Editing Norfolk (section)

==History==
{{Main|Prehistoric Norfolk|History of Norfolk}}
The area that was to become Norfolk was settled in pre-Roman times (there were Palaeolithic settlers as early as 950,000 years ago), with camps along the higher land in the west, where [[flint]]s could be quarried.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.norfolkbroads.com/guide/history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829164357/http://www.norfolkbroads.com/guide/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 August 2008 |title=Broads History Guide Norfolk UK |access-date=23 September 2017}}</ref> A [[Celtic Britons|Brittonic]] tribe, the [[Iceni]], emerged in the 1st century [[Anno Domini|BC]]. The Iceni revolted against the [[Roman invasion of Britain|Roman invasion]] in AD 47, and again in 60 led by [[Boudica]]. The crushing of the second rebellion opened the area to the Romans. During the [[Roman Norfolk|Roman era]] roads and ports were constructed throughout the area and farming was widespread.

Situated on the east coast, the homelands of the Iceni were vulnerable to attacks from continental Europe and other parts of Britain, and forts were built to defend against raids by the [[Saxons]] and the [[Picts]]. A period of depopulation, which may have been due to these threats, seems to have followed the departure of the Romans.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dark |first=Ken R. |title=Large-scale population movements into and from Britain south of Hadrian's Wall in the fourth to sixth centuries AD |url=https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2003-03_K._R._Dark%2C_Large-scale_population_movements_into_and_from_Britan_south_of_Hadrian%27s_Wall_in_the_fourth_to_sixth_centuries_AD.pdf |access-date=18 June 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601080017/https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/GCMS/RMS-2003-03_K._R._Dark%2C_Largescale_population_movements_into_and_from_Britan_south_of_Hadrian%27s_Wall_in_the_fourth_to_sixth_centuries_AD.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> Soon afterward, Germanic peoples from the North Sea area settled in the region. Though they became known as [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], they were likely not affiliated to any tribe in particular at the time of their migration. It is thought that the settlement here was early (possibly beginning at the start of the fifth century, thereby preceding the alleged date of [[Hengist and Horsa]]'s arrival in Kent) and that it occurred on a large scale.<ref>Toby F. Martin, ''The Cruciform Brooch and Anglo-Saxon England'', Boydell and Brewer Press (2015), pp. 174–178</ref><ref>Catherine Hills, "The Anglo-Saxon Migration: An Archaeological Case Study of Disruption," in ''Migrations and Disruptions'', ed. Brenda J. Baker and Takeyuki Tsuda, pp. 45–48</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Coates |first=Richard |title=Celtic whispers: revisiting the problems of the relation between Brittonic and Old English |url=https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A31804/attachment/ATT-0/ |access-date=18 June 2020 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813224714/https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa:31804/attachment/ATT-0/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the 5th century the Angles had established control of the region and later became the "north folk" and the "south folk"; hence "Norfolk" and "[[Suffolk]]". Norfolk, Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia (one of the [[heptarchy]]), which later merged with [[Mercia]] and then with [[Wessex]]. The influence of the early English settlers can be seen in the many place names ending in "-ham", "-ingham" and "-ton". Endings such as "-by" and "-thorpe" are also fairly common, indicating Danish toponyms: in the 9th century the region again came under attack, this time from [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] who killed the king, [[Edmund the Martyr]]. Several place names around the Fenland area contain Celtic elements;<ref>Susan Oosthuizen, ''The Anglo-Saxon Fenland'' (2017), pp. 42–43</ref> this has been taken by some scholars to represent a possibly significant concentration of Britons in the area.

In the centuries before the [[Norman Conquest]] the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have been high: by the time of the [[Domesday Book]] survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the [[British Isles]]. During the high and late [[Middle Ages]] the county developed arable agriculture and woollen industries. Norfolk's prosperity at that time is evident from the county's large number of medieval churches: out of an original total of over one thousand some 659 have survived, more than in any other county in Britain and the greatest concentration in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Medieval-Churches-in-Norfolk |title=Medieval Churches in Norfolk :: Geograph Britain and Ireland |publisher=Geograph.org.uk |date=24 September 2010 |access-date=25 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927144616/http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Medieval-Churches-in-Norfolk |archive-date=27 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The economy was in decline by the time of the [[Black Death]], which dramatically reduced the population in 1349.

[[File:Suffolcia Atlas.jpg|thumb|168x168px|Hand-drawn map of Suffolk by Christopher Saxton from 1573]]

[[Kett's Rebellion]] occurred in Norfolk during the reign of [[Edward VI]], largely in response to the enclosure of land by landlords, leaving peasants with nowhere to graze their animals, and to the general abuses of power by the nobility. It was led by [[Robert Kett]], a yeoman farmer, who was joined by recruits from Norwich and the surrounding countryside. His group numbered some 16,000 by the time the rebels stormed Norwich on 29 July 1549 and took the city. Kett's rebellion ended on 27 August when the rebels were defeated by an army under the leadership of [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland]] at the Battle of Dussindale. Some 3,000 rebels were killed. Kett was captured, held in the Tower of London, tried for treason, and hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britainexpress.com/History/tudor/ketts-rebellion.htm |title=Kett's Rebellion |work=britainexpress.com |access-date=22 April 2022 |archive-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708183620/https://www.britainexpress.com/History/tudor/ketts-rebellion.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/robert_ket_and_the_norfolk_risin.htm Robert Ket and the Norfolk Rising]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/20/radicalism-rebellion-and-robert-kett-a-walk-through-norwichs-history |title=Radicalism, rebellion and Robert Kett: a walk through Norwich's history |work=The Guardian |last=McGregor |first=Jon |date=20 May 2019 |access-date=22 April 2022 |archive-date=8 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708183615/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/20/radicalism-rebellion-and-robert-kett-a-walk-through-norwichs-history |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the late 16th century Norwich had grown to become the second-largest city in England, but over one-third of its population died in the [[Plague (disease)|plague]] epidemic of 1579,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/voices/voices_salisbury.shtml |title=Voices of the Powerless: Boils and Buboes |date=29 August 2002 |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=3 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106110053/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/voices/voices_salisbury.shtml |archive-date=6 January 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1665 the [[Great Plague of London|Great Plague]] again killed around one-third of the population.<ref>{{cite web |author=4Seen web construction, Judi Ingram |url=http://www.about-norfolk.com/about/county/norfolk%20history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030101014636/http://www.about-norfolk.com/about/county/norfolk%20history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 January 2003 |title=About the History of Norfolk |access-date=23 September 2017}}</ref> During the [[English Civil War]] Norfolk was largely [[Roundheads|Parliamentarian]]. The economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the [[Industrial Revolution]] Norfolk developed little industry, except in Norwich, which was a late addition to the railway network.

Early military units included the [[Norfolk Militia]]. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation. The first development in airfields came with the [[First World War]]; there was then a massive expansion during the [[Second World War]] with the growth of the [[Royal Air Force]] and the influx of the American USAAF [[8th Air Force]] which operated from many [[List of Norfolk airfields|Norfolk airfields]].
[[File:Norfolk_boundary.jpg|thumb|Entrance to Norfolk at Walsoken, Wisbech on the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk county boundary]]
The local [[British Army]] regiments included the [[Royal Norfolk Regiment]] (now the [[Royal Anglian Regiment]]) and the [[Norfolk Yeomanry]].
[[File:Norfolk flag.png|thumb|The flag of the historic county of Norfolk]]
During the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and [[rapeseed|oilseed rape]].