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History of the British Isles

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Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to Norman conquest of England, a moment that defined much of the history of the British Isles since.

The history of the British Isles has witnessed intermittent periods of competition and cooperation between the people that occupy the various parts of Great Britain, Ireland, and the smaller adjacent islands, which together make up the British Isles, as well as with France, Germany, the Low Countries, Denmark, Scandinavia, etc.

Today, the British Isles contain two sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. There are also three Crown dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The United Kingdom may be further broken down into four constituent Home Nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Each of these nations bears its own history, with all but Northern Ireland having been independent states at one point.

The British monarch was head of state of all of the countries of the British Isles from the Union of the Crowns in 1603 until the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act in 1949, although it's important to note that the term "British Isles" was not yet current in 1603. Additionally, since the independence of Ireland, historians of the region often avoid the term British Isles due to the complexity of relations between the peoples of the archipelago (see: British Isles (terminology)).

Periods

See also: History of Ireland

Timeline history of the British Isles

Date States/Peoples Relevant events
pre-6th c. BC Prehistoric Britain, Prehistoric Ireland  
6th–1st c. BC British Iron Age, Iron Age tribes in Britain, Insular Celtic  
Gauls Brythons Picts Gaels  
51 BC Gallia Lugdunensis (Roman province)        
43 AD Britannia (Roman province) Roman conquest of Britain
410 Brythons Anglo-Saxon England Hen Ogledd  
638   Kingdom of Strathclyde Viking raids
843      
845 Kingdom of Brittany    
878 Danelaw  
911 Duchy of Normandy  
927 Kingdom of England    
1054 Kingdom of Alba Norman conquest of England
1079 Kingdom of Mann and the Isles    
1098 Cymru   Kingdom of Norway   Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland
1171 Lordship of Ireland    
1204     Magna Carta
Treaty of York
1266    
1282   Wars of Scottish Independence
1333 Bailiwick of Guernsey Bailiwick of Jersey Isle of Man    
1469 Kingdom of Scotland Poynings' Law
1541   Scottish Reformation
Tudor conquest of Ireland
Union of the Crowns
1607 Kingdom of Ireland Flight of the Earls
Plantation of Ulster
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
1641   Confederate Ireland  
1649 Commonwealth of England Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
1653 Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland  
1660 Kingdom of England Kingdom of Scotland Kingdom of Ireland Penal Laws
Revolution of 1688
Battle of the Boyne
1707 Kingdom of Great Britain Acts of Union 1707
Battle of Culloden
Irish Rebellion of 1798
1801 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland   Acts of Union 1800
Catholic emancipation
Great Famine of Ireland
1919 Irish Republic Irish War of Independence
Partition of Ireland
1921/1922 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland) Irish Free State  
1937 Ireland The Emergency
Battle of Britain
The Troubles
Celtic Tiger
1999 (Wales) (England) (Scotland) Devolution
Good Friday Agreement

Geographic

States

See also

Further reading

  • A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
  • A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2001 ISBN 0-7868-6675-6
  • The British Isles: A History of Four Nations by Hugh Kearney, Cambridge University Press 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 978-0521846004
  • A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
  • The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-19-513442-7
  • Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-023323-7
  • This Sceptred Isle: 55BC-1901 by Christopher Lee Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-026133-8 (originally a radio series )
  • The Reduced History of Britain - by Chas Newkey-Burden

External links

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