What was Britain called before it was called Britain?

Answer 1

In pre-Roman times, the British Isles was inhabited by many Celtic tribes. Nowadays, the most famous of these is the Iceni, of which Boudicca was chieftain. When the Romans arrived, they integrated into the population, with some soldiers marrying local women. North of Hadrians Wall were the Picts, similar to the Celts in traditions, but who proved much more of a problem for the occupying army. After the Romans left, there was no real power to resist the invasion of the British Isles, so from the east in what is now Denmark and Germany, came the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. The Saxons settled in the South of England, in what is now Sussex (South Seaxe), Wessex (West Seaxe), and Essex (East Seaxe). The Angles settled further north, and it is the Angles that give their name to England. It is unknown exactly where the Jutes settled, but some believe it to be Kent. This influx of Germanic tribes drove the Celts back into what is now Wales (indeed, Welsh is one of the few Celtic languages which still survives). Meanwhile, an Irish Celtic tribe called the Scottii moved into what is now southern Scotland. They formed the Kingdom of Dalriada, and settled in what is now Galloway. In the year 841, a Scot called Kenneth MacAlpin united the Picts and the Scots, and so is recognised as the first king of Scotland. Back with the Saxons, many warring kingdoms had grown up, and the supreme kingdom in the 800s was Wessex. But a new people were arriving in Britain, the Vikings. The Vikings settled in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, Ireland, and the East coast of northern England. There is an Anglo-Saxon poem documenting a vast battle, the Battle of Brunanburh, in which the army of Wessex took on the combined forces of the Scots, the Picts, the Viking king of Dublin, and, so some sources say, Irish and Welsh mercenaries. Wessex emerged victorious, but this does give a good indication of the various peoples that inhabited the British Isles at that time. After this the Normans came, under William the Conqueror. They were Vikings that had been given the province now known as Normandy by the French king, and so had become slightly Frankish in their manners. The conquest drove many Saxons north into the lands of the Scottish king, Malcolm III, who accepted them into the Lowlands, which is why the lowlands spoke English long before the Highlands. So, the pre-Britain Brits were a mix of Britons(Celts), Picts, Romans, Scots(Irish), Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings and Normans. After this, there were no great influx of new peoples before it was known as Great Britain

Answer 2

England, Scotland and Wales. The full name of the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" because it is just that, a united kingdom of four separate countries/principalities. Britain is actually just the big island containing England, Scotland and Wales.