Roman Wales

Before and during the Roman occupation of Britain , the locals of the Iron Age of England , the Britons , spoke British , and in the south in Celtic . The regions of modern Wales were divided between several tribes: the Silurians lived in the southeast, and the Ordovician in central and northern Wales. They were the most powerful tribes. The Silurians and Ordovician have shown the most stubborn resistance to the Romans.

The first attack on the Celtic tribes was made in the year 48 . The legate of the emperor Claudius Publius Ostorii Skapula first attacked the decangles , who surrendered, showing little resistance. Then the Romans campaigned against the Silurians and Ordovician. The campaign lasted several years. The combined forces of the tribes were led by Karatak , who fled from the southeast of Wales, captured by the Romans. In 51, he suffered a serious defeat from Ostoria. Karatak tried to escape, but the Romans captured him. Karatak died in 54.

The Silurians were not conquered; they waged an effective guerrilla war against the Roman troops. Ostorius died as a result of Silurian actions, and after his death they defeated the II Legion . After this defeat, there were no more attempts to capture Wales before the governor of Britain, Guy Suetonius Pauline , who captured the island of Anglesey in 60 or 61 . However, he was forced to abandon the offensive, as he met the threat of rebellion of Boudicca . In 78, the Sextus Julius Frontin conquered the Silurians. His successor, Gnei Julius Agricola , conquered the Ordovician in 79 .

The Romans occupied all of Wales, where they built roads, fortresses, mined gold and traded, but their interest in this region was limited due to difficult climatic conditions and a shortage of agricultural land. Most of the ruins of Roman buildings in Wales are of a military nature. Wales was controlled by legions and their bases: Virgo Victrix (present-day Chester ) and Isca Augusta ( Caerleon ), two of three such bases were in Roman Britain, with a road connecting these bases with Roman auxiliary forts such as Segonius ( Carnarvon ) and Moridunum ( Carmarthen ). The Romans founded only one city, Venta Silurum ( Caeruent in Monmouthshire ), although Fort Moridinum was subsequently converted into a civilian settlement. Modern Wales was part of Roman Britain, the province of Upper Britain , and then the province of Britain First , which also included the southwest of modern England.

Wales has been occupied by the Romans since the 1st century . Three centuries later, the Romans will leave Britain. Wales will enter the early Middle Ages as romanized and fragmented into several states.