English History

England is the predominant country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England occupies more than half of the island of Great Britain. It is bound by Scotland to the north, by the Irish Sea, Wales and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, by the English Channel to the south and by the North Sea to the east.

The Celts invaded England in the fifth century BC. The region became part of the Roman Empire in the first century AD. Germanic tribes called the Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded England in the fifth century AD, during which time it was known as Englaland.

Danish raiders attacked England during the ninth century. They were repulsed by Alfred the Great of Wessex in 886. In 1016, the Danish noble Canute became ruler of England. In 1066, the Norman Duke William invaded England and became King William I, also called the Conqueror.

In 1455, the rival families of York and Lancaster began struggling for control of the English throne. In 1485, the Welsh prince Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster united the two families and became King Henry VII.

A dispute between Henry VIII and the Roman Pope over a royal divorce led the king to declare himself head of the Church of England in 1534. Acts of Union joined England and Wales between 1536 and 1543. Elizabeth I of England had no heirs, so her nephew James VI of Scotland became King as James I in 1603.

James I and his son Charles I ruled England as absolute monarchs. This brought them into conflict with Parliament. In 1642, civil war broke out between the Royalists, who supported the King, and the Roundheads, who believed in Parliamentary rule. Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and England became a Commonwealth under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.

In 1660, Charles II was restored to the English throne. His successor James II became King in 1685. James wanted England to return to absolutist rule and the Catholic Church. His opponents invited James’ Protestant son-in-law William of Orange to rule England. William III and Mary II became the joint rulers of England in 1689. An Act of Union joined England, Wales and Scotland in 1707.

England established colonies in North America in the early seventeenth century. The American colonies south of Canada declared their independence from Britain in 1776, becoming the United States of America.

In 1788, Britain established a penal colony in Australia. Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1801.