By Keith Sharp
- First evidence: The British Isles, and therefore the extended United Kingdom, has been inhabited for some 900 thousand years (early Homo antecessor).
- Modern Humans: Following several ice ages, ‘modern’ humans (Homo sapiens) arrived and left traces of occupation during warmer intergalactical periods, such as around 40,000 to 30,000 years ago.
Continuous Occupation
- End Of The Ice Age: Continual, unbroken human occupation of Britain began around 13,000 to 11,700 years ago (the early Holocene/end of the last Ice Age).
- Doggerland: Early Mesolithic hunter-gatherers walked across Doggerland, a massive land bridge connecting Great Britain to mainland Europe, before rising sea levels turned Britain into an island by around 7,000 to 6,500 BC.
- Ireland: Was connected by ice sheets earlier, but was not successfully inhabited by humans until after 8,000 BC following the retreat of the glaciers.
The Anglo-Saxon migration and settlement in Britain began during the mid-5th century (around 410 to 450 AD) – over 1,500 years ago – following the departure of the Roman Legions.
- 449 AD: According to historical sources like the Anglo-Saxon Chronical and the writings of Bede, this is the traditional date when Germanic leaders such as Hengest and Horga arrived. They were invited by the British king Vortigern as mercenaries to help defend against invasion.
- Late 5th Century Onwards: The mercenaries eventually revolted over land and non-payment, triggering further waves of migration and conquest by Angles, Saxons and Jutes from modern day Germany and Denmark.
Modern Historical View:
Historians and archaeologists emphasise that the takeover was not a single, coordinated military invasion (unlike the small boat crossings happening over a period of several years rather than centuries?). Instead, as discussed by users on Reddit’s AskHistorians, there is a concessus that the transition was a more gradual process of migration, CULTURAL ASSIMILATION, and piecemeal settlement starting as early as the 420s and 430s, rather than a sudden, catastrophic ethnic replacement.
In more recent times, establishment politicians such as Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Robin Cook, Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch, have questioned and denied the existence of British indigenous ethnicity.
Our thousands of years of historical existence tell a different story! We are, and will remain, an ethno-cultural indigenous people of historical European stock.
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Image: https://unsplash.com/photos/stonehenge-england-during-day-q-7BxOvJJ14
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