Britons were a people inhabiting Britain before the Anglo-Saxon invasions beginning in the 5th century AD. Although it was once thought that the Britons descended from the Celts, some bow think they were the indigenous population and that they remained in contact with their European neighbours through trade and other social exchanges.
The earliest evidence for the Britons and their language in dates to the Iron Age. With the Anglo-Saxon settlement in the 5th century, however, the culture and language of the Britons began to fragment and much of their territory was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons. By the 11th century they had split into distinct groups: the Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons.