"The British history"
презентация к уроку по английскому языку на тему

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How did English history start? About three thousand years B efore C hrist ( BC ) people came from the north of Spain (the Iberian Peninsula) to many parts of Europe including the British Isles. So, those people who lived on the territory of Great Britain in the earliest times were of the Iberian origin. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. One of the mysterious monuments of prehistoric Britain is Stonehenge . It was constructed before 2000 BC and is a trace of the ancestors of the British people. Stonehenge is a circle of huge stone slabs. It is situated in the southern part of England. Why exactly it was built is unknown, but it may have religious and political significance. No one can tell for sure how these large stones were moved or from what places they were brought. Stonehenge is still a mystery to scholars and to all the descendants.

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The Tribes of Celts . In the 7th century BC the Iberians faced a great problem because the British Isles were invaded by the Celts. The Celts may originally have come from eastern and central Europe. Celtic people lived in tribes. Each tribe was ruled by its own queen or king who represented a warrior class. The priests, called druids , were important members of Celtic tribes. These druids could not read or write but they memorized all the religious teaching, the tribal laws, history, medicine and natural philosophy. According to the Romans, the Celtic men wore shirts and bridges and striped or checked cloak fastened by a pin. It is possible that the Scottish tartan and dress developed from this type of cloak. Celtic tribes were represented by the Picts , the Scots and the Britons . The Picts settled in the mountains in the North. Some Picts and several tribes of the Scots settled in Ireland. But later the Scots decided to return from Ireland to the larger island of present-day Great Britain. They chose its northern part. Now this part is called Scotland.

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Romans invade Britain . The Roman Empire became extremely strong in the 1st century BC. This Empire was the last and greatest civilization of the ancient world. At that time two thousand years ago the Celtic people were still living in tribes. And Ro course , was very much different from the Celts in many ways man society, of

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Romans first attacked Britain in 55–54 BC under Julius Caesar . But they really conquered Britain in the 1st century A nno D omini ( AD ) , in 43 AD when the Roman Emperor Claudius decided to make Britain part of the Roman Empire. And Britain became one of its numerous provinces. They forced the population to pay tribute. The Romans kept their armies in Britain. They had the country under control. They drove their barbaric enemies, the Scots to the mountains of Ireland and the Picts to the mountains of the far north. To protect themselves from the attacks of the Picts , the Romans built the wall known as Hadrian’s Wall . Hadrian’s Wall (120 kilometres long and four metres high) was built by Emperor Hadrian and is well-known all over the world. But from the 3rd century the Scots, "the tattooed ones" , from the mountains of Ireland and the Picts from present-day Scotland began to press Hadrian’s wall. As for the Britons, the Romans remained in control of Pretony (that is how they called Britain using its Greeco -Roman name) for nearly 400 years.

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The Britons (the descendants of the Celts) had given history a famous figure Boadicea (or Boudicca ). There is a monument to this fearless queen in London opposite Big Ben. It depicts herself driving a war chariot with two daughters lying dead at her feet. Many Britons obeyed the Romans. And it became clear that nothing could stop the Romans, but some of them revolted and in 61 AD the Iceni tribe (which is now East Anglia) led by their queen, Boadicea, revolted. She destroyed their capital Londinium (London now) before the Romans defeated her. Boudicea thought that death would be better than captivity and, as it is written in the history books, first she gave poison to her daughters and, then took it herself. When the Roman soldiers found her she was already dead.

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Danish invaders in England. Vikings on the British Isles . Since Ango -Saxons settled in Britain their way of life had changed greatly. The Danes , on the contrary, were still a pagan people with old gods. And Anglo-Saxons had already forgotten about these gods. At the end of the 8th century the Danes did the same what the Anglo-Saxons did four centuries earlier. The Danes began to attack Britain, coming in 3 or 4 ships. The main aim of their attacks was to plunder the British coasts as well as the central part of the country. English kingdoms could not protect themselves because they did not have either a regular army or a fleet. No coastguards watched the coasts. That is why the Danish raids were successful and they came when nobody expected it.

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The situation with roads in England was even worse. Moreover, there were deep forests and swamps all around. If they needed to send a messenger to the king, first they needed to reach a settlement from where they could do it. It took several weeks. The Danes returned many times. But after many battles, they finally took the crown from the English and became the masters for 24 years. The area that the Danes conquered was called " Danelaw " , and ransom (money) that the British paid to them was called " Danegeld " . During the 8th and the 9th centuries there were also Scandinavian invaders who wanted to conquer Britain. They were the Vikings . In 789 the Vikings began to attack the British Isles. They came from Norway, Sweden and Denmark and were called Norsemen . They made York the capital of their kingdom. The Vikings brought their language, traditions, art and built towns in England. The English got rid of the Vikings only in the 10th century.

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The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain . The Celts remained independent when the Roman armies left Britain, but it did not last long. Already in the 4th century Britain was raided by the Germanic tribes — the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes . The tribes of Angles and Saxons came from the territory of modern Germany and Denmark. As for the Jutes, their tribe was smaller and they came from Juteland (modern northern Denmark). All beautiful towns and buildings left by the Romans were destroyed by these barbaric people. Of all three tribes, the Angles became the strongest. Later two tribes of the Angles and the Saxons united and were called Anglo-Saxons. These Anglo-Saxon people are the ancestors of the English. They called their speech English and their country — England, that is "the Land of Angles" .

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The British Celts (the Britons) fought the raiders. But they took houses, fields and cattle from the Britons. So the Britons had to go to the mountains in the far West and settle there. The Saxons called that place " Weallas " or "Wales" meaning "the land of the foreigners". This part of Britain is called Wales now. Other Celts were driven into the lands in the North which became known as Scotland . So, Wales and the highlands of Scotland are inhabited by the oldest Scots called today "the Celtic fringe of the island". Anglo-Saxons founded 10 separate kingdoms, the most powerful of which were Wessex , Sussex, Essex, Kent, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria . These seven are known as heptarchy and they are now some of the counties of Great Britain. The strength of Anglo-Saxon culture is obvious even today. Days of the week are named after Germanic Gods. This conquest of Britain by Germanic tribes is regarded as the beginning of the medieval history of the country.

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The Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest was the fifth invasion. And it is so well-known because it was the last invasion of Britain. In the 11th century the Normans came to England from Normandy. They were Norsemen who had already settled in the northern part of France. This means that the Normans adopted the French language, French manners, customs and way of life, because they lived among French people. On October 14th, 1066, King William (Duke of Normandy) defeated the army of the English King Harold in the Battle of Hastings . No matter how hard the people of England tried to defend their country, the Normans were still much stronger than the Anglo-Saxons. The Normans made many poor English people their own serfs. Besides this they burnt their houses and killed them. When William, Duke of Normandy, was crowned, he became the King of England. He settled in London and was called William the Conqueror.

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For 500 years the Normans were masters of Britain. A great number of important changes are connected with the Normans. They brought with them Latin and French civilizations, the laws and the organization of the land. Many Latin and French words penetrated into the Old English language. Commerce and trade grew very quickly, but the population grew even faster. London became a busy, rich and crowded city. The Normans did their best to make it look beautiful. At that time the Tower of London was built on the Thames and it stands there still unchanged. Westminster Abbey was finished and William was the first King to be crowned there. Since then all English kings were crowned in Westminster Abbey.

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Thank you for your attention !!!