The word great was prefixed to the word britain to name the unit of britain

• formal learning

• vocational learning

• autodidactism

Страноведение

1. A Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of
political economics is …

• Adam
  Smith

• Jonathan
  Swift

• Charles
  Darwin

• Michael
  Faraday

2. A famous American writer of wit short stories
with clever twist endings is …

• O.
  Henry

• F.
  Scott Fitzgerald

• Ernest
  Hemingway

• Graham
  Green

3. The chairman in the House of Commons of Great
Britain is the …

• Clerk of the House

• Speaker

• Prime Minister

• Lord Chancellor

4. The building where the US Congress meets is
called the …

• Monument

• Mall

• White House

• Capitol

5. Lady of the Snows is another name for …

• Vancouver

• Montreal

• Ottawa

• Toronto

6. The Queen gives a speech about the state of the
British nation every year on …

• Easter

• New Year’s Day

• Trooping the Colour

• Christmas Day

7.
The state named after Queen Elizabeth I is …

• Virginia

• Atlanta

• Philadelphia

• Alaska

8. A famous American humorist and author of
popular and outstanding autobiographical works, travel books and
novels, whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is …

• Thomas Jefferson

• Daniel Defoe

• Mark Twain

• Ernest Hemingway

9.
The collective decision-making body of Her Majesty’s Government in
the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22
Cabinet Ministers is called …

• The British Parliament

• the Cabinet

• the Shadow Cabinet

• Ministry of Justice of the UK

10. A stage through which a
bill has to go before it becomes an Act of the British Parliament is
called …

• consent

• reading

• ratification

• consideration

11.
A Scottish biologist and pharmacologist whose best-known achievement
is the discovery of the antibiotic substance penicillin in 1928 is …

• Alexander Fleming

• Francis Bacon

• Isaac Newton

• Oscar Wilde

12. The person who has won the most Oscars is
_____

• Tom Hanks

• Steven Spielberg

• Meryl Streep

• Walt Disney

13. The word “great” was prefixed to the word
“Britain” to name the _____ unit of Britain.

• Geopolitical

• Political

• Economic

• Geographical

Лексика

Critical
thinking is the ability to _______ ideas that may seem obvious.

• examine

• understand

• realize

• generalize

Routines of
behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously
are ____

• mistakes

• thoughts

• habits

• skills

In 1922 the
archaeologist Howard Carter and his men _____ a tomb in the Valley of
the Kings in Egypt.

• defined

• noticed

• opened

• discovered

A
state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between
nations, states, or parties is a (an) ___

• war

• battle

• upheaval

• revolution

During
Peter I’s ______ Russia won many glorious victories.

• reign

• monarchy

• governance

• ruling

A
figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates
one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit
comparison is a ___

• epithet

• metaphor

• metonymy

• hyperbole

Language
is commonly believed to be a system of communication that _______ of
sounds and written symbols.

• exists

• consists

• includes

• contains

A
work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically
commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers,
plants) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins)
is­­­­____

• still
  life

• landscape

• pastoral

• caricature

Early
man used to ______ the Sun and the Moon as his gods.

• like

• refer

• admire

• worship
  

The
use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects,
environments, or experiences that can be shared with others is ____

• esthetics

• design

• science

• art

A
desire to reduce suffering, save lives and maintain human ______ is
central to understanding humanitarian education.

• behaviour

• resources

• dignity

• capital

A
usually short narrative making an edifying point and often employing
as characters animals that speak and act like humans is____

• fairy tale

• fable

• poem

• ballad

Nobody
can be punished until it has been proved that he has _____ a crime.

• made

• committed

• doneconducted

• done

It
is difficult for a person to communicate with people from other
countries if he has ______ against them.

• prejudices

• ideas

• statements

• customs

Peter
the Great dramatically reduced the powers of the Russian aristocracy
and abolished age-old___

• heritage

• buildings

• traditions
  

• costumes

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Другие языки

Great Britain is a large island surrounded by around 1,000 small islands and islets. It houses England, Scotland and Wales along with their capitals. Great Britain lies to the northwest of Continental Europe. It belongs to the island group British Isles.

✦ Fast Facts

✦ Continent: Europe
✦ Countries: England, Scotland and Wales, together form the Great Britain.
✦ Capital(s): London is the capital of United Kingdom and England. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, and Cardiff is the capital of Wales.
✦ Area: 88,745 sq miles
✦ Population: 62.74 million (2011 census), includes the population of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
✦ Currency: UK £
✦ National Anthem: God Save the Queen (is mainly played when the Queen makes a public appearance, at the end of Remembrance Day services, and at medal ceremonies)
✦ Official Language: English
✦ Religion: Christianity

Since the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island has become a unified state, the word ‘British’ refers to the United Kingdom. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Great Britain has emerged as a great power.

Great Britain

Native name: Names in native languages Great Britain (English) Prydain Fawr (Welsh) Breatainn Mhòr (Scottish Gaelic) Great Breetain (Scots) Breten Veur (Cornish)
True colour image of Great Britain, captured by a NASA satellite on 6 April 2002.
Geography
Location	North West Europe
Coordinates	53°49′34″N 2°25′19″W / 53.826°N 2.422°W
Archipelago	British Isles
Area	229,848 km2 (88,744.8 sq mi)[1]
Area rank	9th
Highest elevation	1,344 m (4,409 ft)
Highest point	Ben Nevis
Country
United Kingdom
England  Scotland  Wales
Largest city	London
Demographics
Population	60,003,000 (mid-2009 est.)[2][3]
Density	277 /km2 (717 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	British (Cornish, English, Scottish & Welsh)[4]

Great Britain or Britain^[8] (Welsh: Prydain Fawr, Scottish Gaelic: Breatainn Mhòr, Cornish: Breten Veur) is an island^[9] situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles. With a population of about 60.0 million people in mid-2009,^[3][10] it is the third most populous island in the world after Java and Honshū.^[11] Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000^[12] smaller islands and islets. The island of Ireland lies to its west. Politically, Great Britain may also refer to the island itself together with a number of surrounding islands which comprise the territory of England, Scotland and Wales.

All of the island is territory of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and most of the United Kingdom’s territory is in Great Britain. Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island of Great Britain, as are their respective capital cities: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff.

The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland with the Acts of Union 1707 on 1 May 1707 under Queen Anne. In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the Irish War of Independence most of Ireland seceded from the Union, which then became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The relatively limited variety of fauna and flora on the island is due to its size and the fact that wildlife has had little time to develop since the last glacial period. The high level of urbanisation on the island has contributed to a species extinction rate that is about 100 times greater than the background species extinction rate.

Political definition

Great Britain is the largest island of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Politically, Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination,^[13] and therefore also includes a number of outlying islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands which are not part of the United Kingdom, instead being self-governing dependent territories of that state with their own legislative and taxation systems.^[13][14]

The political union that joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland happened in 1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the parliaments of the two nations, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain, which covered the entire island. Prior to this, a personal union had existed between these two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I of England.

Geographical definition

Great Britain lies to the northwest of Continental Europe and east of Ireland. It is separated from the continent by the North Sea and by the English Channel, which narrows to 34 kilometres (21 mi) at the Straits of Dover.^[15] It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north-south axis, and occupies an area of 209,331 km² (80,823 sq mi), excluding all the smaller surrounding islands of the archipelago.^[16] The North Channel, Irish Sea, St George’s Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west.^[17] The island is physically connected with continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel, the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world which was completed in 1993. Geographically, the island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in the western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets. The greatest distance between two points is 968 km / 601.5 miles (between Land’s End, Cornwall and John O’Groats, Caithness), or 1,349 km / 838 miles using the national road network.

The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by the breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline, a ridge which held back a large proglacial lake, now submerged under the North Sea.^[18] Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level, Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of northwestern Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and the bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge to Europe, now known as Doggerland. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland became submerged beneath the North Sea, cutting off what was previously the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC.^[19]

History

The island was first inhabited by people who crossed over the land bridge from the European mainland. Traces of early humans have been found (at Boxgrove Quarry, Sussex) from some 500,000 years ago^[20] and modern humans from about 30,000 years ago. Until about 10,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland, and as recently as 8,000 years ago it was joined to the continent by a strip of low marsh to what is now Denmark and the Netherlands. In Cheddar Gorge, near Bristol, the remains of animal species native to mainland Europe such as antelopes, brown bears, and wild horses have been found alongside a human skeleton, ‘Cheddar Man’, dated to about 7150 BC. Thus, animals and humans must have moved between mainland Europe and Great Britain via a crossing.^[21] Great Britain became an island at the end of the Pleistocene ice age when sea levels rose due to isostatic depression of the crust and the melting of glaciers.

According to John T. Koch and others, Britain in the Late Bronze Age was part of a maritime trading-networked culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age that also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal where Celtic languages developed,^{[22][23][24][25][26][27][are 6 citations necessary?]} but this stands in contrast to the more generally accepted view that Celtic origins lie with the Hallstatt culture.

Its Iron Age inhabitants are known as the Britons, a group speaking a Celtic language. The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian’s Wall, in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia. For 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons). At about the same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to, after the Angles, as the English people.

Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh. This term eventually came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace, and in the second syllable of Cornwall. Cymry, a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria. The Britons living in the areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times.^[28] At the time of the Germanic invasion of Southern Britain, many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany, where Breton, a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from the language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, who introduced a French ruling élite that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century.

On 20 October 1604 King James, who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself as «King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland».^{[citation needed]} While that title was also used by many of his successors, England and Scotland each remained legally in existence as separate countries with their own parliaments until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify the Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This had the effect of creating a united kingdom, with a single, united parliament, from 1 May 1707. Though the Treaty of Union referred to the new all-island state as the «United Kingdom of Great Britain», many regard the term ‘United Kingdom’ as being descriptive of the union rather than part of its formal name (which the Treaty stated was to be ‘Great Britain’ without further qualification.) Most reference books, therefore, describe the all-island kingdom that existed between 1707 and 1800 as the «Kingdom of Great Britain».

Terminology

Toponymy

The oldest mention of terms related to the formal name of Britain was made by Aristotle (c. 384–322 BC), in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, «There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and lerne».^[29] The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2,000 years: the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. Pliny the Elder (c. 23–79 AD) in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) records of Great Britain: «It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae.»^{[dubious – discuss]}

The earliest known name of Great Britain is Albion (Ἀλβίων) or insula Albionum, from either the Latin albus meaning white (referring to the white cliffs of Dover, the first view of Britain from the continent) or the «island of the Albiones«, first mentioned in the Massaliote Periplus and by Pytheas.^[30]

The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne) and Middle English Bretayne, авBreteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of the ancient Greek Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule (probably Norway).

The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρέττανοι, Priteni or Pretani.^[30] Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic speaking inhabitants of Ireland.^[31] The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans.

Derivation of «Great»

After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major («Greater Britain»), to distinguish it from Britannia minor («Lesser Britain»), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as «this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee.» As noted above it was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself «King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland.»

Use of the term Great Britain

The term Great Britain can refer either to the largest island within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or to England, Scotland and Wales as a unit (including many smaller islands associated with these three countries). It does not include Northern Ireland.^[32]

The term Britain, as opposed to Great Britain, has been used to mean the United Kingdom, for example in official government yearbooks between 1975 and 2001.^[33] Since 2002, however, the yearbooks have only used the term «United Kingdom».^[34]

The initials GB or GBR are used in some international codes instead of the initials UK to refer to the United Kingdom. Examples include: Universal Postal Union^{[dead link]}, international sports teams, NATO, the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3, and international licence plate codes.

On the Internet, .uk is used as a country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was also used to a limited extent in the past, but this is now effectively obsolete because the domain name registrar will not take new registrations.

Biodiversity

Fauna

Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island’s small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last Ice Age and the island’s physical separation from continental Europe, and the effects of seasonal variability.^[36] Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and is subject to continuing urbanisation, which have contributed towards the overall loss of species.^[37] A DEFRA study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate.^[38] However, some species, such as the brown rat, red fox, and introduced grey squirrel, are well adapted to urban areas.

Rodents make up 40% of the total number of mammal species in Great Britain. These include squirrels, mice, voles, rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver.^[37] There is also an abundance of rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, shrews, moles and several species of bat.^[37] Carnivorous mammals include the fox, badger, otter, weasel, stoat and elusive wildcat.^[39] Various species of seal, whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer. The red deer is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans.^[39][40] Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer, have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include the brown bear, grey wolf and wild boar; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times.^[37]

There is a wealth of birdlife in Britain, 583 species in total,^[41] of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter.^[42] Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly ducks, geese and swans.^[43] Other well known bird species include the golden eagle, grey heron, kingfisher, pigeon, sparrow, pheasant, partridge, and various species of crow, finch, gull, auk, grouse, owl and falcon.^[44] There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slow worm. One snake, the adder, is venomous but rarely deadly.^[45] Amphibians present are frogs, toads and newts.^[37]

Flora

In a similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora of Great Britain is impoverished compared to that of continental Europe.^[46] Great Britain’s flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced into the island.^[47] The island has a wide variety of trees, including native species of birch, beech, ash, hawthorn, elm, oak, yew, pine, cherry and apple.^[48] Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut, maple, spruce, sycamore and fir, as well as cherry plum and pear trees.^[48] The tallest species are the Douglas firs; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet.^[49] The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe.^[50]

There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower in Britain,^[51] Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner’s permission.^[51][52] A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties.^[53] These include red poppies, bluebells, daisies, daffodils, rosemary, gorse, iris, ivy, mint, orchids, brambles, thistles, buttercups, primrose, thyme, tulips, violets, cowslip, heather and many more.^{[54][55][56][57]} There are also many species of algae, lichens, fungi and mosses across the island.^[58]

Religion

Christianity is the largest religion on the island and has been since the Early Middle Ages, though its existence on the island dates back to the Roman introduction in antiquity and continued through Early Insular Christianity. The largest form practised in present day Britain is Anglicanism (also known as Episcopalism in Scotland); dating from the 16th century Reformation, the religion regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed. Head of the Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom as the Supreme Governor. It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today,^[59], although the number of active adherents (those who regularly attend services) is only around one million. The second largest Christian practice in Britain is the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church which traces its formal, corporate history in Great Britain to the 6th century with Augustine’s mission and was the main religion on the island for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents in Britain today; 4.5 million in England and Wales^[60] and 750,000 in Scotland^[61], although less than a million Catholics regularly attend mass^[62].

The Church of Scotland, a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity is the third most numerous on the island with around 2.1 million members.^[64] Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox, it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented prominently by a Lord High Commissioner. Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley.^[65] It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, also amongst tin miners in Cornwall.^[66] The Presbyterian Church of Wales, which follow Calvinistic Methodism, is the largest denomination in Wales. There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists, Quakers, the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians), Unitarians and more.^[67] The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban.^[68] He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and was sacrificed to the pagan gods.^[69] In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of Saint Aidan as another patron saint of Britain.^[70] Originally from Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria.^[70]

Three constituent countries of the United Kingdom located on the island have patron saints; Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively.^[72] These two saintly flags combined form the basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604.^[72] Saint David is the patron saint of Wales.^[73] There are many other British saints, some of the best known include; Cuthbert, Columba, Patrick, Margaret, Edward the Confessor, Mungo, Thomas More, Petroc, Bede and Thomas Becket.^[73]

Numerous non-Christian religions are practised in Great Britain.^[74] Judaism has a history of a small minority on the island since 1070.^[75] The Jews were expelled from England in 1290 until being allowed to return in 1656.^[75] Their history in Scotland is quite obscure until later migrations from Lithuania.^[76] Especially since the 1950s religions from the former colonies have become more prevalent; Islam is the most common of these with around 1.5 million adherents in Britain.^[77] A total of more than 1 million people practise either Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism, religions introduced from India and South East Asia.^[77]

Settlements

Capital cities

The capitals of the three countries of the United Kingdom which comprise Great Britain are:

• England: London
• Scotland: Edinburgh
• Wales: Cardiff

Other major cities

The largest cities in Great Britain by urban area population (not including the capital cities listed above) are Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield.

See also

• List of islands of England
• List of islands of Scotland
• List of islands of Wales
• Terminology of the British Isles

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

• Interactive map of Great Britain
• Coast – the BBC explores the coast of Great Britain
• Administrative map of Great Britain – from the Ordnance Survey; various formats
• BBC Nations^{[dead link]}
• The British Isles
• 200 Major Towns and Cities in the British Isles
• CIA Factbook United Kingdom

Video links

• Pathe travelogue, 1960, Journey through Britain
• Pathe newsreel, 1960, Know the British
• Pathe newsreel, 1950, Festival of Britain

Coordinates: 53°49′34″N 2°25′19″W / 53.826°N 2.422°W

LECTURE 2.

       The very first stages of the existence of people on the British Isles are frequently described as prehistoric and referred to as unwritten history of Britain.

     The geographical position of the land was both a blessing and a problem: on the one hand the insular position protected the country from invasions; and on the other — the lowland facing the continent always invited invasions.

      The first ever inhabitants are believed to be hunters of the Old Stone Age who came from the Continent and the Beaker people who were called because they were able to make the clay mugs or «beakers». The beginning of the Stone Age coincided with the arrival of new invaders, mainly from France. They were the Celts. Reputed to be tall, fair and well built, they had artistic skills and were good craftsmen. Their dialects were imposed on the native population: the Gaelic form was spread in Ireland and Scotland, and the Brythonk in England and Wales. It was the Brythonic tribe of the Celts that gave its name to the whole country. The culture of Celts in the Iron Age was not altogether barbaric. Their Priests, the Druids, were skillful in teaching and administration.

      The chief significance of this period for people in Britain today is the sense of mystery, which finds its focus in astonishing monumental architecture. Such places as Silbury Hill or Stonehenge have a special importance for those interested in the cultural and religious practices of pre-historic Britain.

The Roman Period (43-410)

In 55 and 54 BC the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar carried out two expeditions to Britain but the Romans were able to occupy Britain almost a century later in 43 AD when Emperor Claudius sent his legions over the seas. The occupation lasted more than three centuries. The Romans saw their mission of civilizing the country. They imposed their own way of life & culture. The British were not conquered easily. There was a resistance in Wales and the Romans destroyed the Druids, a class of Celtic priests (or witch- doctors).

There was a revolt in East Anglia, where Queen Boadicea (Boudicca) and her daughters were fighting against Roman soldiers and were defeated. The Roman occupation was spread mainly over England, while Wales, Scotland and Ireland remained unconquered areas of the Celtic fringe — preserving Celtic culture and traditions.

The Romans imposed Pax Romana,— Roman peace — which stopped tribal wars, and protected Britain from the attacks of outsiders — Picts in the North, Saxons from overseas.    

The Romans also brought Christianity to Britain and the British Church became a strong institution.

On the whole they left very little behind – neither a system of law & administration nor the language. Most of their villas, baths & temples, their impressive network of roads, & the cities they founded including Londinium were soon destroyed. Almost the only reminder of their presence are place names like Chester, Lancaster which include variations of the Roman word castro – a military camp.

By the fifth century the Roman Empire was beginning to disintegrate and the Roman legions in Britain had to return back to Rome to defend it from the attacks of the new waves of barbaric invaders. Britain was left to defend and rule itself.

The Germanic Invasions (410-1066)

One reason why Roman Britannia disappeared so quickly is probably that its influence was largely confined to the towns. In the countryside, where most people lived, Celtic speech & culture continued to be dominant. The Roman occupation had been a matter of colonial control rather than large-scale settlement. But during the 5^th century a number of tribes from the north-western European mainland invaded & settled in large numbers. Tho of these tribes were the Angles & the Saxons. They soon had the south-east of the country in their grasp. In the west their advance was halted by the legendary King Arthur & his people. Nevertheless, by the end of the 6^th century, they & their way of life predominated in nearly all England & in parts of southern Scotland. They pay little attention to towns, the Anglo-Saxons had a great effect on the countryside where they introduced new farming methods & founded thousands of villages.    

     The Anglo-Saxon England was a network of small kingdoms. The seventh century saw the establishment of seven kingdoms: Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), East Anglia (East Angles), Kent, Mersia and Northumbria and the largest three of them — Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex — dominated the country at different times.

The Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by the members of the Council of Chief- tains (the Witan) and they ruled with the advice of the councilors, the great men of the kingdom. In time it became the custom to elect a member of the royal family, and the power of the king grew parallel to the size and the strength of his kingdom.

     By the end of the eighth century the British Isles were subjected to one more invasion by non Christian people from Scandinavia. They were called Norsemen or Danes, or the Vikings. The Vikings were brilliant sailors, they had the fastest boats in Europe, that were moving powered by sail. They crossed the Atlantic, and founded a colony in North America 500 years before Columbus. They had repeatedly raided the Eastern Coast of England, and by the middle of the ninth century almost all English Kingdoms were defeated by the Danes. In 870 only Wessex was left to resist the barbaric Danes. At that time the West Saxons got a new young King, his name was Alfred, later he was called Alfred the Great. And no other king has earned this title. Alfred forced the Danes to come to terms — to accept Christianity and live within the frontiers of the Danelaw — a large part of Eastern England, while he was master of the South and West of England.

King Alfred created an efficient army and built a fleet of warships. Viking invaders were forced to go South and settle in Northern France, where their settlement became known as Normandy, the province of the Northmen.

     The England of King Alfred the Great received a new Code of laws which raised the standards of English society. New churches were built, foreign scholars were brought, schools were founded, King Alfred himself translated a number of books from Latin, including Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica and began the Anglo-Saxon chronicle, a year-by year history of England.

      Alfred the Great saved England from the Danish conquest, but in the 10th— 11th centuries the Danes managed to expand their possession in Great Britain and from 1013 to 1042 the Danish royal power triumphed in England. King Canut‘s empire included Norway, Denmark and England. In 1042 Edward the Confessor was elected king by the Witan. He was half Norman and William the Duke of Normandy was his cousin and a close friend, Edward the Confessor was a religious monarch and devoted his attention to  the construction of churches and most of all to the building of Westminster Abbey. Edward the Confessor died in 1066 without an obvious heir.

And the Witan elected Harold, a Saxon nobleman from the family of the Godwine, the king of England. Harold’s right to the English throne was challenged by William the Duke of Normandy who claimed the English Kingdom as his rightful inheritance which had been promised to him by the late King Edward the Confessor.

1066 was a crucial year for the Saxon King, and for the history of the English.

   Harold had to fight against two enemies at the same time. In the South Wiliam of Normandy was preparing to land in England, in the North, in Yorkshire, the Danes renewed their attacks against England.

After a hard and long struggle Harold and his brothers were killed in the battle of Hastings.

William captured London and was crowned King of England in Westmister Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066, The Norman period in English history had begun.

The Norman period.

The successful Norman invasion of England in 1066 brought the country into the mainstream of western European culture. The Norman soldiers were given the ownership of land & the people who lived on it. A strict feudal system was imposed. All land in the country belonged to the Crown. The king was the greatest landowner in the country. He gave away the land to the great landowners. Great nobles, or barons, were responsible directly to the king. Lesser lords each owning a village were directly responsible to a baron. Under them were the peasants, the English-speaking Saxons. The lords & the barons were the French-speaking Normans. This was the beginning of the English class system. It was the time of the political unification of the country, the centralization of the government, the supreme power of the king over all his vassals, an emergence of English common law, the making of Parliament to which representatives from rural & urban areas were elected.

The brightest evidence of the situation in the country was the Domesday Book (1086), a survey of England’s land and people; according to it Norman society still rested on «lordship, secular and spiritual, and the King, wise or foolish, was the lord of lords, with only Lord in Heaven and the Saints above him.»

William I The Conqueror (1066-1087) (the Norman Dynasty) died as a result of falling from his horse in a battle in France, was succeeded by his two sons, one after the other: William II (1087-1100) was cruel but a brave soldier, little loved and little missed when he died. 
Henry I (1100-1135) was scholarly and well educated. His daughter was married to the German Emperor Henry V, and later upon his death to Geophrey of Anjou; the son of Geophrey of Anjou (Angevin) became the first Plantagenet (Planta genista –Latin for «broom”).
Henry II was the first king to have a conflict with the church. His reign was one of constitutional progress & territorial expansion.

John (Lackland) (1199-1216), the youngest son of King Henry II, continued the dynasty’s rule. He  was the most unpopular king: he lost most of his French possessions; he broke his father’s heart with his misbehavior, he rebelled against his brother, quarrelled with the Pope, etc. The list of his stupidities and misdemeanors was endless but he did one good thing (or was forced to do it). In 1215 the barons made him seal the Magna Carta, which, though it limited the prerogative of the Crown and extended the powers of the Barons, has since become the foundation stone of an Englishman’s liberty.

The 13th century was described by historians as a Plantagenet spring after a grim Norman winter. It was the century of the new gothic style in architecture, of Salisbury Cathedral, foundation of universities, the development of the Common Law & the Parliament, and the emergence of English as the language of the nation.  But the following two centuries were filled with wars, discord and discontent.

The 14th century brought the disasters of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) the Peasants’ Revolt 1381, the extermination of the population by the Black death (1348-1349) and punitive execution of the participants, with positive achievements in literature (Geoffrey Chaucer completes the Canterbury Tales (1393)),—architecture,—and further strengthening of the English language.

The 15th century saw a development of folklore — ballads of Robin Hood’s were dramatized on the village commons; singing and other musical arts, dramatic arts, portrait painting left wonderful examples for us to admire.The 15th century saw the continuation of the struggle for the crown and the establishment of the Lancaster dynasty in the person of Henry IV, King of England (1399-1414).    

So, in the 15th century for all the conflicts, the forces of progress were breaking through, laying foundations for destroying feudalism, for developing capitalism and formation of the English national economy.

   The end of the Wars of the Roses, the victory of Henry Tudor at Bosworth field and his marriage with Princess Elizabeth, heiress of the House of York (1485) were the events that symbolized the end of the Middle Ages in Britain. The year of 1485 is traditionally considered the watershed and the beginning of the Tudor Age.

The 16^th century.

The Tudor dynasty (1485-1603) established the system of government departments, staffed by professionals who depended for their position on the monarch. As a result the feudal barons were no longer needed for implementing government policy. Parliament was split into two Houses. The House of Lords consisted of the feudal aristocracy & the leaders of the church. The House of Commons consisted of representatives from the towns & the less important landowners in rural areas.

There was the rise of Protestantism in England. Henry VIII wanted a divorce which the Pope wouldn’t give him. The King rejected the Roman Church & made himself head of the Church of England. All church lands came under his control and gave him a large new source of income. In 1534 the Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy declaring him the Supreme Head of the Church of England. His Chancellor Sir Thomas More refused to recognize the Act and that cost him his life — he was charged with high treason and executed in the Tower.

With the help of his new Chancellor Thomas Cromwell Henry VIII ordered to suppress the monasteries, he captured the wealth of the monasteries that had been dissolved and destroyed. The lands of the monasteries were either sold or given to the new supporters who turned out to be enthusiastic protestants all of a sudden.

In 1536 he managed to unite Wales with England. It was the first Act of Union in the history of Britain. Henry died in 1547. Henry VIII had destroyed the power of the Pope in England, but he didn’t change the religious doctrine. He appointed Protestants as guardians of the young Edward VI (1547-1553) and they carried out the religious reformation.

After the death of Edward VI there was a highly unstable situation in the country. In his will which contradicted his father’s bequest King Edward VI disinherited his sisters and proclaimed Lady Jane Grey the Queen of England (1553). Jane Grey ruled only for nine days. But the people opposed her reign and supported the claim of Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon.

Queen Mary I was determined to return England back to the Pope, as she was a fanatic Roman Catholic. She crushed the rebels and pursued an aggressive policy against protestants: more than 300 people were executed in the worst traditions of the Inquisition — she burned them. That is why she earned the nickname Bloody Mary.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, succeeded her half-sister to the great delight of the people. Her first steps were to restore the moderate Protestantism of her father.

In 1587 Mary Queen of Scots was executed. But Elizabeth blamed her death on her officials.

In the 16th century the economic growth was getting faster, though still limited by feudal relations. Trade and Industry were growing. The Royal Exchange was founded in 1571, East India Company — in 1600.

Education was further developing. Many Grammar schools were founded in the 16th century. New foundations like Harrow and Rugby admitted clever boys as well as rich ones, and could rightly be called «public schools». Elizabeth gave her name to the historical period, her reign (1558-1603) was described as «the Golden Age of Elizabeth», the most colorful and splendid in English history. She was the embodiment of everything English, and the English had found themselves as a nation.

In the last decade of Elizabeth’s reign Shakespeare wrote about 20 plays, from Henry VI to Hamlet.

The 17^th century.

«The ideology of the rising classes  in England at the beginning of the 17th century was Puritanism, it was a form of democratic religion similar to the Calvinist views: denying the supremacy of a man over religious faith, demanding a direct contact with God without any mediators, without anyone between Man and God, thus denying Church as an unnecessary institution. It was a challenge to the Church of England and the Monarch as its head, to the absolute Monarchy altogether.

James VI King of Scots — born in 1566, crowned King of Scots in 1567, became James I (1603-1625) of England. When James I became the first king of the Stuart dynasty, the crowns of  England & Scotland were united. Although their parliaments & administrative & judicial systems continued to be separate, their linguistic differences were lessened in this century.

The Stuart Kings were less successful than the Tudor Monarchs. James I, and later his son Charles I were extravagant and wasteful.

Charles I Stuart (1625-1649) was in a constant conflict with Parliament. The Parliament, when convened, refused to give the King financial support, and Charles I ruled for 11 years without Parliament (1629-1640). That Period of Personal Government, during which the King did not receive the usual financial aid and had to raise money as best as he could: pawned Crown Jewels, gave out honors, etc.; came to an end when he became involved in a war with Scotland for which he couldn’t pay.

The King (Charles I) was forced to convene a meeting of the Great Council and later to call a Parliament. And he had to concede to this Parliament almost all that it asked, so badly he was in need of money. Parliament established its supremacy over the monarchy in Britain. Anger grew in the country at the way that the Stuart monarch raised money. People thought the luxurious lifestyle of the king & his followers was immoral. This conflict led to Civil War, which ended with complete victory for the parliamentary forces.

 Charles I was brought to trial for High Treason, his supporters were not allowed to be present. He was sentenced to death, «and in a hushed silence on a cold January morning the King of England met his death with a courage and dignity that commanded respect.» He was beheaded in Whitehall on the 30 of January 1649.

The House of Lords was abolished, some famous Royalists were captured and beheaded.

        A Council of State was created to govern the country, which consisted of forty one members. On December 16th in Westminster Oliver Cromwell publicly accepted the title of Lord Protector of a United Commonwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland and the colonies.

       Oliver Cromwell was a unique blend of country gentleman and professional soldier, of religious radical and social conservative. He was at once the source of stability and the ultimate source of instability. With his death the republic collapsed as his son and successor Richard lacked his qualities and was deposed 6 months after the beginning of his rule.

The new parliament voted to recall Charles II and store the Monarchy in Britain.

James II became the King of England after his brother’s death in 1685. He had two daughters — Mary and Ann — from his first Protestant wife, and they were Firm Protestants. Mary was married to her first cousin, William of Orange, a Dutch prince and a militant Protestant.

 When the Catholic second wife of James II gave birth to a baby son, the English Parliament and the Protestant bourgeoisie were alarmed by the prospect of Catholic succession of Monarchs.

Tories, Whigs and Anglicans began to look for a Protestant rescue. They invited William of Orange to invade Britain. The political events of 1688 were called «the Glorious Revolution» as they had realized the bourgeois theories of the nature of government. Parliament immediately drew up a Bill of Rights which limited some of the powers of the monarch.            

 The seventeenth century was the age of the Stuarts — their rise in 1603, their tragedy and defeat from 1648-1660, their restoration in 1660, their constant struggle against the Parliament which resulted in their forced compromise and the victory of the Parliament, the victory of the new ruling classes.

The economy of Britain by the end of the century was developing freely, new economic institutions like the Bank of Britain (1695) were founded. Trade and colonies were flourishing. The East India Company was the greatest corporation in the country.

The religious struggle and conflicts gave freedom to all Protestants.

After the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London came the efforts of Sir Christopher Wren and the achievements of science made by I. Newton and other members of the Royal Society. By the end of the century Britain was becoming a prosperous country.

Politically, this century was stable. The new British flag united the flags of England and Scotland combining the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew. Scotland retained its legal system and the established Church and also gained free trade with England.

England, Scotland and Wales were united and became Great Britain.

Queen Anne was the last Stuart monarch, she died in 1714; and according to the Act of Settlement, she was succeeded by Protestants of Hanoverian Dynasty.

Within Parliament there appeared two opposed groups – the Whigs & the Tories. The Whigs supported the Protestant values of hard work & thrift, believed in government by monarch & aristocracy together. The Tories had a greater respect for the idea of the monarchy & the importance of the Anglican Church. This could be said to be the beginning of the party system in Britain.

There were military conflicts near Lexington and Concord near Boston. The Congress of the United Colonies at Philadelphia elected George Washington, of Virginia commander of their armed forces (1775). A year later, on the 4 of July, 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.