Why did the Romans invade Britain and how did they affect it?

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        Before the Romans invaded Britain, it was made up of independent tribes living within their own regions. Each of these tribes had their own way of running their region leading to much disorder within the place later called Britain. The Romans influenced the British in many facets of life, including politically, economically, socially and also religiously.

        The Roman colonization of Britain in 43 AD led to the unification of Britain , combining many tribes into a nation that was a successful colony under the rule of the Romans.At the time of Caesar’s first expeditions into Britain in 55 BC, there were many different Celtic tribes occupying Britain. The larger Celtic tribes included: Atrebates, Brigantes, Catevellauni, Druids, Iceni, and Trinovantes. Atrebates had very strong ties with tribes from Gaul and was ruled by Verica from 10-43 AD.

        During the first and second centuries BC, Atrebates was one of the most powerful British tribes. Druids were a group of priests from Celtic tribes. Druids had their own universities and sometimes in the Celtic culture held more authority than a king. Trinovantes was a rather strong tribe who capital was Colchester. After the Romans colonized Britain, Colchester was made a colonia (Roman city of the highest rank). The Trinovantes enjoyed the luxury of having a colonia in their territory although they were controlled by the Romans.

        Life in Britain before the Romans was very different depending on where in Britain. Britain was divided into two zones, a Highland and a Lowland zone. These zones were divided up along a notional line from north Yorkshire to the estuary of the river Dee in Cheshire. British tribes in the Highland zone were more primitive and slower developing than the tribes in the Lowland zone. The development of tribes was helped by, “incursions from further south had led to some tribal divisions and the beginnings of a political organization”.

        The southern tribes in the second century B.C. very organized and more mature politically according to Caesar. As stated before, Britain was made up of over thirty different tribes that each ruled their own area of land prior to the invasion of the Romans. Each tribe also had its own capital, made its own laws, and enforced its own taxes. Before the Romans invaded, each of the different tribes had its own currency in the form of coinage. This showed how well intertribal trade was progressing in Britain. Socially, each British tribe was run by a queen or king prior to the invasion of the Romans. Below the king or queen was the ruling tribal family and the leaders of each settlement followed by the average tribesmen and women.

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        Roads in Britain, before the Romans, were not high in numbers and were decent at best. There were only few long trade routes and many roads just connected local fields and small towns. Britain before the Romans was very primitive as a culture. There were a few reasons why the Romans wanted to colonize Britain. Initially, when Caesar was the leader of the Romans, the reason why they wanted to invade Britain was because the British tribes were allies with Gaul.

        Previously, when the Romans tried to take over Gaul , the British helped the Gauls fight against the Romans. ...

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