Online Encyclopedia Search Tool

Your Online Encyclopedia

 

Online Encylopedia and Dictionary Research Site

Online Encyclopedia Free Search Online Encyclopedia Search    Online Encyclopedia Browse    welcome to our free dictionary for your research of every kind

Online Encyclopedia



Briton

The term Briton may have the following meanings:

Contents

The first Britons

Little is known of the first ancestors of the British but human habitation in Britain goes back more than 10,000 years. These first Britons were hunter-gatherers and crossed to Britain by the land bridge from mainland Europe during the end of the last Ice age. There are conflicting accounts as to the physical appearance of these first Britons and their influence in modern British culture is questionable, although river names such as Thames, Tamar, Severn, Tyne, etc., are attributed to the culture of these earliest ancestors of the British. One modern view is that the Britons of today accurately reflect the physical appearances of the Britons of the past in the areas in which they reside, such as tall and blonde in the south of England, tall and dark in Northumbria and southern Scotland, and short and dark in north Wales.

Welsh connection

Modern genetic evidence indicates the Welsh are most similar to the earliest inhabitants of Britain and have a genetic connection to the Basque. 3000 years ago, Britain was invaded by Celts who brought with them superior fighting skills and whose culture dominated the indigenous people. Ancient Kings of the Britons written by Nennius, Gildas, and Geoffrey of Monmouth helped make rich histories of these people. Over time, they became Celtic in culture, and it is in this time that the Picts became noted as a separate culture and ethnic entity in the north and east of what is now Scotland.

Foreign conquest

Britain was later conquered by other peoples, such as the Romans, the Irish Scots, various Germanic peoples (see Anglo-Saxons) and finally the Normans, each of which brought a definite cultural change in Great Britain that was markedly different from before.

Prior to the Second World War, it was believed that the Anglo-Saxons had driven the Britons into Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany and wiped out the remaining inhabitants. After the war, the view that the Anglo-Saxons had absorbed the Britons took hold. This was supported by genetic evidence that 90% of the population of the United Kingdom today, or about 54 million people are matrilineally descended from women that were part of the original population of Britain 3000 years ago and that even in England, in which Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and later invaders played the most important role, about 50% of all men in that region could claim patrilineal descent from the inhabitants of the British Isles 3000 years ago. However, more modern research seems to indicate that the traditional interpretation of the "Coming of the Saxons" may be correct: genetic scientists have found that Englishmen have much genetic material in common on the Y chromosome with the inhabitants of Friesland (the area of the Netherlands and Germany from which the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came) and very little in common with the Welsh. The data suggests that betweeen half and all of the Britons inhabiting England east of Offa's Dyke were displaced or killed.

About 150 million people world-wide refer to their ethnic heritage as British or as having a strong British influence. The largest concentration of ethnic Britons living outside of the United Kingdom is in the United States where approximately 40 million people claim British heritage (less than 20% of the 2000 US population and down from 60% in 1900). There are also large concentrations of Britons in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Modern usage

A Briton is also a commonly accepted word to represent a citizen of the United Kingdom, which includes both the indigenous majority and non-indigenous groups, for example, Africans, who are often referred to as Black Britons — see British, Alternate words for British.

The use of the word Briton in a modern context is a historically recent development. Prior to the Act of Union, nationalistic and cultural differences were such that few inhabitants of what is now the United Kingdom would identify themselves as 'Britons'.

External links


Last updated: 11-06-2004 20:31:35