Britannia
Britannia refers to the Roman province established in Britain during the Roman conquest that began in AD 43. The conquest was initiated under Emperor Claudius, with General Aulus Plautius leading military campaigns that resulted in the capture of key locations such as Camulodunum (modern-day Colchester). The province extended from the Humber estuary in the north to the Severn River in the south. Over time, the provincial capital shifted from Camulodunum to Londinium (London), particularly following local uprisings like that led by Boudicca in AD 60.
Britannia was significant not only for its military organization but also as an economic hub, exporting various goods including grain, cattle, and precious metals. The province underwent administrative changes, notably being divided into Upper and Lower Britain under Emperor Septimius Severus, with Londinium and Eboracum (York) as their capitals. The region faced challenges, including incursions from local tribes and pirate activity, which prompted the construction of defensive structures along the coast. Ultimately, Britannia played a crucial role in the broader narrative of Roman expansion and governance in ancient Britain.
Britannia
(Britain)
Tin was worked in Cornwall (in the southwest) from the Bronze Age, but the country first became known to the Greeks not as early as the sixth century BC, as has sometimes been supposed, but some two hundred years afterward, when Pytheas of Massalia (Massilia, Marseille) apparently visited Cornwall and a tin depot at Ictis (St. Michael's Mount). The latest of a series of waves of Celtic invaders, comprising a group of the Gallic Belgae, overran southeastern Britain in the early part of the first century BC, and Julius Caesar felt impelled to try to round off his conquests in Gaul by invading the island in 55 and 54 BC. Thereafter its southern tribes were regarded as vassals, though they did not see themselves in this light. Preparations for definitive conquest were made by Gaius (Caligula) in AD 40, but first carried out by his successor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius overran the `Lowland Zone’ (43–47), captured the Belgic capital Camulodunum (Colchester)—in the presence of the emperor—and created the new province of Britannia, a region extending from the Abus (Humber) estuary to the Sabrina (Severn).
It may have been after the rebellion of Boudicca (Boadicea) of the Iceni (East Anglia) in AD 60 that the provincial capital was transferred from Camulodunum to Londinium (London); or perhaps this occurred somewhat later. Under Domitian, Agricola (78–85) advanced far into Caledonia (Scotland), but Hadrian's Wall (122) established a Tyne-Solway frontier, temporarily extended by the Antonine Wall (of Antoninus Pius, c 142) between the Firth of Forth and the Clyde. Britannia exported grain, cattle, tin, gold, silver, iron, hides, slaves and hunting dogs. After disturbances and attempted usurpations under Commodus (180–92), Clodius Albinus, governor of the province, made an attempt to gain the throne, crossing over to Gaul and thus throwing the frontier open to Caledonian incursions. Septimius Severus, after defeating Albinus (197), penetrated deep into their country, but was only able, or content, to reestablish the frontier of Hadrian's Wall (209–11). He also divided the Roman part of the island into two provinces, Upper and Lower Britain, with their capitals at Londinium (London) and Eboracum (York) respectively.
A revolt under Probus (276–82) was put down by his Mauretanian general Victorinus. In the same period Saxon piracy prompted the construction of forts and signal stations along the eastern and southern coasts. In c 286 Carausius, admiral of the well-equipped fleet protecting the country (the Classis Britannica), declared himself emperor—issuing coinage at Londinium, Camulodunum and perhaps elsewhere—but his successor Allectus was removed by Constantius I on behalf of the central authority (296/7). The two provinces, elevated to the status of an administrative diocese with its capital at Londinium, were now further subdivided into four (Prima, Secunda, Maxima Caesariensis and Flavia Caesariensis)—increased to five by Constans I who created the additional province of Constantia (Valentia), with its capital at Eboracum, c 343. After heavy attacks by the Caledonians in the 360s order was restored with difficulty, and new forts constructed by Theodosius the Elder (father of the emperor Theodosius I).