A Continent in Ferment

Abstract

Britain is a small island at the extreme northwest of the continent of Europe, protected by a narrow channel from the mainland, and often insulated from the political and cultural upheavals that have disturbed Europe throughout its recorded history. At the dawn of this period, over two thousand years ago, three great empires stretched across Asia and Europe. The Chinese Empire survived until the twentieth century; the ancient kingdom of the Persians was absorbed by the Arabs in the seventh century AD; and the youngest, the Roman Empire, fell victim in the fourth and fifth centuries AD to internal pressure and barbarian invasions, which eventually brought to Britain settlers from North Germany and Scandinavia.