It's a curious fact that the history of the English language had almost nothing to do with Britain at all. Around the 5th century A.D, the natives of Britain spoke a Celtic language. However, with the invasion of three Germanic tribes, the Celtic speakers were pushed towards the north and west, into what is now Scotland, Wales and Ireland. One of the Germanic tribes, the Angles, came from Englaland and their language was Englisc, from which we derive England and English respectively. The Germanic invaders spoke a language that later developed into what we now call Old English. The present day English speaking community would not be able to recognize Old English by the look or sound of it, though most modern day English words have their roots in it.
New conquerors brought French to the royal court and for a period, French was the language of the upper class, whilst English was spoken by people of a much lower rank in society. By the 14th century though, English became dominant again in Britain, albeit with a lot of French words added to it. This language was called Middle English, and even this would be barely recognizable for modern day English speakers.
The 16th century saw many changes in the English language. Britain was now very well connected with the rest of the world. With the advent of the renaissance of classical learning, new words and phrases became a part of the language. Printing further ensured that the language was standardized, and in 1604, the first English dictionary was published.
The English colonization of North America in 1600 A.D. resulted in a distinct flavour of English, replete with Americanisms such as spelling and pronunciation variations. Today, American English is dominant owing to America's presence in modern day cinema, music and technology. Some of the other dominant types of English that exist include Australian English, Canadian English, Indian English and Caribbean English.
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