The Romans conquered most of southern Britain between BC 43 and 47 and remained there until AD 410. They built towns, forts and good road systems. After the Romans left, the Anglo-Saxons, ancestors of the English, came to Britain from Germany, Denmark and Holland, ruling Britain for about 500 years. Most were farmers. They lived in houses with thatched roofs, in small villages. Viking attacks on Anglo-Saxon Britain started at the 700s. They came by sea in their long boats from Scandinavia and conquered a large part of England