England / Inglaterra - The Shaping of a Nation: England

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Como temos aqui no English! Don't Panic uma seção que trata de assuntos relacionados à Inglaterra, nada mais adequado do que falarmos um pouquinho sobre a formação desta nação. Pra isso, selecionamos o seguinte texto, The Shaping of a Nation: England. 

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The Shaping of a Nation: England

When the last Ice Age finished, 10,000 years ago, people could walk the continent to Britain and, little by little, different peoples started to populate what today is England. The Celts arrived there around 500 B.C. and developed a very profitable trade with Europe. The Romans knew that the British Celts had gold, silver bronze, and this may possibly be one of the reasons why they decided to invade Britain.

In 55 B.C. Julius Caesar’s army attacked Britain, but the Celts defeated him. The following summer, he tried a second time, now with an army of 40,000 soldiers. There were many battles and because the British promised not to attack Rome, the Empire left them in peace for a hundred years. The third Roman invasion was around 43 A.D.; Emperor Claudius organized this final, and successful, military operation. Many tribes tried to resist, but in the end the Romans took control of the country.

Life in Britain improved a lot under the Roman ruling. They introduced their law and order system, straight roads, central heating, concrete, bridges, their language (Latin) and the calendar we know today.

Centuries later, in 410 A.D., Rome was attacked by Germanic tribes. The Romans had to return and defend their country, leaving Britain without defenses. Without the Romans, it was ease for the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to invade England. Differently from the Romans, they made England their new home. The name England comes from the Saxon ‘Angle-land’, or the Land of Angels.

About 800 A.D. Britain was invaded again, this time by the Vikings. The soil in Scandinavia was not good for farming, so these Norsemen were looking for better land. They battled with the Saxons many times, and no matter how many times they did it, the Vikings were beaten. They always returned, till they finally succeeded. In 1066 the Normans (themselves relatives of Vikings that had settled in France) invaded Britain and took part of the Saxons’ territory for them to live in. the Vikings’ influence on the island is massive. Many place names in Britain are made up of Vikings’ words; for example, those of the cities Derby, Whitby and Selby – the the ending – by in such words comes from the Viking word ‘farm’ or ‘village’.

The Norman invaders’ leader, William the Conqueror, became King of England and founded the so-called Norman Dynasty. Over time, it would be replaced by other powerful royal houses, like the Plantagenets and the Tudors.

Fonte: Freeway

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