Long ages ago the British Isles formed a peninsula of continental Europe, and the English Channel was a broad plain. People and animals from southern Europe traveled across this plain and made their home in the dense forests that then covered Britain. The people belonged to the earliest stage of civilization, the Old Stone Age. They moved over the damp green woodland, stone ax in hand, hunting mammoths, horses, and reindeer. They lived in caves, had no domestic animals, and took no care of their dead.
Over an immense stretch of time the land subsided, and Ireland was separated from Britain. Later the sea flowed into the narrow Strait of Dover and made Britain also an island. New waves of colonists crossed over from the east. The people advanced slowly to the New Stone Age. In this period they mined flints for their weapons and polished them to give a sharp cutting edge. They laid away their dead in long or round chambers called barrows and heaped over them mounds of earth and stone. The remains found in these barrows reveal that these people tamed horses, sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, and pigs and grew wheat and barley and, later, flax to make linen.
Later, sea merchants from countries bordering the Mediterranean discovered the islands in the northern seas. The Phoenicians, who traded with people in many lands, came again and again to buy tin, which lay close to the surface in Cornwall. The native people learned how to smelt tin with copper to make bronze tools and weapons. With this knowledge the long Stone Age ended and the Bronze Age began. The people of Britain erected avenues and circles of huge granite slabs, like those at Stonehenge. These were probably temples.
Celtic Domination
Some five or six centuries before the birth of Christ, a tall fair people called Celts came across the channel in small boats. The Goidels, or Gaels (who are still found in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland), formed the first great migration. Then came the Brythons, or Britons (still found in Wales and Cornwall), who gave their name to the island of Britain. The Celts knew how to smelt iron and were skilled in arts and crafts. They became the ruling class, and the native folk adopted the Celtic language and the Celts' Druid religion.
Roman Rule
Julius Caesar raided Britain in 55 BC and again in 54 BC. Nearly 90 years later Rome undertook the conquest of the island in earnest. In AD 43 Emperor Claudius gathered a force of about 40,000 to invade the island. All the area that is now England was soon subdued and added to the Roman Empire as the province Britannia.
A widowed Icenian queen, golden-haired Boudicca, led a great uprising against the Romans in AD 60, but her barbarian horde was no match for the Roman soldiers. The people of Scotland were harder to subdue. Emperor Hadrian decided conquering them was not worth the trouble, so he had a wall built 73 1/2 miles (118 kilometers) long across the narrow neck of the island to keep them out. South of this wall the Romans built more than 50 cities and connected them with military roads. Some of these roads, such as the famous Watling Street, serve as the foundations for modern highways.
The cities contained Roman baths and open-air theaters; temples to Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva; and houses with colonnaded terraces, mosaic floors, and hot-air furnaces. Upper-class Britons in the towns spoke Latin and wore the Roman toga. Commerce and industry prospered, protected by Roman law. Later, when Rome became Christian, Roman missionaries spread Christian teachings in Britain.
In AD 410 the Goths swept down on Rome, and no more Roman legions came to protect Britannia. The Britons, left to themselves, were unable to form a government. Local chieftains warred with one another. Barbarians from Scotland and pirates from Ireland ravaged the land. In vain a Briton wrote for aid to a Roman consul, saying: "The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians."
Over an immense stretch of time the land subsided, and Ireland was separated from Britain. Later the sea flowed into the narrow Strait of Dover and made Britain also an island. New waves of colonists crossed over from the east. The people advanced slowly to the New Stone Age. In this period they mined flints for their weapons and polished them to give a sharp cutting edge. They laid away their dead in long or round chambers called barrows and heaped over them mounds of earth and stone. The remains found in these barrows reveal that these people tamed horses, sheep, goats, cattle, dogs, and pigs and grew wheat and barley and, later, flax to make linen.
Later, sea merchants from countries bordering the Mediterranean discovered the islands in the northern seas. The Phoenicians, who traded with people in many lands, came again and again to buy tin, which lay close to the surface in Cornwall. The native people learned how to smelt tin with copper to make bronze tools and weapons. With this knowledge the long Stone Age ended and the Bronze Age began. The people of Britain erected avenues and circles of huge granite slabs, like those at Stonehenge. These were probably temples.
Celtic Domination
Some five or six centuries before the birth of Christ, a tall fair people called Celts came across the channel in small boats. The Goidels, or Gaels (who are still found in Ireland and in the Highlands of Scotland), formed the first great migration. Then came the Brythons, or Britons (still found in Wales and Cornwall), who gave their name to the island of Britain. The Celts knew how to smelt iron and were skilled in arts and crafts. They became the ruling class, and the native folk adopted the Celtic language and the Celts' Druid religion.
Roman Rule
Julius Caesar raided Britain in 55 BC and again in 54 BC. Nearly 90 years later Rome undertook the conquest of the island in earnest. In AD 43 Emperor Claudius gathered a force of about 40,000 to invade the island. All the area that is now England was soon subdued and added to the Roman Empire as the province Britannia.
A widowed Icenian queen, golden-haired Boudicca, led a great uprising against the Romans in AD 60, but her barbarian horde was no match for the Roman soldiers. The people of Scotland were harder to subdue. Emperor Hadrian decided conquering them was not worth the trouble, so he had a wall built 73 1/2 miles (118 kilometers) long across the narrow neck of the island to keep them out. South of this wall the Romans built more than 50 cities and connected them with military roads. Some of these roads, such as the famous Watling Street, serve as the foundations for modern highways.
The cities contained Roman baths and open-air theaters; temples to Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva; and houses with colonnaded terraces, mosaic floors, and hot-air furnaces. Upper-class Britons in the towns spoke Latin and wore the Roman toga. Commerce and industry prospered, protected by Roman law. Later, when Rome became Christian, Roman missionaries spread Christian teachings in Britain.
In AD 410 the Goths swept down on Rome, and no more Roman legions came to protect Britannia. The Britons, left to themselves, were unable to form a government. Local chieftains warred with one another. Barbarians from Scotland and pirates from Ireland ravaged the land. In vain a Briton wrote for aid to a Roman consul, saying: "The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea throws us back on the barbarians."
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