AD 43-410 Roman

In the 1st century AD the British Isles were populated by a variety of tribes living in scattered settlements and led by kings or chiefs. In AD 43 a conquering Roman army arrived on the south coast from the Roman provinces in Gaul (modern France), beginning almost 400 years of Roman rule in Britain. The Roman province of Britannia covered the areas of modern England and Wales. The area of modern Scotland was never finally conquered and Ireland remained outside the province.

Rome controlled the province by means of a civil administration headed by a governor and backed up by a military force garrisoned in a network of forts and fortresses. In spite of sporadic rebellion Britannia was peaceful and prosperous for long periods. The Romans transformed British society and the British landscape. An extensive network of roads linked well-planned towns, laid out on regular street grids, with water supplies and imposing public buildings. Large, well-furnished villas dotted the countryside. In AD 43 Britain in Roman eyes had lain outside the known world. By AD 410, when the Roman administration abandoned the province, Britons had been introduced to urban life, to new systems of government, to literacy and to new religions, in particular Christianity. Much of this legacy was to survive beyond the end of the Empire.