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THE IBERIANS
The Iberians were the first inhabitants of Great Britain. We know little about them. They had lived in Britain since the Stone Age and through the Bronze and Iron Age. They were dark haired and were hunters, then became shepherds, breeding goats, oxen and pigs. They acquired some skill in weaving and in several crafts in the Bronze Age, later they learned agriculture; acquired some political organization, built long wooden warships.
They began to make trade-routes to link up the centres of distant tribes; they also built a large temple, Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain.
In the Bronze Age they were miners exploiting mines for gold, tin and copper and built harbours.
THE CELTS
In the 7th century B.C. the Gaels arrived in Britain from the North of Europe and subdued the Iberians and settled in the North.
In the 4th century the Brythons (Britons) arrived in Britain and settled in the South West and West.
They were related to other Celtic tribes, who settled in Gaul.
They were fair or red faired, taller than the Iberians.
They imposed their laws, language and customs on the Iberian peoples, were organized in tribes or clans and each clan had its king and a primitive form of justice.
The Druids were their priests but they administered justice, educated the young, too.
They were skilled in ironwork, fishing, hunting and agriculture and they were also traders.
They worshipped the natural elements such as the Sun, the Moon, the trees and the rivers, believed in the immortality and in the transmigration of the soul from one person to another.
The most civilized regions were in the South and South-East, there was no town life, but only large assemblies of huts near St. Albans and Colchester.
THE ROMANS
Julius Caesar invaded Britain (in 55 B.C.) when the Britons sent ships and warriors to help the Gauls attacked by the Romans.
He didn’t succeed and so he returned the next year in 54 B.C., not to subdue the land but only to obtain tributes and slaves in order to strengthen his position against his enemies in Rome.
The Romans actually conquered Great Britain in 43 A: under the Emperor Claudius, but they were able to subdue the Welsh but couldn’t conquer Scotland and to defend Roman Britain, the Emperor Hadrian erected a wall, in 121 AD, from Solvay to the mouth of the Tyne.
The South and East of Britain were civilized by the Romans and the principal colonies were York, Lincoln, Colchester and Gloucester and each of them had a Senate, magistrates, a market square and a town hall. London was a commercial centre.
The economy of Britain during this period was agriculture. The peasants lived in villages but the rich landowners lived in villas with central heating, mosaics and frescoes.
There were also industries and mines, the roads were very good. They practised their cult : Christianity, but they also tolerated the Celtic gods and those of other foreign countries.
When the Romans were recalled to Italy in 410 A, Britain was easily invaded by the Scots, the Irish and Saxon raiders from Germany. |
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