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Scientists have found evidence that a land link existing between Europe and Britain 450,000 years ago was damaged and later destroyed:
The UK has now started the formal process of leaving the EU, but scientists say they have evidence of a much earlier "Brexit". They have worked out how a thin strip of land that once connected ancient Britain to Europe was destroyed. The researchers believe a large lake overflowed 450,000 years ago, damaging the land link, then a later flood fully opened the Dover Strait. The scars of these events can be found on the seabed of the English Channel.
The study is published in the journal Nature Communications [open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15101] [DX]. Professor Sanjeev Gupta, who led the study, from Imperial College London, said: "This was really one of the defining events for north west Europe - and certainly the defining event in Britain's history. "This chance geological event, if it hadn't happened, would have meant Britain was always connected to the continent."
The shortest distance across the Dover Strait is currently 33.3 kilometers (20.7 miles).
2007 letter to Nature from some of the same authors: Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel (DOI: 10.1038/nature06018) (DX)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday April 05 2017, @07:25PM (2 children)
> damaged and destroyed our land link to Europe. Now we must demand retroactive payment for that channel tunnel to repair the inconvenience
Definitely not written by a true Brit.
The fact that the UK is detached from the continent is an critical element of the British psyche. Not being a "continental" is the rallying cry and pride of the People.
No wonder they got kicked out of Western France after a few hundred short years. You're not truly one if you dilute your bloodline through too many generations off an island.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 06 2017, @03:03AM
As we Britishers say, vive la petite différence!
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 07 2017, @11:19PM
I read something about German people being "too authoritarian" in the mind of Brits and possible French people when shaping the foundation for the USA. So if the land connection had remained it could have shaped the European continent in a more authoritarian way.