The word England comes from word "Angles", which originally meant "the land of Angles". So where did name "Britain" come from?

The British are called "Anglo-Saxons", so were "Anglo-Saxons" first ethnic group to settle in British Isles?

Why was Magna Carta first among many European countries to be adopted in Great Britain? What are national reasons for this?

After great journey, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, France, etc. became colonies abroad. Why has Britain been most successful?

Actually, all four questions above are related to British ancestry. In short, there have been indigenous people in British Isles for a long time, and Anglo-Saxons are latest colonists. The British royal family are not Anglo-Saxons, but they are also foreign colonists. Perhaps it was thanks to rich colonial experience that England came to fore in colonial movement after great voyage.

In 1903, in a cave in Somerset, England, experts discovered a complete skeleton tens of thousands of years old, earliest ancient human found in Britain, which made a splash at time. For more than a hundred years, British have been hoping to restore its original appearance and find out where it comes from, its age and other questions. Despite many unsolved mysteries, British generally believe that he is a white man with blond hair, but facts contradict perception.

In recent years, scientists have drilled holes in skull and extracted complete genome. It has finally been scientifically proven that this is actually an ancient person with dark skin, black or brown curly hair and blue eyes. In other words, already in British Isles it was blacks from Africa, not whites from Europe.

Whether conclusion that "the prehistoric Britons were black" should be included in British textbooks is a headache for Britain.

About 13th century BC, during reign of Emperor Wuding of Shang Dynasty in China, Iberians (a prehistoric people from Spain) who lived in Iberian Peninsula migrated to southeast of England. He is earliest Briton to be recognized in British National History.

About 7th century BC, at beginning of Spring and Autumn period in China, Celts, one of three barbarians who lived in Western Europe, migrated to British Isles and replaced Iberians. became ruling nation. Britain of that time, and powerful tribe of Celts were Britons, and name "Britain" comes from "Brit". Judging by British (British) language, which is today called most of rivers in England, and descendant of Britain, Welsh language, Britons had a huge influence on British Isle at that time.

After ruling British Isles for over 600 years, Celts faced an invasion by Roman Empire. First, they twice repulsed attack of Caesar, and then Claudius I conquered British Isles. At beginning of 5th century AD, after departure of Roman Empire from Britain, Celts did not seize power, and another group of colonists came to British Isles.

After departure of Romans, two Germanic tribes living in southern Denmark and Germany, Angles and Saxons, slowly conquered British Isles. In process of conquest, tribal organization of Anglo-Saxons disintegrated and began to transform into a semi-feudal and semi-slave society. After 200 years, they founded seven powerful states that went down in history as “Era of Seven Kingdoms”. .

Thus, at this time, Anglo-Saxons ruled most of British territory. With advance of Anglo-Saxons, some Celts adopted this rule, and some Celts migrated to border areas. Today, especially Ireland and Wales, almost all of them are descendants of Celts. It is a Celtic language. In addition, contradiction between Ireland and England was actually buried even when Anglo-Saxons landed on British Isles.

At moment, main nationalities of United Kingdom have formed, namely Anglo-Saxons and Celts. Of course, there are also primitive indigenous, Iberian, Roman and other bloodlines.

At end of 8th century, Anglo-Saxons faced a crisis. The Danes began to invade Britain and occupied a large amount of land in England. The Danes signed treaty, but since they were not as powerful as Denmark, Alfred placed north-eastern part of England under jurisdiction of Denmark, known in history as "Danish District".

Because Alfred regained most of lands of England and made a big contribution, he became "King of Anglo-Saxons", so he was entitled to title of "Emperor". The title of monarch. After Alfred's death, his successors gradually rebuilt "Danish Quarter". At beginning of 11th century, Denmark returned, and Anglo-Saxons fought furiously with it.

The Danes are one of homelands of Scandinavian people, better known as Vikings. The Danish attack on Britain was thus first major Viking invasion of Britain, lasting over 200 years, and it also introduced pirate genes into Britain.

Although Anglo-Saxons repulsed Danes, they not only failed to prevent a new Viking invasion, but also made him king of England.

In 1066, Duke William of Duchy of Normandy successfully invaded England and was crowned King William I (pictured below), known to history as "William Conqueror". Since then, many dynasties have passed in Britain, but kings of all dynasties have a certain blood relationship with Duke William, which continues today.

So, whose descendant is Duke William? In fact, he was a Norman, a Viking after all. From 7th century to 11th century AD, Vikings invaded Southern Europe, Western Europe, British Isles and other places, and merged with local culture to form Norman culture. One of them founded "Duchy of Normandy" in France, and they adopted French culture, founded Kingdom of Sicily in Italy. In short, the Vikings at this stage have gone south, so that European countries now have some Viking genes more or less, not only blood genes, but also Vikings of robbery, murder, adventure, expansion, colonization, etc. Gene.

After Normans ruled Britain, many Normans were appointed feudal lords, but original Anglo-Saxons still retained much power and there were still a few small Celtic principalities in British Isles. It should be noted that, in contrast to unified and centralized power of China, European nobility had their own territories and armies, similar to Spring and Autumn period in China, so power of ancient European kings was limited and completely incomparable with ancient Chinese imperial power.

In 1215, King John of England was forced to sign "Magna Carta" (signing portrait on spot), which is considered one of most important documents in history of human constitutionalism. There is much praise for British who drew up this charter.

But England was ruled by Anglo-Saxons, Kingdom of Sicily was ruled by Normans, Russia was ruled by Rus (a branch of Vikings) and so on... why didn't Magna Carta appear?"? Actually, when we understand composition of British nation at that time, we understand that there are some "ethnic confrontation" factors. Nobility, Magna Carta is also result of a balance of power between three.

Therefore, British are made up of Iberians, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, etc. The Anglo-Saxons we often talk about are actually only part of British race. However, in process of merging several cultures, Anglo-Saxons eventually culturally assimilated Normans and so on, so "Anglo-Saxons" became racial name for all of England.

It's worth noting that Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans are all colonists at their core, and they have a wealth of experience and a long tradition in how to colonize. , adventure and expansion. After great voyage, Britain was able to create an unprecedented and unparalleled colonial empire in world, which is undoubtedly inseparable from British national history.