Old English vocabulary was primarily Germanic. As an island nation in a time of slow change and limited interaction with other cultures, England was less susceptible to outside influences on its language than were other continental nations. As a conquering race, the Anglo-Saxons took into their language almost nothing but a handful place names (e.g., Thames, Avon) from the Celtic languages they encountered. Later influences on the vocabulary were to come from Latin (during the period of Christianization beginning with the arrival of St. Augustine in 597) and the Scandinavian languages of the "Danes" or "Vikings" who besieged England for two centuries, succeeding in temporarily conquering much of the island north of the Thames.