Unit 11 British civilization

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 505.

II. Sum up the information of the text mentioning the following points: education; science; literature; theatre; art.

To form the United Kingdom of Great Britain took centuries and a lot of armed struggle was involved. About three thousand years B. C. the British Isles were inhabited by the Iberians. Nowadays just huge megalithic constructions, like Stonehenge, remind of that period of history.

In 700 B.C. Britain was invaded by Celts. The Celts had no towns; they lived in villages. They worked with metals and kept large herds of cattle. In the 1^st century B.C. when the Celts still lived under the primitive communal system, the Roman Empire conquered Britain. In fact, a Roman army conquered only the South-East and they had never managed to submit the whole island! However, during 4 centuries of the Roman conquest their civilization spread over Britain: towns, roads, bridges, wells built by the Romans can be seen in Britain today.

Then the Germanic tribes of Jutes, Angles and Saxons that are generally called the Anglo-Saxons attacked Britain. The Anglo-Saxons made up the majority of the population in Britain and brought the Anglo-Saxon language that became the background of English.

In 793 the Danes from Denmark and the Northmen from the Scandinavia (frequently called as Vikings) captured the whole England. King Alfred (ruled 871-901) gathered his men and defeated the Danes.

In the 11^th century the Normans invaded England. This was the fifth and the longest invasion of it. The precedent for the invasion was the claims of Duke of Normandy, William, to the English throne. He gathered a numerous army and defeated the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 near the town of Hastings. Thus, the Norman Duke became the King of England – William the Conqueror. There was a strong opposition to William from the Anglo-Saxon Lords but William was cruel to his enemies. New religion was introduced, new language was spoken, new fashion was worn. England became closely linked to France.

For many centuries this country was known as England. To the west and north, Wales and Scotland fought for their independence and it took hundreds of years to bring them under English domination. King Henry VIII united England and Wales in 1536. Only in 1603 King James I united England, Wales and Scotland, but the Parliaments of those lands were united a century later, in 1707.

The isle of Ireland was a part of Great Britain from 1801 up until 1922. In that year the independent Republic of Ireland was formed in the South while the Northern Ireland stayed a part of the United Kingdom.