Part 1: City of London from abundance to debt
The Celtics were warriors and hunter gatherers who preferred to live in tribes, they also had an elite class known as Druids who were held esteemed positions in society like law makers, priests, doctors and who would sometimes be able to step into bring tribes together in times of need.
The forests, rivers and animals provided an abundance for the Celtic people which was soon to attract envious eyes of empire builders from the mainlands.
Long before the Romans invaded, The Phoenicians were already trading in the 4th – 2nd century BC. Tin was fast becoming an important resource because of it’s use in bronze making which was highly prized in the Mediterranean.
Later the Romans followed suit and found their way to trade with Britain too. The Celts preferred to Barter but soon came to the benefits of the Roman’s coins, at first it seemed alien but soon they could see how this Money made more complex transactions easier. Money trading was not to become common practice among the Celts but it was increasingly being adopted in foreign trade.
Exotic imports were highly desired and so Celtic merchants naturally vyed for them leading to competition for resources that would also lead to violence and even robbery which in turn lead to building of more Celtic fortification as distrust grew among them.
The Romans in the meantime came to know what they had suspected about England, it was rich land with many resources and pursued military conquest. Caesar made two expeditions in 55 and 54BC, the second more serious but was driven back due to increasing pressures from Gaul. It was not until AD 43 that Claudius was to succeed in a full scale Roman invasion and after learning from Caesars’ extensive notes from his discoveries of this mysterious land and its celtic people.
Once conquered, more Romans and merchants entered Britain, The celts were also being assimilated into the Roman way of things. War subsided and in it’s stead trade and money spread to new populations and a demand for Roman products increased exponentially and for Roman coin.
