The Romans are famous for a lot of things!

I bet you’ve already heard a load about them in school.

Well, they played a big part in London’s history too, although back then it wasn’t called London, it was called Londinium whilst the Romans were in charge.

When did The Romans come to London?

The Romans invaded Britain in the year 50 AD 50, nearly two thousand years ago!

When the came to London they built a bridge over the Thames river and created a settlement around it which they called Londinium. 

This became an important place for The Romans as the river gave them a great way to bring goods in and send goods overseas, boats could sail to from all around the world, go up the Thames and drop off their cargo in London.

Where’s all the Roman stuff now?

Lots of the buildings and remains from Londinium are underneath the London you see today.

Up to 7 meters down is where most of the ancient city remains, it’s been buried of the years by centuries of building, and debris from fires and bombs.

But not all of it us underground! The Romans built a wall around Londinium to keep invaders out, sections of this wall still exist and you can still see these pieces of the if you know where to look for them.

What sort of people lived in Londinium?

Lots of different people!

But the main reason the city was so popular was because of its trading via the river.

Lots of people in Londonium would have worked bringing goods into the wharf and generally working around the wharf area.

What sorts of things would be trading on the Wharf?

The Romans had an empire that stretched around the globe at this time, which meant that there was lots of trading between these places.

Here’s a list of just a few things that would come into Londinium from around the Roman Empire:

• Wine and pottery from Gaul and Italy
• Olive oil from Spain
• Marble from Greece

Lots of goods would be sent from Britain away to the Empire as well, things like:

• Copper
• Tin
• Silver
• Corn
• Oysters