10. The Prehistoric Brexit
Until the most recent Ice Age, Britain was part of Doggerland, Europe’s northwest corner. However, when the Ice Age ended and temperatures began to warm, the ice cap began to melt, and the sea levels began to rise. That was bad news for much of Doggerland, because much of it was lowlands. As the water levels steadily rose, the Atlantic and the expanding North Sea gradually chipped away at the region. Then, about 7500 BC, a landslide off Norway created a tsunami that rolled over much of Doggerland.
By 6000 BC, most inhabitants of the remaining lowlands, by now mostly marshes, had moved to the higher ground of today’s Britain and the Netherlands. Finally, about 5000 BC, the prehistoric Brexit was completed when the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea finally met, forming the English Channel that separates Britain from Europe. Traces of Doggerland come up today from time to time, as the nets of fishermen plying their trade over the former lowland occasionally pull up mammoth bones and prehistoric spear heads.