Modern humans inhabited Great Britain long before the arrival of the Romans in the first century BC, an era for which no written historical records exist. Following the Roman withdrawal, there was a substantial migration of Germanics, specifically, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, spanning from the 5th to the 7th centuries AD, leading to the formation of England by 12 July 927. Beginning at the end of the eighth century, bands of Vikings began a series of maritime incursions, which subsequently led to permanent settlement across extensive areas of Britain. In 1066, the Normans successfully took control of England. Subsequently, the Plantagenet Dynasty held the Throne of England from 1154 to 1485. These events resulted in a continuous flow of migration from France during this period. Other European migrants included Flemings and French Huguenots. The Great Famine in Ireland, then part of the United Kingdom, resulted in perhaps a million people migrating to Great Britain. Throughout the 19th century, a small population of 28,644 German immigrants built up in England and Wales. London held around half of this population, and other small communities existed in Manchester, Bradford and elsewhere. The German immigrant population was the largest group until 1891, when it became second to Russian Jews. After 1881, Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions and as a result 2 million left the Russian Empire by 1914. Around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain, becoming the largest ethnic minority from outside the British Isles, and by 1938 this population had increased to 370,000. Unable to return to Poland at the end of the Second World War, over 120,000 Polish veterans remained in the UK permanently. After the Second World War, there was substantial immigration from colonies and former colonies to the United Kingdom this was authorised by the British Nationality Act 1948 granted residency rights to all colonial subjects, approximately 800 million, enabling mass post-war immigration. In 1841, only 0.25 per cent of the population of England and Wales was born in a foreign country, increasing to 1.5 per cent by 1901, 2.6 per cent by 1931 and 4.4 per cent in 1951. DNA studies have been used to provide a direct record of the effects of immigration on the population.
Prehistory
The ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge were Neolithic farmers originating from Anatolia who brought agriculture to Europe. At the time of their arrival, around 4,000 BC, Britain was inhabited by groups of hunter-gatherers who were the first inhabitants of the island after the last Ice Age ended about 11,700 years ago. The farmers replaced most of the hunter-gatherer population in the British Isles without mixing much with them.
At the time the megalithic Stonehenge was constructed by Neolithic people, the Bell Beaker people arrived, around 2,500 BC, migrating from mainland Europe. They were most likely speakers of Indo-European languages whose ancestors migrated from the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Eventually, there was again a large population replacement in Britain. More than 90% of Britain's Neolithic gene pool was replaced with the arrival of the Bell Beaker people, who had approximately 50% WSH ancestry. A major archaeogenetics study uncovered a migration into southern Britain in the Bronze Age, during the 500-year period 1,300–800 BC. The newcomers were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from Gaul and had higher levels of EEF ancestry. The authors describe this as a "plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain". During 1,000–875 BC, their genetic marker swiftly spread through southern Britain, making up around half the ancestry of subsequent Iron Age people in this area, but not in northern Britain. The last centuries before the Roman invasion saw an influx of Celtic speaking refugees from Gaul known as the Belgae, who were displaced as the Romans expanded around 50 BC. There is some disagreement about when speakers of Celtic languages first arrived in Ireland. It is thought by some scholars to be associated with the Bell Beaker people of the Bronze Age, however others argue that Celtic speakers arrived much later at the beginning of the Iron Age.
Antiquity
Roman Empire
The first Roman invasion of Great Britain was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC; the second, a year later, in 54 BC. The Romans had many supporters among the Celtic tribal leaders, who agreed to pay tribute to Rome in return for Roman protection. The Romans returned in AD 43, led by the Emperor Claudius, this time establishing control and establishing the province of Britannia. Initially an oppressive rule, gradually the new leaders gained a firmer hold on their new territory, which at one point stretched from the south coast of England to Wales and northwards as far as southern Scotland. During the 367 years of Roman occupation of Britain, many settlers were soldiers garrisoned on the mainland. It was with constant contact with Rome and the rest of Romanised Europe through trade and industry that the elite native Britons themselves adopted Roman culture and customs, such as the Latin language, though the majority in the countryside were little affected.
The capital city of Londinium had inhabitants who were not natives of Great Britain; they clustered in administrative and military centres, as migration was closely tied to imperial governance rather than to the permanent settlement of entire diasporas. They were from across the Roman Empire, overwhelmingly from continental Europe, particularly from Gaul and the Rhineland in Germania. Archaeological findings suggest individuals from the Middle East and North Africa were also present, but these represent rare anomalies tied strictly to imperial governance rather than any permanent settlement. Of Roman Britain's estimated population of three million, the urban population was about 240,000 people, with Londinium having an estimated 60,000 people. However, after Britannia ceased to be a functional Roman province, many of the urban areas collapsed and the overall population may have declined by as much as two million.
Irish (medieval)
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