Ancestors. Waves of invasion

The people who now live in Britain are descended from various peoples who inhabited the British Isles many centuries ago. The first settlers on the British Isles were Iberians who came from the Iberian peninsular (the area of Spain and Portugal) between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. The Iberians stayed comparatively long before they were attacked, slain or driven westwards by the numerous Celtic tribes (Picts, Scots and Britons), which came from central Europe and the Rhine valley in the period between the 6th and 3d centimes BC. In. the middle of the 1st century AD Britain was successfully invaded by the Romans who stayed on the island for four centuries, living in military camps, building towns, roads, walls and bridges, so that to defend their gains (seized territories) from other invaders. After the Roman legions left Britain at the beginning of the 5th century to defend their own Empire from the barbarians, the British Isles were almost immediately attacked by numerous invaders from all sides. Germanic tribes — the Jutes, the Saxon and the Angles attacked Britain from the south and east, Danes and Norsemen from Scandinavia in the north-east. Again the native population was driven to the west (Wales) and north (Scotland). These tribes gave the name to the country, and their language formed the basis of the old English language.

The last in the long successions of invaders on the British Isles were the Normans. In 1066, led by Duke of Normandy (who went into history as William the Conqueror). For almost two centuries there were two languages, two nations and two cultures in the country. Norman-French was the language of the ruling class, the official language of the country, while Anglo-Saxon (old English) was spoken by the majority of the oppressed native population. The victorious Normans gradually broke their ties with France and by the 13th century had mingled in blood and language with Anglo-Saxons and united into one nation, speaking one language, born as a result of the marriage of the two nations and the two languages. The new English (Middle English) greatly enriched and changed under the influence of Norman-French, had become the language of educated classes and the official language of the state by the end of the 13th century.

The fact that the British people are descendants of many Peoples is reflected in the nationalities, national character and languages of the peoples, inhabiting the British Isles today. They are the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish who constitute the British nation and collectively are called "the British", or "Britons".

The mixture of peoples in Britain must not be overlooked. It is inaccurate to refer to the British as English. This mistake is made all over the world — when talking about the English most people really mean British. Such reference may hurt the Welsh, the Scots or the Irish. Thus everybody from the UK is British, but only people from England are English.