Did short ficition began in Britain with shakespeare?

Short fiction predates Shakespeare and did not begin in Britain with him. Short stories have existed in various forms across many cultures and civilizations since ancient times. Some notable early examples include Aesop's Fables in Greece, The Arabian Nights in the Middle East, and various collections of tales from India and East Asia.

Within English literature, there were certainly significant developments in short fiction before Shakespeare's time. Geoffrey Chaucer's collection of tales known as The Canterbury Tales, written in the late 14th century, is considered an important work in the history of short fiction.

During the Renaissance period, writers like Thomas More, Sir Philip Sidney, and John Lyly experimented with shorter forms of narratives and prose works.

Therefore, while Shakespeare wrote some literary works including sonnets and poems that might be categorized as short fiction, short fiction existed and has a vast cultural heritage well before his time and was not solely initiated in Britain by him.