New children's history book claims Stonehenge was built when England was a 'black country'

A new children's book published by Bloomsbury and promoted in the U.K. by a government-funded group claims that Stonehenge was built by "people with brown skin" back when England was supposedly "a black country."

Atinuke, the daughter of a Nigerian university professor and a white English author, claims in "Brilliant Black British History" that "Britain was a black country for more than 7,000 years before white people came, and during that time the most famous British monument was built, Stonehenge,"

The book, which is aimed at children aged seven and above, also tells readers that 'every single British person comes from a migrant' and that the 'very first Britons were black'.

The introduction adds that Britain has been 'mostly a white country for a lot less time than it has been mostly a black country'.

Atinuke also claims that the remains of the 10,000-year-old Cheddar Man belonged to someone who had 'skin as dark as dark can be'.

The book takes readers through an overview of the presence of black people in Britain.

It says that Britain was 'a black country more than 7,000 years before white people came and during that time the most famous British monument was built, Stonehenge'.

But research published in 2019 suggested the Neolithic farmers who built Stonehenge had paler skin and were descended from populations originating in Anatolia in what is now Turkey.

They also likely had brown eyes and black or dark-brown hair.

Atinuke's book also features illustrations of Britain during various periods of its history.

One page shows an image of a black Roman legionary fighting a white Celt.

The author claims the Romans had 'turned back to Europe and pushed north' after trying and failing to conquer the African kingdom of Nubia.

By the Middle Ages, Britain was a 'hodgepodge of people', according to the author.

The population was made up of 'original British migrants, Celts, Romans, Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Africans and Normans'.

They also spoke 'a hodgepodge language too - English'.

A page on the Black Lives Matter movement says that although race 'does not scientifically exist', black people suffer 'institutional racism'.

The book is billed in its blurb as an 'eye-opening history of Britain' that focuses on 'a part of our past that has mostly been left out of the history books: the brilliant black history of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland'.

It adds: 'Did you know that the first Britons were black? Or that some of the Roman soldiers who invaded and ruled Britain were black, too?

'Join this fascinating journey through the ages to meet those first Britons, as well as the black Tudors, Georgians and Victorians who existed in every walk of life here.'