Britain, Roman
Britain, Roman(see map: The Roman empire (western provinces)), the province of Britannia. The oldest name of the island known to us is Albion; the earliest form of the present name, Prettania, was used by the Greeks. The Latin Britannia was in use by the 1st cent. bc. It has no direct Celtic origin and is probably a Latin abstraction from an earlier form.
The iron-age communities of Britain showed a variety of social organization, although all were agrarian peoples organized into tribal territories dominated by a range of enclosed settlement sites. Many were agriculturally sophisticated and had developed an impressive Celtic art style. The peoples of the south-east had a long history of shared culture with northern Gaul. The islands were known to the Mediterranean world from at least the 3rd cent. bc. After 120 BC, as trading contacts between Transalpine Gaul and areas to the north...
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