Great Britain: geography, politics, culture. Л. А. Ласица

      – There are over 30,000 John Smiths in Britain.

      – After the 1745 rebellion, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the government made it illegal for Scotsmen to wear kilts. The ban remained in force until 1832.

      – English (official) and Gaelic are the main languages of Scotland.

      – The official animal of Scotland is Unicorn.

      – The motto of Scotland is ‘No one provokes me with impunity’.

      – Scottish surnames are divided in two main categories, namely Gaelic names and Germanic names.

      – The official languages of Ireland are Irish and English.

      – The most popular purchases made by tourists in Ireland are blackthorn walking sticks, Guinness glasses, Waterford Crystal and Aran Isle sweaters.

      – The Welsh are the direct descendants of the Roman-era inhabitants of England and Wales, who were displaced and confined to the hilly and rocky western fringe of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries. The English name for Wales originates from the Germanic word Walha, meaning stranger or foreigner, which is related to the word Gaul. The French and Italian word for "Wales" is Galles, while the Spanish is Gales.

      – Welsh, a Brythonic Celtic language, is ancestral tongue of Welsh people. Nowadays 750,000 people claiming a self-reported competence in Welsh (21,7 % of the population of Wales).

      2 History of Britain: from Early Britain to the Middle Ages

      2.1 Britain B.C

      About three thousand years В.C. many parts of Europe including the British Isles, were inhabited by a people called the Iberians. The Iberians used stone weapons and tools. They could polish stone and make smooth objects of stone.

      In some parts of modern Britain one can see a number 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 dates from between 1900 and 1600 В. C. The stones are 8.5 metres high and weigh about 7 tons.

      No one can tell how these large stones were moved, or from what places they were brought. Stonehenge is still a mystery to scientists.

      There are a lot of legends connected with the Stonehenge. Some believed that the early British kings, killed by their enemies, were buried here; others think that Druids made it to house their pagan rites. Some say it was used for sun worship. It may have been a Temple for some form of worship – or a Court of Justice – or a Hall for ceremonial meetings of tribal chiefs.

      2.2 Early Britain. The Celtic Tribes

      During the period from the 6^th to the 3^rd century В. C. a people called the Celts spread across Europe from the east to the west. Some Celtic tribes – the Iberians, the Picts, the Scots and the Britons –invaded Britain. The Picts penetrated into the mountains on the North; the Scots settled in the North beside the Picts. Powerful Celtic tribes, the Britons, held most of the country, and the southern half of the island was named Britain after them. The Iberians were unable to fight back the attacks of the Celts and were driven westwards into the mountains what is now Wales.

      The Greeks were the first to mention the British Isles. They wrote about the Phoenicians, great sailors and traders, who used to come to the British Isles for tin. They called the British Isles the Tin Islands.

      Julius Caesar described the country and its inhabitants in his ‘Commentaries on the Gallic War’. He tells us that the Celts were tall and blue-eyed. They wore long moustaches but no beards.

      In the 1^st century В. C. they lived in tribes, and were ruled by chiefs, or kings, whom all the tribesmen obeyed. In war-time the Celts wore skins and painted their faces with a blue dye to look fierce. They were armed with swords and spears. The Celts fought fiercely in the battle.

      2.3 The Roman Conquest of Britain

      Two thousand years ago while the Celts were still living in tribes the Romans were the most powerful people in the world. Roman society was divided into the class of slaves and the class of slave-owners. The slave-owners put down the uprisings of the slaves with the help of the army. The army also helped the slaveowners to protect their riches against foreign enemies and to conquer new lands and to seize more slaves. The Romans conquered all the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.

      In 55 В. C. a Roman army of 10,000 men with Julius Caesar at the head crossed the Channel and invaded Britain. The Celts saw their ships approaching and rushed to attack the invaders in the sea. Their hair and moustaches were dyed red and their legs and arms were painted blue. With loud shouts they attacked the Romans and the well-armed Romans had to retreat to Gaul (France).

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