1. Britain's prehistory
1.1. Our first evidence of human life is a few stone tools, dating from one of the warmer period s, about 250, 000 BC .
1.1.1. The earlier group made the ir too ls from flakes of flint , similar in kind to stone tools found across the north European plain as far as Russia.
1.1.2. Africa to Europe . Hand axes made in thi s way ha ve been found widely, as far north as Yorkshire and as far west as Wal es.
1.1.2.1. Around 10, 000 BC, as th e Ice Age drew to a close, Britain was peop led by small groups of hunters, gatherers and fis hers.
1.1.2.2. about 5000 BC Britain had finally become an island, and had also become hea vily forested .
1.1.2.2.1. The great "public works" of this time, which needed a huge organisat ion of labour, reil us a little of how prehistoric Brirain was developing.
1.1.2.3. About 3000 BC Neolithic (or New Stone Age ) peopl e crossed th e narrow sea from Europe in small round boats of bent wood covered with animal skins.
1.1.2.3.1. After 2400 BC new groups of peop le arrived in southeast Britain from Europe .
1.1.2.3.2. Stonehenge remained th e most important cen tre until 1300 BC. The Beaker peop le's richest graves were the re, and they added a new circle of thirty sto ne columns , this time connec ted by stone lintels, or cross-pieces.
2. Roman life
2.1. The Romans left about twenty large towns of about 5,000 inhabitants, and almost one hundred smaller ones.
2.1.1. In some ways life in Roman Britain seems very civilised. but it was also hard for all exce pt the richest.
2.1.1.1. The bodies buried in a Roman graveyard at York show tha t life expectancy was low. Half the ent ire populatio n died between the ages of twenty and forty. while 15 pet cent died before reaching the age of twenty
2.1.1.1.1. It is very difficult to be sure how many peop le were living in Britain when the Romans left.
2.2. The most obvious characteristic of Roman Britain was its towns, which were th e basis of Roman administration and civilisation.
2.2.1. The Romans left about twenty large towns of about 5, 000 inhabitants, and almost one hundred smaller ones. Man y of thes e towns were at first army camps, and the Latin word for camp, castra, has remain ed part of many town names to this day (with the ending chester, caster or cesrer): Gloucester, Leicester, Doncaster, Winchester, Chester, Lancaster and many others besides.
2.2.1.1. London was twice the size of Paris, and possibly the most important trading cent re of northern Europe, because southeast Britain produced so much co rn for export
3. The Romans
3.1. The Romans had invaded beca use the Celts of Britain were working with the Celts of Gaul against them.
3.1.1. The Romans brought the skills of reading and writing to Britain.
3.1.2. The Romans established a Romano-British culture across the southern half of Britain, from the River Humber to the River Severn
3.1.3. The Romans could not conquer "Caledonia" , as they called Scotland, although they spent over a century trying to do so.
3.2. The name "Britain" comes from the word"Pretani ", the Greco-Rornan word for the inhabitant s of Brita in.
3.2.1. Roman cont rol of Britain came to an end as the empire began to collapse. The first signs were th e attacks by Celts of Caledonia in AD 367.
3.2.2. The Romans considered the Celts as war-mad , "high spirited and quick for bat tle", a descripti on some would st ill give the Scots, Irish and Welsh today.
3.2.3. In A D 409 Rome pulled its last soldiers out of Britain and the Romano-British , the Romanised Celts, were left to figh t alone against the Scots, th e Irish and Saxon raider s from Germany.
4. The Vikings
4.1. Towards the end of the eigh th century new raiders were tempted by Britain 's wealth. These were the Vikings, a word which probably means eirher "pirates" or "t he people of th e sea inlets", and the y came from Norway and Denmark.
4.1.1. In 865 the Vikings invaded Britain once it was clear th at the quarrelling Anglo-Saxon kingdoms could not keep them out.
4.1.1.1. The Vikings quickly accepted Christ ianity and did not disturb the local populat ion.
4.1.1.2. Viking rule was recognised in the east and nort h of England. It was called the Danc law, the land where the law of th e Danes ruled.
4.1.1.2.1. When Erhelred died Cnut (or Canure), the leader of the Dani sh Vikings, controlled much of England .
5. Wales
5.1. These Celts, called Welsh by the Anglo-Saxons, called themselves cymry,"fellow coun trymen".
5.1.1. Society was based on family groupings, each of which owned one or more village or farm settlement.
5.1.1.1. In 1039 Gruffydd ap (son of) Llewelyn was the first Welsh high king strong enough to rule over all Wales.
5.1.1.1.1. He was also the last , and in order to remain in control he spent almost the whole of his reign fight ing his enemies.
5.1.1.1.2. Like man y ot her Welsh rulers, Gruffvdd was killed by a cymry while defending' Wales against the Saxons.
6. The Celts
6.1. Around 700 BC, ano ther group of people began to arrive. Many of them were tall, and had fair or red hair and blue eyes.
6.1.1. These were the Celts, who prob ably came from central Europe or furthe r eas t , from southern Russia, and had moved slowly westwards in earlier centuries.
6.1.1.1. The Celts are important in British history because they "re th e ances tors of many of the people in Highland Scotland. W" les, Ireland, and Cornwall today.
6.1.1.2. The last Celtic arrivals from Europe were the Belgic tribes. It was natural for th em to settle in th e southeas t of Britain , probably pushing othe r Celtic tribes northwards as th ey did so.
6.1.2. the Celts invaded Britain or came peacefullv as a result of the lively trade with Europe fron, "hour 750 ne onwards, At first most of Celtic Britain seems to have developed in a generally similar way.
6.2. The Celts traded across tribal borders and trade was probably importan t for political and social contact between th e tribes.
7. The celtic Kingdoms
7.1. NORTHERN IRELAND
7.1.1. IS APART OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, BUT IS UNDER THE Government of IRELAND act in 1920 lying in the northeastern quadrant of the island of Ireland, on the western continental periphery often characterized as Atlantic Europe. Northern Ireland is sometimes referred to as Ulster, although it includes only six of the nine counties
7.1.1.1. A Catholic refers to a Christian who follows the Catholic religion as transmitted through the succession of Popes of Rome and the Vatican Empire across history. The Pope is the leader of the Catholic church. Catholic which is a member or follower of any of the Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic Church and follow the principles of the Reformation, including the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches.
7.1.1.1.1. In the late 1960s, riots broke out between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast and Londonderry. The violent decades that followed became known as “the Troubles”. At the beginning of the 1970s The British government sent soldiers to Northern Ireland to restore peace and decided to rule Northern Ireland directly from London.
7.1.1.1.2. As time went on both sides realized that violence could not lead to a solution. The British and Irish governments tried to get political and paramilitary sides to the conference table. The IRA promised to end all violent activities. Finally the talks ended in a historic agreement signed on Good Friday 1998.
7.1.2. The island of Ireland was divided into four provinces, the northernmost of which was called The Ulster coat of arms, which included a red cross, used by earls from the de Burgh family centuries ago.
7.2. SCOTLAND
7.2.1. England has always played the most powerful part in the history of the British Isles. However, the other three countries, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, have a different history
7.2.1.1. To the east and to the south the lowland hills are gentler, and much of the countryside is like England, rich, welcoming and easy to farm. North of the "Highland Line", as the division between highland and lowland is called, people stayed tied to their own family groups.
7.2.1.1.1. Scotland was populated by four separate groups of people. The main group, the Piers, lived mostly in the north and northeast. They spoke Celtic as well as another, probably older, language completely unconnected with any known language today, and they seem to have been the earliest inhabitants of the land
7.3. WALES
7.3.1. Wales, constituent unit of the United Kingdom that forms a westward extension of the island of Great Britain.
7.3.1.1. By the 18th century most of the Celts had been driven into the Welsh peninsula.
7.3.1.1.1. They were kept out of England by Offas' Dyke, the huge earth wall built in AD 779.
7.3.1.1.2. In 1039 Gruffydd ap (son of) Llewelyn was the first Welsh high king strong enough to rule over all Wales. He was also the last, and in order to remain in control he spent almost the who le of his reign fighting his enemies.
7.3.1.2. The capital and main commercial and financial centre is Cardiff. Famed for its strikingly rugged landscape, the small nation of Wales—which comprises six distinctive regions—was one of Celtic Europe’s most prominent political and cultural centres, and it retains aspects of culture that are markedly different from those of its English neighbours.
7.4. American Culture
7.4.1. The English ethnic group contributed to the major cultural and social mindset and attitudes that evolved into the American character.
7.4.2. The European roots of the United States originate with the English and Spanish settlers of colonial America during British and Spanish rule.
7.4.2.1. Today the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census recognizes five races: Native American or Alaska native African American Asian White (European American) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
7.4.2.1.1. The United States has never had an official language at the federal level, but English is typically used at the federal level and in states without an official language.
7.5. British Empire
7.5.1. British Empire was a worldwide system of dependencies that was brought under the sovereignty of the crown of Great Britain and the administration of the British government over some three centuries.
7.5.1.1. Great Britain's maritime expansion accelerated in the 17th century and resulted in the establishment of settlements in North America and the West Indies.
7.5.1.2. The first tentative steps toward the establishment of the British Empire began with overseas settlements in the 16th century
7.5.1.2.1. The British Empire does not exist today. However, the Commonwealth is a free association of sovereign states comprising the United Kingdom and many of its former dependencies that acknowledge the British monarch as the association's symbolic head.
7.5.1.3. The East India Company began establishing trading posts in India in 1600, and the first permanent British settlement in Africa was made at James Island in the Gambia River in 1661.