The early days of britain

Around 10,000 BC Britain was peopled by small groups of hunters and fishers. They fol­lowed herds of deer, which provided them with food and clothing.

In the course of time, different groups of peo­ple kept arriving in Britain, bringing their cus­toms and skills. The Romans, who occupied Brit­ain in the 1^st century, brought the skills of reading and writing. The written word was im­portant for spreading ideas and culture.

Little is known about the ancient population of the British Isles. Like other primitive people in other parts of the world, they lived in caves and hunted animals for food. Gradually they learned to grow corn and breed domestic animals. They made primitive tools and weapons of stone. Later they learned to smelt metal and make metal tools and weapons. Archaeologists find their tools and weapons, as well as remains of primitive houses.

These people were religious, though we know very little about their religion. Some temples which they built still stand in many parts of England and Scot­land. These temples are also very primitive. They are just circles of great stones standing vertically. The greatest of them is Stonehenge in the south of England.

About 500-600 BC new people — the Celts — appeared in Britain. They were tall, strong people with long red or sandy hair, armed with iron swords and knives which were much stronger than the bronze weapons used by the native population. They crossed the English Channel from the territory of the present-day France. The Romans called these people Britons and the island — Britannia. In the course of centuries the Britons partly killed the native popu­lation, partly mixed with it.

The Britons were skilful workers. They made things out of iron, bronze, tin, clay and wood, and decorated them with beautifully drawn lines and pat­terns. They made money out of gold and silver. They began to make roads, along which they travelled about the country, buying and selling things.

There were some good and rather big houses in Britain, which had many rooms and corridors. The richer Britons lived in these big houses. When they had feasts in their houses, they sat round low tables. There were no forks or spoons. They took big pieces of meat in their fingers and tore them apart, or cut them with their knives. They drank from big cups made of earthenware or silver.

Not all parts of Britain were civilized. In the moun­tains and forests of the west and north there were people who did not know the use of iron and did not use money. They had no real houses, but still lived in caves. The parts in the south-east of Britain were most civilized, because they were nearest to the con­tinent, from which people got new knowledge.

Religion and the Coming of the Romans

The Britons were polytheistic, that is they believed in many gods. They believed that different gods lived in the thickest and darkest parts of the forests. Some plants, such as the mistletoe and the oak-tree, were considered sacred. Some historians think that the Britons were governed by a class of priests called Druids who had great power over them. Stonehenge was the temple of the Druids, just as it had been the temple of the primitive men before. The Druids were cruel men and their ways of worshipping their gods were cruel too. They often declared that a god was angry, and to get the god's pardon the people had to offer up sacrifices of human beings. The Druids put men into huge baskets and burned them in the pres­ence of the people.

The Britons often fought among themselves. The remains of forts built by the Britons can be seen in different parts of the country. From time to time the Britons had feasts and entertainments. During a feast a minstrel usually sang songs about brave deeds of famous warriors. After the minstrel's songs his listeners began to boast of their own brave deeds. And when they had drunk too much, they began quarrelling and fighting, and usually some men were killed.

In the year 55 BC the great Roman general Ju­lius Caesar sailed to Britain with about 12,000 soldiers in eighty ships. When they were near the coast, they saw the Britons armed with spears and swords, ready to fight them. Still the Roman sol­diers landed and fought with the Britons. They won the battle, but did not stay long and soon depart­ed. In the following year Julius Caesar came to Britain again. This time, after fighting the Brit­ons on the shore, the Romans marched north-west where London stands today. The British attacked them in chariots and on foot, but the Romans had better arms and armour, and were much better trained. The Britons could not stop them.

Having stayed in Britain some time, the Romans left again and did not appear on the British shores for about a hundred years. Then, in the year 43 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius sent a general with 40,000 men to conquer Britain all over again. The British fought bravely, but could not hold back the trained Roman ar­my. Soon the whole of the south of Britain was conquered.

The Romans were very practical people, and the first thing they did in Britain was to make and forti­fy the ports where they landed their soldiers and sup­plies. The Roman ports were very well built, with stone quays and warehouses. There were big cranes, which lifted the cargo from the ships' holds, and many carts transported goods along the great Roman roads which ran in long straight lines to different parts of the country.