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1、（英语国家社会与文化入门第四周论文）海师外国语学院2010级英语2班201003010217 李冬云201003010218 李芳琦 Question:Why is it said British history has been a history of invasion? How did each of the invasion influence English culture?(P18) (w3: essay) British legendary life an invasion history As so far, I think it has been very familiar
2、to us that British history is an invasion history, but what is the reason that someone concluded it so? We can find the fact through its history as following:Prehistoric times: (Time: -3000BC; Early settlers :Iberians) Around 3000 BC, the Iberians came from the Mediterranean region to settle in the
3、British Isles. Very few people knew about the earliest inhabitants of the British Isles, but these residents in the aspect of Stonehenge , which was a circular stone structure, confirmed the island residents had a commensurate level of developed civilization. In fact, those inhabitants were in the p
4、eriod of the Bronze Age civilization. And Megalith Culture means megalithic civilization, from North Africa, are found in the west of Spain, France and Germany, as well as British Isles. From this world heritage, we can know the civilization of primitives very well. Influence: Megalith Culture, Neol
5、ithic cultureCeltic period:(Time: 8th BC-1st AD; residents:Celts) Celtic people invaded and occupied the British Isles from the continent of Europe. Also, their powerful culture originated in central Europe. In the history, Celts were made of three kinds of people: Gaels, Briton and Belgae. By the w
6、ay, their religion was Druidism. The Celtics originally lived in southern Germany, they were the first nation learned in Europe to manufacture and use iron and gold ornaments; they had conquered Spain: Portugal, Italy and other regions before the conquest of Britain, France. After coming to Britain,
7、 the part of the Celtics settled down in the Contemporary Ireland and Scotland and the remaining part occupied the southern and eastern of England. Wherever Celts went, they killed Iberians brutally. Celtic speaking Celtic. Today, Gaels live in the northern and western mountains of Scotland still us
8、e this language.Influence: Celtic, DruidismRoman conquest(Time: 43AD-410AD; invaders:Romans) In 43 AD Britain was invaded by the Roman Empire and England and Wales (though not Scotland and Ireland) became a part of Roman for nearly 400 years. In reality, Roman Conquest was started from the year afte
9、r 43AD. Claudius, the Roman Emperor, led forty thousand troops to conquer the British Isles in central and south-central in three years at last. Subsequently, the whole England was firmly in the control of Rome. For avoiding the invasion from different races,Roman did a lot of efforts. The Hadrians
10、Wall, which was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 2th AD, was used to avoid the invasion from the Pict in the northern England. Besides that, Roman Empire had developed in all walks of life. For example, towns developed on the British Isles, and in order to ensure the smooth development of milit
11、ary actions, the construction of road network linking up towns, which were the regional land transport infrastructure in England. Roman also built the London Bridge, which made a great contribution to its development. In the aspect of business, the Roman Empire have frequent business travel, for ins
12、tance, grape, olive oil, ceramics and furniture were the most important imports. And about the culture, Roman introduced Christianity and Latin to Britain so that Christianity and Latin were handed down to generations from then on. However, the Roman influence was very limited because Roman just to
13、govern but not to settle in Britain and they treated the Britons as slave class so that they never intermarried with Britons.Influence: London, London Bridge, Christianity, Latin and so on.Anglo-Saxon era(Time:5th-8th; invaders:Angles-Saxon and Jutes) As the Roman Empire came under the threat from t
14、he east，the Roman armies and Roman protection were withdrawn from Britain, which resuled to that again Britain was divided into small kingdoms and came under threat from outside. Between 3rd century to 5th century AD, they constantly invade the British Isles and then established one after another Ki
15、ngdom. They came accompanied by the Jutes, which were a race of Germanic people. These categories of persons, coupled with the descendants of earlier immigrants in Rome, who are Celtic. This era was known as the age of Heroes. One of the best-known English legend derives from this time.In the 5th ce
16、ntury AD it is said that a great leader appeared, united the British, and with his magical sword, Excalibur, drove the Saxons back. This is the story of king Arthur,and has been embellished by singers, poets, novelists, and even filmmakers ever since. And he created the famous Round Table at which all knights would have equal precedence. Despite the fact that contemporary English t
