Editor's note: Just like all other ancient languages, English has experienced a long and tortuous journey in its development. Reform and innovation from within and collision and integration from the outside have jointly created this communication symbol that affects the world, as evidenced by this chronology.

Local inhabitants speak Celtic.

BC 55 Roman invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar.

BC 43 Roman invasion and occupation. Beginning of Roman rule of Britain.

436 Roman withdrawal from Britain complete.

449 Settlement of Britain by Germanic invaders begins.

Old English

450-480 Earliest known Old English inscriptions.

1066 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades and conquers England.

Middle English

c1150 Earliest surviving manuscripts in Middle English.

1348 English replaces Latin as the language of instruction in most schools.

1362 English replaces French as the language of law. English is used in Parliament for the first time.

c1388 Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales.

c1400 The Great Vowel Shift begins.

Early Modern English

1476 William Caxton establishes the first English printing press.

1564 Shakespeare is born.

1604 Table Alphabeticall, the first English dictionary, is published.

1607 The first permanent English settlement in the New World (Jamestown) is established.

1616 Shakespeare dies.

1623 Shakespeare's First Folio is published

1702 The first daily English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London.

1755 Samuel Johnson publishes his English dictionary.

1776 Thomas Jefferson writes the American Declaration of Independence.

1782 Britain abandons its American colonies.

Late Modern English

1828 Webster publishes his American English dictionary.

1922 The British Broadcasting Corporation is founded.

1928 The Oxford English Dictionary is published.