England, with London as capital,
is in size, population and economy by far the largest country of the United Kingdom and
hence has dominated Britain's history.
Several early human species lived on and off on English soil, depending on
the wildly fluctuating climate. After the last Ice Age hunter gatherers like Cheddar Man showed up.
Neolithic Anatolian farmers arrived
in 4000 BC and built monuments like Stonehenge.
More modern Beaker People moved in around 2500 BC and quickly replaced the local
Neolithic population.
Romans invaded England in 43 AD and soon had to build Hadrian's Wall to keep the wild and pesky Scots at
bay. When the Romans left, Anglo-Saxons moved in, later followed by Vikings in the 10th century. Things remained fluid tilt in
1066 William the Conqueror won the battle at Hastings and took a firm hold on England.
In the 17th century Britain competed successfully
with other European powers to establish colonies in the East and the West that generated huge trade profits and helped build the mightyBritish Empire.
The
Industrial Revolution started in England in the 1750's and large scale production changed the world forever.
The British
Empire fought victoriously in WWI and WWII, but the Suez fiasco brought an end to Britain's global leadership.
In 1973 the UK
reluctantly joined the EU but via
Brexit left again in 2020
, hoping to rule the waves once more.
History will tell if this decision
was a smart one, but so far the tell tales are not positive yet.