How Britain became a mixed-race society

Britain is and has always been a mixed race society. Early in our history we were invaded by Romans ( ) , Saxons ( ), Vikings ( ) and Normans ( ) armies and later Africans were brought to Britain by force in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as slaves or servants. Over the years, thousands of people have arrived in Britain as refugees from France, Ireland, Russia, and other countries, escaping from persecution or famine in their own countries.

The Romans came to Britain nearly 2000 years ago and changed our country. Even today, the ruins of Roman buildings, forts, roads, and baths can be found all over Britain.

The Romans invaded other countries too. The Roman Empire covered much of Europe, north Africa, and the Middle East.

The Romans gave us

Language The language we used today was developed from the Romans. The Romans spoke and wrote in Latin and many of our words are based on Latin words.

The Calendar Did you know that the calendar we use today is more than 2,000 years old? It was started by Julius Caesar, a Roman ruler. It is based on the movement of the earth around the sun, and so is called the 'solar calendar.' The solar calendar has 365 days a year, and 366 days every leap year, or every fourth year. The names of our months are taken from the names of Roman gods and rulers. The month 'July,' in fact, is named after Julius Caesar himself!

Laws and a legal system The laws and ways we determine what to do with someone who is accused of breaking a law came originally from the Roman Empire.

The Census The Roman Empire was huge and included millions of people living over a large area. How did they keep track of all these people? Easy! They counted them! The Roman Empire began the practice of taking a census, or a 'count,' of all the people within its boundaries every so often. Today, many countries like ours take a census every 10 years.

The Romans also gave us:

straight roads
central heating
concrete
aqueducts (bridges for water)

The Vikings


About the year 800, bands of fierce raiders began to attack our coasts. They were the Vikings. They came across the North Sea, just as the Anglo-Saxons had done 400 years earlier.
In time, like the Anglo-Saxons, they made their home here. They drove the Saxons out of part of the country and took it for themselves.

King Alfred, Saxon king of Wessex, fought them in a great battle, but he could not drive them right away and had to let them have part of the country, called Danelaw.

Vikings were also known as the Norsemen. They were great travellers and sailed to other parts of Europe, where they traded, raided, and often settled
They were also farmers, fishermen, trappers and traders. Viking craftsmen made beautiful objects out of wood, metal and bone; Viking women were skilful weavers, produced fine, warm textiles.

No matter how many times the Vikings were beaten, they always came back, and in the end all their efforts paid off. It was the Vikings (Norse) of Normandy who finally conquered England in 1066 and changed British history for ever.