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92-525: Quadragesima Galliarum (lit. "Gallic one-fortieth"), also written XXXX Galliarum or XL Galliarum , was a 2.5% tax charged on trade in the Gallic provinces of the Roman Empire. It was a customs-duty tax on all incoming and outgoing goods in land and sea frontiers in addition to other inland ports. The stopping points on the borders, called Fines or Ad Fines , were the partitions at which this tax

184-543: A 25 kilometres (16 mi) stretch of light steel netting called the Dover Barrage , which it was hoped would ensnare submerged submarines. After initial success, the Germans learned how to pass through the barrage, aided by the unreliability of British mines. On 31 January 1917, the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare leading to dire Admiralty predictions that submarines would defeat Britain by November,

276-627: A movement of the taxes collected in Gaul to a centralized location in Rome. Roman Gaul The Roman Republic 's influence began in southern Gaul. By the mid-2nd century BC, Rome was trading heavily with the Greek colony of Massilia (modern Marseille ) and entered into an alliance with them, by which Rome agreed to protect the town from local Gauls, including the nearby Aquitani and from sea-borne Carthaginians and other rivals, in exchange for land that

368-529: A number of foreign auxiliary units, a levy of Gaulish merchant ships, and barbarian mercenaries attracted by the prospect of booty. In 293 emperor Constantius Chlorus isolated Carausius by besieging the port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and invaded Batavia in the Rhine delta, held by his Frankish allies, and reclaimed Gaul. A migration of Celts from Britain appeared in the 4th century in Armorica led by

460-575: A proper army and invaded Britain . However, tribes rose up on the continent, and the Romans suffered a humiliating defeat. 53 BC saw a draconian campaign against the Gauls in an attempt to pacify them. This failed and the Gauls staged a mass revolt under the leadership of Vercingetorix in 52 BC. Gallic forces won a notable victory at the Battle of Gergovia , but the Romans' indomitable siege works at

552-513: A protected World Heritage Site coastline. The ship had been damaged and was en route to Portland Harbour . The English Channel, despite being a busy shipping lane, remains in part a haven for wildlife. Atlantic oceanic species are more common in the westernmost parts of the channel, particularly to the west of Start Point, Devon , but can sometimes be found further east towards Dorset and the Isle of Wight. Seal sightings are becoming more common along

644-520: The Battle of Alesia utterly defeated the Gallic coalition. In 51 BC and 50 BC, there was little resistance and Caesar's troops were mostly mopping up. Gaul was conquered, although it would not become a Roman province until 27 BC, and resistance would continue until as late as 70 AD. There is no clear end-date for the war, but the imminent Roman Civil War led to the withdrawal of Caesar's troops in 50 BC. Caesar's wild successes in

736-408: The Battle of Britain featured German air attacks on Channel shipping and ports; despite these early successes against shipping the Germans did not win the air supremacy necessary for Operation Sealion , the projected cross-Channel invasion. The Channel subsequently became the stage for an intensive coastal war, featuring submarines, minesweepers , and Fast Attack Craft . The narrow waters of

828-774: The Battle of Vouillé . They were able to retain Narbonensis and Provence after the timely arrival of an Ostrogoth detachment sent by Theodoric the Great . Certain Gallo-Roman aristocratic families continued to exert power in episcopal cities (such as the Mauronitus family in Marseilles and Bishop Gregory of Tours ). The appearance of Germanic given and family names becomes noticeable in Gallia/Francia from

920-698: The Franks and the Alamanni , invaded Gaul at this time. The Gallic Empire ended with Emperor Aurelian 's victory at Châlons in 274. In 286–7 Carausius , commander of the Classis Britannica , the fleet of the English Channel, declared himself Emperor of Britain and northern Gaul. His forces comprised his fleet, the three legions stationed in Britain and also a legion he had seized in Gaul,

1012-661: The Glorious Revolution of 1688, while the concentration of excellent harbours in the Western Channel on Britain's south coast made possible the largest amphibious invasion in history, the Normandy Landings in 1944. Channel naval battles include the Battle of the Downs (1639), Battle of Dover (1652), the Battle of Portland (1653) and the Battle of La Hougue (1692). In more peaceful times,

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1104-708: The Low Countries . The North Sea reaches much greater depths east of northern Britain. The Channel descends briefly to 180 m (590 ft) in the submerged valley of Hurd's Deep , 48 km (30 mi) west-northwest of Guernsey . There are several major islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast, and the Channel Islands , British Crown Dependencies off

1196-586: The Neolithic front in southern Europe to the Mesolithic peoples of northern Europe." The Ferriby Boats , Hanson Log Boats and the later Dover Bronze Age Boat could carry a substantial cross-Channel cargo. Diodorus Siculus and Pliny both suggest trade between the rebel Celtic tribes of Armorica and Iron Age Britain flourished. In 55 BC Julius Caesar invaded, claiming that the Britons had aided

1288-494: The Norman Conquest beginning with the Battle of Hastings , while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants. In 1204, during the reign of King John , mainland Normandy was taken from England by France under Philip II , while insular Normandy (the Channel Islands ) remained under English control. In 1259, Henry III of England recognised the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under

1380-840: The North Sea to the Western Atlantic via the Strait of Dover is of geologically recent origin, having formed late in the Pleistocene period. The English Channel first developed as an arm of the Atlantic Ocean during the Pliocene period (5.3-2.6 million years ago) as a result of differential tectonic uplift along pre-existing tectonic weaknesses during the Oligocene and Miocene periods. During this early period,

1472-519: The Siege of Massilia in 49 BC after which it lost its territories but was allowed to keep nominal autonomy, due to ancient ties of friendship and support of Rome. In 40 BC, during the Second Triumvirate , Lepidus was given responsibility for Gallia Narbonensis (along with Hispania and Africa), while Mark Antony was given the balance of Gaul. In 22 BC, imperial administration of Gaul

1564-760: The Treaty of Paris . His successors, however, often fought to regain control of mainland Normandy. With the rise of William the Conqueror , the North Sea and Channel began to lose some of their importance. The new order oriented most of England and Scandinavia's trade south, toward the Mediterranean and the Orient. Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy and other French possessions in 1801,

1656-491: The Treaty of Paris of 1259 , the surrender of French possessions in 1801, and the belief that the rights of succession to that title are subject to Salic Law which excludes inheritance through female heirs. French Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years' War in 1346–1360 and again in 1415–1450. From the reign of Elizabeth I , English foreign policy concentrated on preventing invasion across

1748-532: The Tres Galliae (the 3 Gauls): The Romans divided these huge provinces into civitates corresponding more or less with the pre-Conquest communities or polities sometimes described misleadingly as "tribes," such as the Aedui , Allobroges , Bellovaci , and Sequani (see List of Celtic tribes ) but the civitates were too large and in turn were divided into smaller units, pagi , a term that eventually became

1840-597: The Veneti against him the previous year. He was more successful in 54 BC , but Britain was not fully established as part of the Roman Empire until Aulus Plautius 's 43 AD invasion . A brisk and regular trade began between ports in Roman Gaul and those in Britain. This traffic continued until the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410 AD, after which the early Anglo-Saxons left less clear historical records. In

1932-702: The fall of Roman administration and the Domain of Soissons , a remnant of the Empire , survived from 457 to 486. In 486, the Franks defeated the last Roman authority in Gaul at the Battle of Soissons . Almost immediately afterwards, most of Gaul came under the rule of the Merovingians , the first kings of a proto-France. In 507, the Visigoths were pushed out of most of Gaul by the Frankish king Clovis I at

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2024-565: The Ärmelkanal in German, or a direct borrowing , such as Canal de la Mancha in Spanish. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as: The Strait of Dover (French: Pas de Calais ), at the Channel's eastern end, is its narrowest point, while its widest point lies between Lyme Bay and the Gulf of Saint Malo , near its midpoint. Well on

2116-721: The 4th and 5th centuries, the Franks settled in northern France and Belgium , the Alemanni in Alsace and Switzerland , and the Burgundians in Savoie . Villas were usually centres of agricultural production, and were often closely associated with vineries and wine production . The owners were probably mainly local Gallic elites who became quickly romanised after the conquest , and sometimes Romans and Italians who wished to exploit rich local resources. The villas would have been

2208-563: The 6th century, which describes how a shrine "called 'Vasso Galatae' in the Gallic tongue" was destroyed and burnt to the ground. Throughout the Roman rule over Gaul, although considerable Romanization in terms of material culture occurred, the Gaulish language is held to have survived and continued to be spoken, coexisting with Latin. Germanic placenames were first attested in border areas settled by Germanic colonizers (with Roman approval). In

2300-515: The Aedui, a strong Roman ally, Rome turned a blind eye. The Sequani and the Arverni sought Ariovistus 's aid and defeated the Aedui in 63 BC at the Battle of Magetobriga . As 58 BC dawned, most of Gaul was still under independent rule. It was beginning to urbanize and shared many aspects of Roman civilization. Into this picture came the rising general Julius Caesar , who had ensured himself

2392-465: The Atlantic. The flooding destroyed the ridge that connected Britain to continental Europe , although a land connection across the southern North Sea would have existed intermittently at later times when periods of glaciation resulted in lowering of sea levels. During interglacial periods (when sea levels were high) between the initial flooding 450,000 years ago until around 180,000 years ago,

2484-535: The Channel by ensuring no major European power controlled the potential Dutch and Flemish invasion ports. Her climb to the pre-eminent sea power of the world began in 1588 as the attempted invasion of the Spanish Armada was defeated by the combination of outstanding naval tactics by the English and the Dutch under command of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham with Sir Francis Drake second in command, and

2576-532: The Channel did not connect to the North Sea, with Britain and Ireland remaining part of continental Europe , linked by an unbroken Weald–Artois anticline , a ridge running between the Dover and Calais regions. During Pleistocene glacial periods this ridge acted as a natural dam holding back a large freshwater pro-glacial lake in the Doggerland region, now submerged under the North Sea . During this period,

2668-519: The Channel for several weeks, but was thwarted following the British naval victory at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759 and was unsuccessful (The last French landing on English soil being in 1690 with a raid on Teignmouth, although the last French raid on British soil was a raid on Fishguard, Wales in 1797). Another significant challenge to British domination of the seas came during the Napoleonic Wars . The Battle of Trafalgar took place off

2760-723: The Channel served as a link joining shared cultures and political structures, particularly the huge Angevin Empire from 1135 to 1217. For nearly a thousand years, the Channel also provided a link between the Modern Celtic regions and languages of Cornwall and Brittany . Brittany was founded by Britons who fled Cornwall and Devon after Anglo-Saxon encroachment. In Brittany, there is a region known as " Cornouaille " (Cornwall) in French and "Kernev" in Breton . In ancient times there

2852-598: The Channel would still have been separated from the North Sea by a landbridge to the north of the Strait of Dover (the Strait of Dover at this time formed part of a estuary fed by the Thames and Scheldt ), restricting interchange of marine fauna between the Channel and the North Sea (except perhaps by occasional overtopping). During the Last Interglacial/Eemian (115–130,000 years ago) the connection between

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2944-435: The Empire, but that task was not Caesar's and he left that to his successors. Gaul would not be made formally into Roman provinces until the reign of Augustus in 27 BC. Several rebellions happened subsequently and Roman troops were kept stationed throughout Gaul. There may have been unrest in the region as late as 70 AD. Massilia was allied to Pompey during Caesar's civil war , which led to its eventual defeat at

3036-608: The English Channel, with both Grey Seal and Harbour Seal recorded frequently. The Channel is thought to have prevented Neanderthals from colonising Britain during the Last Interglacial/Eemian, though they returned to Britain during the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were lower. The Channel has in historic times been both an easy entry for seafaring people and a key natural defence, halting invading armies while in conjunction with control of

3128-622: The Gallic tribes. In 390 BC, the Gauls had sacked Rome , which left an existential dread of barbarian conquest the Romans never forgot. In 109 BC, Italy had been invaded from the north and saved by Gaius Marius only after several bloody and costly battles. Around 62 BC, when a Roman client state, the Arverni, conspired with the Sequani and the Suebi nations east of the Rhine to attack

3220-474: The Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel. The Channel acts as a funnel that amplifies the tidal range from less than a metre at sea in eastern places to more than 6 metres in the Channel Islands , the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula and the north coast of Brittany in monthly spring tides . The time difference of about six hours between high water at

3312-451: The North Sea allowing Britain to blockade the continent. The most significant failed invasion threats came when the Dutch and Belgian ports were held by a major continental power, e.g. from the Spanish Armada in 1588, Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars , and Nazi Germany during World War II . Successful invasions include the Roman conquest of Britain , the Norman Conquest in 1066 and

3404-579: The North Sea and almost all of the British Isles were covered by ice. The lake was fed by meltwater from the Baltic and from the Caledonian and Scandinavian ice sheets that joined to the north, blocking its exit. The sea level was about 120 m (390 ft) lower than it is today. Then, between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago, at least two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods breached

3496-543: The North Sea and the English Channel was fully open as it is today, resulting in Britain being an island during this interval, before lowered sea levels reconnected it to the continent during the Last Glacial Period . From the end of the Last Glacial Period, to the beginning of the Holocene rising sea levels again resulted in the unimpeded connection between the North Sea and the English Channel resuming due to

3588-410: The Roman tunic instead of their traditional clothing. Surviving Celtic influences also infiltrated back into the Roman Imperial culture in the 3rd century. For example, the Gaulish tunic—which gave Emperor Caracalla his surname—had not been replaced by Roman fashion. Similarly, certain Gaulish artisan techniques, such as the barrel (more durable than the Roman amphora ) and chain mail were adopted by

3680-462: The Romans wanted in order to build a road to Hispania to improve troop movements to its provinces there. The Mediterranean settlements on the coast continued to be threatened by the powerful Gallic tribes to the north and in 122 BC the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus campaigned in the area and defeated the Allobroges followed by Quintus Fabius Maximus against the Arverni under King Bituitus in 121 BC. The Romans respected and feared

3772-410: The Romans. The Celtic heritage also continued in the spoken language (see History of French ). Gaulish spelling and pronunciation of Latin are apparent in several 5th century poets and transcribers of popular farces. The last pockets of Gaulish speakers appear to have lingered until the 6th or 7th century. Gaulish was held to be attested by a quote from Gregory of Tours written in the second half of

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3864-419: The Visigoths against the Huns. The conflict climaxed in 451 at the Battle of Châlons , in which the Romans and Goths defeated Attila. The Western Roman administration finally collapsed as remaining Roman troops withdrew southeast to protect Italy. Between 455 and 476, the Visigoths , the Burgundians, and the Franks assumed control in Gaul. However, certain aspects of the ancient Celtic culture continued after

3956-420: The Weald–Artois anticline. These contributed to creating some of the deepest parts of the channel such as Hurd's Deep . The first flood of 450,000 years ago would have lasted for several months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second. The flood started with large but localised waterfalls over the ridge, which excavated depressions now known as the Fosses Dangeard . The flow eroded

4048-452: The Western Roman Empire, the Gaulish language and cultural identity underwent a syncretism with the Roman culture of the new governing class, and evolved into a hybrid Gallo-Roman culture that eventually permeated all levels of society. Gauls continued writing some inscriptions in the Gaulish language, but switched from the Greek alphabet to the Latin alphabet during the Roman period. Current historical research suggests that Roman Gaul

4140-419: The area. The modern Welsh is often given as Môr Udd (the Lord's or Prince's Sea); however, this name originally described both the Channel and the North Sea combined. Anglo-Saxon texts make reference to the sea as Sūð-sǣ (South Sea), but this term fell out of favour, as later English authors followed the same conventions as their Latin and Norman contemporaries. One English name that did persist

4232-412: The authors of the important Panegyrici latini . Many other writers were from the region of Cisalpine Gaul , which was part of Italy, including Virgil , Caecilius Statius , Catullus and Pliny the Elder . In the Crisis of the Third Century around 260, Postumus established a short-lived Gallic Empire , which included the Iberian Peninsula and Britannia, in addition to Gaul itself. Germanic tribes,

4324-414: The barbarian raids, and Flavius Aëtius had to use these tribes against each other in order to maintain some Roman control. He first used the Huns against the Burgundians , and these mercenaries destroyed Worms , killed king Gunther , and pushed the Burgundians westward. The Burgundians were resettled by Aëtius near Lugdunum in 443. The Huns, united by Attila , became a greater threat, and Aëtius used

4416-434: The beginning of the Viking Age . For the next 250 years the Scandinavian raiders of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark dominated the North Sea, raiding monasteries, homes, and towns along the coast and along the rivers that ran inland. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle they began to settle in Britain in 851. They continued to settle in the British Isles and the continent until around 1050, with some raids recorded along

4508-430: The centre of complex relationships with the local area. Much of the work would have been undertaken by slave labour or by local coloni ("tenant farmers"). There would also have been a farm manager in addition to the inhabiting family. English Channel The English Channel , also known as the Channel , is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France . It links to

4600-401: The centre of the Straits of Dover and into the English Channel. It left streamlined islands, longitudinal erosional grooves, and other features characteristic of catastrophic megaflood events, still present on the sea floor and now revealed by high-resolution sonar. Through the scoured channel passed a river, the Channel River , which drained the combined Rhine and Thames westwards to

4692-406: The centuries. Although it had outposts scattered across the country, it was headquartered in Lugdunum. Epigraphy associated with the tax shows the presence of a procurator and staff including: tabularii , a vilicus , and vernae . The locations of these stationes have a pattern of being in ports and key mountain routes. There was even a Quadragesima location in Rome, meaning there might also be

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4784-439: The channel coast of England, including at Wareham, Portland, near Weymouth and along the river Teign in Devon. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo (also known as Robert of Normandy). Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks Charles the Simple through the Treaty of St.-Claire-sur-Epte . In exchange for his homage and fealty , Rollo legally gained

4876-407: The coast of France. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is deeply indented, with several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey and Mont-Saint-Michel . The Cotentin Peninsula on the French coast juts out into the Channel, with the wide Bay of the Seine (French: Baie de Seine ) to its east. On the English side there is a small parallel strait , the Solent , between

4968-408: The coast of Spain against a combined French and Spanish fleet and was won by Admiral Horatio Nelson , ending Napoleon 's plans for a cross-Channel invasion and securing British dominance of the seas for over a century. The exceptional strategic importance of the Channel as a tool for blockading was recognised by the First Sea Lord Admiral Fisher in the years before World War I . "Five keys lock up

5060-399: The continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 square kilometres (22,000 square nautical miles; 29,000 square miles). The Channel aided the United Kingdom in becoming a naval superpower, serving as a natural defence to halt attempted invasions, such as in the Napoleonic Wars and in the Second World War . The northern, English coast of the Channel is more populous than

5152-435: The continental shelf, it has an average depth of about 120 m (390 ft) at its widest; yet averages about 45 m (148 ft) between Dover and Calais , its notable sandbank hazard being Goodwin Sands . Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m (85 ft) across the Broad Fourteens (14 fathoms) where it lies over the southern cusp of the former land bridge between East Anglia and

5244-404: The description suggests the name had recently been adopted. In the sixteenth century, Dutch maps referred to the sea as the Engelse Kanaal (English Channel) and by the 1590s, William Shakespeare used the word Channel in his history plays of Henry VI , suggesting that by that time, the name was popularly understood by English people. By the eighteenth century, the name English Channel

5336-466: The east, where the Nervii nearly defeated him. In 56 BC, Caesar defeated the Veneti in a naval battle and took most of northwest Gaul. In 55 BC, he sought to boost his public image, and undertook first of their kind expeditions across the Rhine river and the English Channel . Upon his return from Britain, Caesar was hailed as a hero, though he had achieved little beyond landing because his army had been too small. The next year, he went back with

5428-434: The eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance . Amphidromic points are the Bay of Biscay and varying more in precise location in the far south of the North Sea, meaning both those associated eastern coasts repel the tides effectively, leaving the Strait of Dover as every six hours the natural bottleneck short of its consequent gravity-induced repulsion of

5520-434: The end of the Merovingian period in the 750s. Slowly, during the ensuing Carolingian period (751–987), the expression Francia , then Francia occidentalis spread to describe the political reality of the kingdom of the Franks ( regnum francorum ). Before 22 BC, Gaul had three geographical divisions, one of which was divided into multiple Roman provinces: After 22 BC, the Romans divided Gallia Comata into three provinces,

5612-414: The end of the war and the project was abandoned. The naval blockade in the Channel and North Sea was one of the decisive factors in the German defeat in 1918. During the Second World War , naval activity in the European theatre was primarily limited to the Atlantic . During the Battle of France in May 1940, the German forces succeeded in capturing both Boulogne and Calais , thereby threatening

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5704-454: The following stormy weather. Over the centuries the Royal Navy slowly grew to be the most powerful in the world. The building of the British Empire was possible only because the Royal Navy eventually managed to exercise unquestioned control over the seas around Europe, especially the Channel and the North Sea. During the Seven Years' War , France attempted to launch an invasion of Britain . To achieve this France needed to gain control of

5796-402: The frontier of Switzerland to the English Channel", they reached the coast at the North Sea. Much of the British war effort in Flanders was a bloody but successful strategy to prevent the Germans reaching the Channel coast. At the outset of the war, an attempt was made to block the path of U-boats through the Dover Strait with naval minefields . By February 1915, this had been augmented by

5888-488: The important general Gnaeus Julius Agricola . Another general born in Gaul was Marcus Antonius Primus . In addition, the family of Antoninus Pius , which was also the adoptive family of Marcus Aurelius , came from Roman Gaul. Among the Roman writers known or hypothesized to be born in Gaul there are Tacitus , Petronius , Varro Atacinus , Aemilius Magnus Arborius , Frontinus , Ausonius , Rutilius Claudius Namatianus , Sextus Pompeius Festus , Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus and

5980-445: The legendary king Conan Meriadoc . They spoke the now extinct British language , which evolved into the Breton , Cornish , and Welsh languages . The Goths , who had sacked Rome in 410, established a capital in Toulouse and in 418 succeeded in being accepted by Honorius as foederati and rulers of the Aquitanian province in exchange for their support against the Vandals . The Roman Empire had difficulty responding to all

6072-423: The line of retreat for the British Expeditionary Force . By a combination of hard fighting and German indecision, the port of Dunkirk was kept open allowing 338,000 Allied troops to be evacuated in Operation Dynamo . More than 11,000 were evacuated from Le Havre during Operation Cycle and a further 192,000 were evacuated from ports further down the coast in Operation Aerial in June 1940. The early stages of

6164-401: The middle of the 7th century on, most notably in powerful families, indicating that the centre of gravity had definitely shifted. The Gallo-Roman (or Vulgar Latin ) dialect of the late Roman period evolved into the dialects of the Oïl languages and Old French in the north, and into Occitan in the south. The name Gallia and its equivalents continued in use, at least in writing, until

6256-403: The modern French word "pays". These administrative groupings would be taken over by the Romans in their system of local control, and these civitates would also be the basis of France's eventual division into ecclesiastical bishoprics and dioceses , which would remain in place—with slight changes—until the French Revolution . In the five centuries between Caesar's invasion and the collapse of

6348-430: The monarch of the United Kingdom retains the title Duke of Normandy in respect to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands (except for Chausey ) are Crown Dependencies of the British Crown . Thus the Loyal toast in the Channel Islands is Le roi, notre Duc ("The King, our Duke"). The British monarch is understood to not be the Duke of Normandy in regards of the French region of Normandy described herein, by virtue of

6440-408: The most dangerous situation Britain faced in either world war. The Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 was fought to reduce the threat by capturing the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, though it was the introduction of convoys and not capture of the bases that averted defeat. In April 1918 the Dover Patrol carried out the Zeebrugge Raid against the U-boat bases. During 1917, the Dover Barrage

6532-424: The position of Governor of both Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul . He sought to pay off debts and find glory for himself, and so began a series of aggressive campaigns to conquer the Gallic tribes. The wars began with a conflict over the migration of the Helvetii in 58 BC, which drew in neighboring tribes and the Germanic Suebi . By 57 BC, Caesar had resolved to conquer all of Gaul, and led campaigns in

6624-540: The power vacuum left by the retreating Romans, the Germanic Angles , Saxons , and Jutes began the next great migration across the North Sea. Having already been used as mercenaries in Britain by the Romans, many people from these tribes crossed during the Migration Period , conquering and perhaps displacing the native Celtic populations. The attack on Lindisfarne in 793 is generally considered

6716-541: The retaining ridge, causing the rock dam to fail and releasing lake water into the Atlantic. After multiple episodes of changing sea level, during which the Fosses Dangeard were largely infilled by various layers of sediment, another catastrophic flood some 180,000 years ago carved a large bedrock-floored valley, the Lobourg Channel , some 500 m wide and 25 m deep, from the southern North Sea basin through

6808-521: The sea include Oceanus Gallicus (the Gaulish Ocean) which was used by Isidore of Seville in the sixth century. The term British Sea is still used by speakers of Cornish and Breton , with the sea known to them as Mor Bretannek and Mor Breizh respectively. While it is likely that these names derive from the Latin term, it is possible that they predate the arrival of the Romans in

6900-606: The sinking of Doggerland , with Britain again becoming an island. As a busy shipping lane, the Channel experiences environmental problems following accidents involving ships with toxic cargo and oil spills. Indeed, over 40% of the UK incidents threatening pollution occur in or very near the Channel. One occurrence was the MSC Napoli , which on 18 January 2007 was beached with nearly 1700 tonnes of dangerous cargo in Lyme Bay,

6992-620: The sleeve (French: la manche ) shape of the Channel. Folk etymology has derived it from a Celtic word meaning 'channel' that is also the source of the name for the Minch in Scotland, but this name is not attested before the 17th century, and French and British sources of that time are clear about its etymology. The name in French has been directly adapted in other languages as either a calque , such as Canale della Manica in Italian or

7084-418: The southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busiest shipping area in the world. It is about 560 kilometres (300 nautical miles; 350 statute miles) long and varies in width from 240 km (130 nmi; 150 mi) at its widest to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at its narrowest in the Strait of Dover . It is the smallest of the shallow seas around

7176-517: The southern, French coast. The major languages spoken in this region are English and French . Roman sources as Oceanus Britannicus (or Mare Britannicum , meaning the Ocean, or the Sea, of the Britons or Britannī ). Variations of this term were used by influential writers such as Ptolemy , and remained popular with British and continental authors well into the modern era. Other Latin names for

7268-620: The southward tide (surge) of the North Sea (equally from the Atlantic). The Channel does not experience, but its existence is necessary to explain the extent of North Sea storm surges , such as necessitate the Thames Barrier , Delta Works , Zuiderzee works ( Afsluitdijk and other dams). In the UK Shipping Forecast the Channel is divided into the following areas, from the east: The full English Channel connecting

7360-490: The syncretic nature of the Roman religion led to disappearance of the Celtic religion. It remains to this day poorly understood: current knowledge of the Celtic religion is based on archaeology and via literary sources from several isolated areas such as Ireland and Wales . The Romans easily imposed their administrative, economic, artistic (especially in terms of monumental art and architecture) and literary culture. They wore

7452-570: The territory he and his Viking allies had previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking (i.e. "Northman") origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and intermarried with the area's inhabitants and became the Normans – a Norman French -speaking mixture of Scandinavians , Hiberno-Norse , Orcadians , Anglo-Danish , and indigenous Franks and Gauls . Rollo's descendant William, Duke of Normandy became king of England in 1066 in

7544-635: The war had made him extremely wealthy and provided a legendary reputation. The Gallic Wars were a key factor in Caesar's ability to win the Civil War and declare himself dictator , in what would eventually lead to the end of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire . At the end of the Gallic Wars, the Gauls had not been entirely subjugated and were not yet a formal part of

7636-635: The world! Singapore, the Cape, Alexandria , Gibraltar, Dover." However, on 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot made the first Channel crossing from Calais to Dover in an aeroplane. Blériot's crossing signalled a change in the function of the Channel as a barrier-moat for England against foreign enemies. Because the Kaiserliche Marine surface fleet could not match the British Grand Fleet, the Germans developed submarine warfare , which

7728-433: Was "Roman" only in certain (albeit major) social contexts, the prominence of which in material culture has hindered a better historical understanding of the permanence of many Celtic elements. The Roman influence was most apparent in the areas of civic religion and administration. The Druidic religion was suppressed by Emperor Claudius I , and in later centuries Christianity was introduced. The prohibition of Druids and

7820-459: Was also a " Domnonia " (Devon) in Brittany as well. In February 1684 , ice formed on the sea in a belt 4.8 km (3.0 mi) wide off the coast of Kent and 3.2 km (2.0 mi) wide on the French side. Remnants of a mesolithic boatyard have been found on the Isle of Wight . Wheat was traded across the Channel about 8,000 years ago. "... Sophisticated social networks linked

7912-528: Was extracted. Collection of the tax was left to the equestrian procurators whose job it was to assess the tax, collect it, and make money available to the armies at the Rhine. Collecting was of greater concern to the procurators of Lugdunensis than to the other Gallic provinces as Lugdunum (now Lyon , France) was the main trading hub of the region. The bureaucracy surrounding the Quadragesima Galliarum grew in size and complexity over

8004-549: Was first recorded in Middle English in the 13th century and was borrowed from the Old French word chanel (a variant form of chenel 'canal'). By the middle of the fifteenth century, an Italian map based on Ptolemy 's description named the sea as Britanicus Oceanus nunc Canalites Anglie (Ocean of the Britons but now English Channel). The map is possibly the first recorded use of the term English Channel and

8096-523: Was in common usage in England . Following the Acts of Union 1707 , this was replaced in official maps and documents with British Channel or British Sea for much of the next century. However, the term English Channel remained popular and was finally in official usage by the nineteenth century. The French name la Manche has been used since at least the 17th century. The name is usually said to refer to

8188-495: Was re-sited with improved mines and more effective nets, aided by regular patrols by small warships equipped with powerful searchlights. A German attack on these vessels resulted in the Battle of Dover Strait in 1917 . A much more ambitious attempt to improve the barrage, by installing eight massive concrete towers across the strait was called the Admiralty M-N Scheme but only two towers were nearing completion at

8280-514: Was reorganised establishing the provinces of Gallia Aquitania , Gallia Belgica and Gallia Lugdunensis . Parts of eastern Gaul were incorporated into the provinces Raetia (15 BC) and Germania Superior (AD 83). Roman citizenship was granted to all in 212 by the Constitutio Antoniniana . Several significant Roman figures were born in Gaul, including Roman Emperors Claudius , Caracalla and probably Carus , as well as

8372-552: Was the Narrow Seas , a collective term for the channel and North Sea . As England (followed by Great Britain and the United Kingdom) claimed sovereignty over the sea, a Royal Navy Admiral was appointed with maintaining duties in the two seas. The office was maintained until 1822, when several European nations (including the United Kingdom) adopted a three-mile (4.8 km) limit to territorial waters. The word channel

8464-538: Was to become a far greater threat to Britain. The Dover Patrol , set up just before the war started, escorted cross-Channel troopships and prevented submarines from sailing in the Channel, obliging them to travel to the Atlantic via the much longer route around Scotland. On land, the German army attempted to capture French Channel ports in the Race to the Sea but although the trenches are often said to have stretched "from

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