#english_history 

## [[The Romans in Britain|Roman]] towns
There were three kinds of towns in Roman Britain:
1. **Coloniae**, towns peopled by Roman settlers
2. **Municipia**, large cities in which the whole population was given Roman citizenship
3. **Civitas**, mostly old Celtic tribal capitals, through which the Romans administered the Celtic population in the countryside.
By 300 CE all towns had thick stone walls

The Romans left about *20* large towns with a population of 5000, and even more smaller ones. Many of these towns were at first army camps, and the Latin word for camp, **castra**, has remained part of many town names to this day: Gloucester, Leicester, Winchester, Lancaster and so on.
These towns were built with stone/wood and had *planned streets, markets and shops*, while some buildings had *central heating*. The towns were connected by [[Roman roads]], **six** of whom met in London (then - Londinium), a capital city of about 20000 inhabitants. It was possibly **the most important trading centre of northern Europe**

## The countryside
The biggest change the Romans brought was the growth of large farms, called **villas**. These belonged to the richer Britons and had many workers, usually located close to towns so that the crops could be sold easily.

## Conclusion
Although life in Roman Britain seems very civilised, but it was also hard for all except the richest: low life expectancy, poverty and so on.