Orange and his wife Mary to the throne, establishing the principle that a monarch must rule with the consent of Parliament.

From the late 1700s, Britain became the first country to undergo the Industrial Revolution. Inventions such as the steam engine (improved by James Watt), the spinning jenny, and steam locomotives transformed the way people lived and worked. Cities grew rapidly as people moved from the countryside to work in factories.

By the 19th century, the British Empire had become the largest empire in history, covering around a quarter of the world's land surface. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901, the longest reign of any British monarch until Queen Elizabeth II. Her reign saw great expansion, scientific progress, and social reform, but also poverty and hardship for many.

The slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807, and slavery itself was abolished throughout most of the empire by 1833, in large part due to campaigners such as William Wilberforce.

The First World War (1914 to 1918) saw enormous numbers of British and Commonwealth soldiers killed and wounded. Remembrance Day, on 11 November, marks the end of the war and honours all those who have died in service of their country.

The Second World War (1939 to 1945) saw Britain stand against Nazi Germany under the leadership of Sir Winston Churchill, who became Prime Minister in 1940. The Battle of Britain in 1940 was a famous defensive air campaign, and D-Day in June 1944 was a turning point that led to the liberation of Western Europe.

After the war, the UK established the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, providing healthcare free at the point of use, and built up a welfare state. Many people from Commonwealth countries were invited to help rebuild Britain, including those who arrived on the ship Empire Windrush in 1948.

Margaret Thatcher became the UK's first female Prime Minister in 1979 and served until 1990. The UK joined the European Economic Community (later the EU) in 1973, and left the EU in 2020 following a referendum in 2016 (often called Brexit). Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years until her death in 2022, becoming the longest-serving British monarch in history. King Charles III is the current monarch.