Advanced stream

1. Three geographical ideas which applied to the course of the British history

In order to understand what Britain is today, we must compare the present with the past.

We have to trace the evolution of a great empire, which has often conquered others, out of a little island, which was often conquered itself.

The land and the people are the 2 foundations of English history. There are 3 geographical ideas which ought to be mentioned here because they influence the whole course of the British history.

• The first is the division of Britain (B) into 2 zones, the lowland zone and the highland zone. The whole of the eastern zone is easily accessible from the continent and is easy to populate and develop. West and north are the moors and mountains, which presupposes more difficulties in development.

• The second geographical idea is the importance of the sea in the history of the British Isles. The sea is both the highway and the barrier. On the one hand, the position of B. on the world’s sea-routes lay the foundation of its prosperity. On the other hand, for centuries Britain’s insular position saved the country from military invasions.

• The third idea is that the relation of physical geography to human history is rather complicated and not so direct. For example, Ireland has got a relatively small share in oceanic trade as compared to B. although both Ireland and Britain have never been isolated and are very close geographically.

2. Invaders and settlers

2.1. Iberians and the “Beaker folk”

The settlement of Britain (B.) began in the New Stone Age (Neolithic times) about 3,000 BC. The tribal groups came by sea from Iberian peninsular, settling near the coasts of south and west Britain as well as in Ireland. We do not know much about these early people because they lived in B. long before a word of their history was written, but we can learn something from their skeletons, their weapons and the remains of their dwellings. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. They mastered the art of gardening and polishing stone. The Iberians brought with them the agricultural methods of wheat-planting and the raising of cattle

About 1900 B.C. Neolithic people of Iberians were subdued by invaders from Holland and the Rhineland (the present day France and Belgium), the so called “Beaker folk”, who settled over the whole east. They brought the use of bronze and a special kind of pottery, from which they have got their name. There was also the first development of spinning and weaving to make cloth, both of wool and linen. These people seem to have mixed peacefully with the former settlers.

In some parts of B. one can see groups of huge stones standing in a circle. These are the monuments left by the earliest inhabitants of the country. The best-known stone-circle named STONEHENGE which dates from between 1900 and 1600 B.C. It is made of many upright stones, standing in groups of twos, 8.5 metres high. They are joined on the top by other flat stones, each weighing about 7 tons. Its original purpose is unclear to us. Some say it was an ancient temple, some say an astronomic observatory. Others are convinced it was a burial site of high ranking citizens. But in any case it was not constructed for casual purpose. Only something very important to the ancients would have been worth the effort and investment that it took to construct Stonehenge.