The name Anglo Saxons came from the collective group of three tribes, namely, the Angle, the Saxon and the Jute. Out of these three tribes, the Angle and the Saxon were the largest in the collective group. This is the reason as to why the group was named Anglo Saxons and thus answered a curious question, “where did the name Anglo Saxons come from?”.
The language followed by them all was the same however, each of the tribes amongst the group had the presence of different strong warriors who used to rule them. The nature of the Anglo Saxons was to be warrior and farmers. They were tall men with fair hair and were armed with spears, swords and shields round in shape. Their nature was very fierce and they loved fighting.
But, where did the Anglo Saxons originally come from? They originated from the north eastern parts of Europe.
Where did the Anglo Saxons come from and settle?
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The Anglo Saxons invasion in Britain took place when Britain was under the rule of the Romans. The first try of the Anglo Saxons invasion of Britain was in 4th century AD. They entered by raiding the shores of East and South England. However, their first try failed as they lost to the Romans.
In the 5th century, Romans decided to leave Britain without training the citizens as to how they can defend themselves. This is the time when the Anglo Saxons took advantage of the situation and invaded Britain. The number of Anglo Saxons mainly started increasing from the middle of the 5th century, about 450 AD. They came in good numbers and started capturing the land for themselves.
Where did the Anglo Saxons invaders come from?
The Anglo Saxons were mainly from three countries, Denmark, Germany and Netherlands. They left their respective homes and invaded Britain by coming in wooden boats. The Anglo Saxons sailed over the North Sea and they had boats with one sail but the presence of many oars. They didn’t come in at once but made a series of attacks on the different parts of England and these attacks were under the leadership of different leaders.
The three tribes, that is, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes settled in three different areas of England. The Jutes chose to settle themselves in Kent and thereby named themselves the Kentings, that is, the residents of Kent. The Angles chose to settle themselves in East Anglia.
Lastly, the Saxons decided to settle themselves in different areas as different groups. The East Saxons settled in Essex. The South Saxons settled in Sussex. The Middle Saxons settled in Middlesex and the West Saxons settled in Wessex. Thus, this enlightens the facts on where did the Anglo Saxons and Jutes come from and where did they settle themselves respectively.
Where did the Anglo Saxons Come from and why?
After having some light on where the Anglo Saxons came from, let us check why the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain. As per the history of the Anglo Saxons, there is no specific reason as to why the Anglo Saxons chose to come to England. However, with more study and research, it was found that there are two probable reasons as to why the Anglo Saxons came to England.
The first probable reason- Many believe that the Anglo Saxons were invited to come to Britain as they were powerful warriors so that they can defend Britain from the warriors of Ireland and Scotland.
The second probable reason- The original land of the Anglo Saxons often used to get flooded. Now, they were people who were mostly farmers cum warriors amongst the Anglo Saxons. Thus, they started looking for new places to farm and grow crops since the often flooding in their land caused difficulties. Thus, they came to know about Britain and invaded Britain.
To have a better idea, one can refer to the following “where did the Anglo Saxons come from map” which shows the originating countries of the Anglo Saxons, Britain and the North Sea through which the Anglo Saxons sailed to reach from their land to Britain.
Who were the Vikings and where did they come from?
The people who used to reside in Scandinavia and ruled Scandinavia in a time period from 8th to 11th century was called the Vikings. The Vikings originated from mainly three countries. Those three countries are presently known as Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
During the Vikings Age, they used to sail around all parts of Europe and followed three activities, naming trading, raiding and spreading their own influence amongst others in Europe. The Vikings behind all this had three main motives to follow and look after. These motives are trading and raiding for their own profit and to search for new land which is fertile for them to settle on.
In the present days we are aware of the Faroe Island, Greenland and Iceland. Well, all the credit for the knowledge of these lands goes to the Vikings as they were the first ones to discover these lands. They loved to sail so much that they went to the extent of discovering these islands.
Apart from these three islands, they sailed deep into the west as far as Canada and Newfoundland. There came a time when the Vikings actually stopped sailing and looking for the fertile land that they used to. During this time period, they took up their interest in trading. They traded different varieties of goods which they found during their expedition like, jewellery, fur, tools, etc. However, apart from all things, it is known that they were best in trading slaves.
Thus, we now have a clear idea on where did the Anglo Saxons and Vikings come from and all their different activities. One can also refer to search options like “where did the Anglo Saxons come from video”, “where did the Anglo Saxons come from BBC”, etc to have a better insight and understanding on the same topic.
