Primitive society on the territory of the British Isles 


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Primitive society on the territory of the British Isles



At the down of their history the peoples on this planet lived in primitive societies. These primitive peoples, wherever they lived, began their long path of progress with stone tools, but they didn’t reach the same time level of civilizations at the same time in different countries.

The ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome were already in existence when the people living in Britain were only at the first stage of social development.

a) The earliest men.

In some part of Britain we can see a number of huge stones standing in a circle. These are the monument left by the earliest inhabitants of the country. The best-known stone-circle named Stonehenge dates from between 1900 and 1600 B.C. It is made of many upright stones, standing in groups of twos, 8.5 meters high. They joined on the top by other flat stones each weighting about 7 tones. No one can tell how these large stones were moved, or from what places they were brought. Stonehenge is still a mystery to scholars.

What was it used for? As a burial-place or a sacred place where early man worshipped the sun? About 3000 years B.C. many parts of Europe including the British Isles were inhabited by a people, who come to the known as the Iberians because some of their descendants are still found in the north of Spain (the Iberian Peninsula).

They lived in Britain long before a word of their history was written, and so not much is known about this people, but we can learn something from their skeletons, their weapons and the remain of their dwellings which have been fond.

The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. The art of grinding and polishing stone was known to them, and they could make smooth objects of stone with sharp edges and points.

b) The Celts

During the period from the 6 to 3 the century B.C. a people called the Celts spread across Europe from the east to the west.

More than one Celts tribe invaded Britain. From time these tribes were attacked and overcome by other Celtic tribes from the Continent. Celtic tribes called the Picts penetrated the mountains on the north, some Picts as tribes of Scots crossed over to Ireland and settled there. Later the Scots returned to the larger island and settled in the North beside the Picts. They came in such large numbers that in time the name of Scotland was given to that country. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons held most of the country and the southern half of the island was named Britain.

The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts who were armed with metal spears, swords, daggers and axes.

Most of the Iberians were slain in the conflict: some of them were driven westwards into the mountains. And now this place is called Wales.

The Greeks were the first to mention about the British Isles. It is from the Greek books that we know about the Phoenicians- who were great sailors and traders.The ancient Greek historian Herodotus who is called the father of history wrote that in the 5 century B.C. the Phoenicians used to come to the British Isles for tin which was used in making bronze, they called the British Isles the Tin Islands.

The famous Roman general, statesman and writer Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, a book written in Latin J.S.described the island and the Celts against whom he fought. He told Celts were tall and blue-eyed. They wore long flowing moustaches but no beards.

The Celts had no towns; they lived in villages.

The Celtic language today. To this day the descendants of the ancient Celts live on the territory of the British Isles. The Welsh who live in Wales are of Celtic origin. People in most parts of Wales speak Welsh, Celtic language. In Highlands of Scotland as well as in the western parts of Ireland the people speak a tongue of Celtic origin too.

Some words of the Celtic language can still be found in Modern English and most of them are geographical names. Many rivers, hills and towns are still called by their old Celtic names.

Eg:*in England there are several rivers called Avon which in Celtic means a river.

*the chalk highlands in the southern and south-eastern parts of England are called "the Downs” this name comes from the word down which means "bare, open highland".

Roman Britain.

Roman Empire.

In the 1 century B.C. when the in habitants of the British Isles were still living under the primitive communal system, the Roman Empire became the strongest slave-owning state in the Mediterranean.

It was the last and greatest of civilization of the ancient world. The Romans ruled all of the civilized world and 1 century A.D. they conquered Britain. Britain was a province of the Roman Empire for about four centuries.

While the Celts were still living in tribes the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society differed greatly from that of the Celts. It was a slave society divided into antagonistic classes. The main classes were the slaves and the slave owners.

The slave-owners made up the minority of the population but they owned the land, tools, buildings and slaves. The slaves possessed neither land nor tools & were themselves the property of the slave-owners.

The Roman conquered all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. In the wars in which Rome gained one province after another for the empire, many thousands of prisoners were taken. They were sold at the slave-market at Rome. Slaves were so cheap that all the Romans except the poorest had one or more,& rich slave-owners possessed hundreds of them. In the 1 B.C. & in the 1 A.D. slavery spread widely in the Roman Empire.

2)The Roman Conquest of Britain.

One of the last countries to be conquered by Rome was France, or Gaul as it was then called. The war against the Gauls, who were Celtic tribes, lasted for eight year. Julius Caesar was appointed Head of the Roman army which was sent to conquer Gaul. In the course of his campaigns Caesar reached the Channel & that was how the Romans came to see the white cliffs of the land of the British Celts.

In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10.000 men crossed the Channel and invaded Britain. The Celts saw their ships approaching & rushed to attack the invaders in the sea as they were landing. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans, who saw them for the first time in battle.

In the next year, 54 B.C. Caesar again came to Britain, this time with larger forces (25000 men).

The Romans who had better arms & were much better trained defeated the Celts in several battles. At last Roman army invaded Britain and conquered the South-East. Other parts of the country were taken from time to time during the next forty years.

Roman influence in Britain.

As a result of the conquest signs of Roman civilization spread over Britain. There had been no towns in Britain before the Romans conquered it. The civilized Romans were city dwellers and as soon as they had conquered Britain they began to build towns, splendid villas, public bath as in Rome itself.York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the chief Roman towns. London which had been a small trading settlement before the conquest now became a center for trade both by road and river. The Roman towns were military stations surrounded by walls for defense which were guarded by the Roman warriors.

Together with a high civilization the Romans brought exploitation and slavery to the British Isles.

Among the Celts themselves inequality began to grow. The tribal chiefs and nobility became richer than other members of the tribe. Many of them became officials acting for Rome. The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They lived in rich houses and they dressed as Romans. They were proud to wear the toga which was the sign of being a Roman citizen.

The names of many modern English towns are of Latin origin too. The Roman towns were strongly fortified and they were called Castro which means "camps». This word can be recognized in various forms in such names as Chester, Winchester,Manchester, Don caster, Lancaster. Any English town today with a name ending in "Chester", "cester" or "caster" was once a Roman camp or city.

1-4 century A.D.-Britain is a Roman province

5 A.D.-The Romans leave Britain.



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