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The first
settlers
250,000 years ago, the first people appeared on
Jersey. They were nomadic hunters, and used the
caves at St. Brelade as a base whilst hunting
mammoth.
The island
was used on and off for 200,000 years until the
first ice age ended and Jersey again became an
island. The island was unoccupied for 120,000
years until the end of the second ice age.
Permanent
settlements
At the end of the second ice age, settlements
appeared around Jersey, on the coastal plains.
Permanent settlements were not established on
Jersey itself until 4500 BC.
These neolithic
settlers established trading links with Brittany
and with the south coast of England.
Very little
else is known about the island from here until
about 930 AD. There is evidence of the Gauls and
the Romans in the island, but it does not seem
that they were permanent settlers.
In 511 Jersey
became part of the kingdom of Neustria. It was
around this time that the first Christian missionaries
arrived in Jersey - St Magloire and St Samson.
For the next 200 years, Jersey's history is almost
a blank. So let's fast forward through to 800
AD, when the Vikings arrived...
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