Lesson 5: A journey through time P. 1

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A Journey Through Time

Let's Go Europe Lesson 5

The Stone Age

The earliest Europeans were hunters and gatherers. On the walls of some caves they made wonderful paintings of hunting scenes. Eventually, they learnt farming and began breeding animals, growing crops and living in villages. They made their weapons and tools from stone — by sharpening pieces of flint, for example.

The Bronze and Iron Ages —

Learning to use metal

Several thousand years BC (before the birth of Christ), people discovered how to make various sorts of metals by heating different kinds of rock in a very hot fire. Bronze — a mixture of copper and tin — was hard enough for making tools and weapons. Gold and silver were soft but very beautiful and could be shaped into ornaments. 

Later, an even harder metal was discovered: iron. The best kind of metal was steel, which was strong and didn’t break easily, so it made good swords. But making steel was very tricky, so good swords were rare and valuable!

Ancient Greece

(roughly 2000 to 200 BC)

In Greece about 4 000 years ago, people

began to build cities. At first they were ruled

by kings. Later, around 500 BC, the city of

Athens introduced ‘democracy’ — which means ‘government by the people’. (Instead of having a king, the men of Athens took decisions by voting.) Democracy is an important European invention that has spread around the world.

Other inventions

Some of the other things the ancient Greeks gave us include:

> wonderful stories about gods and heroes, wars and adventures;

> elegant temples, marble statues and beautiful pottery; 

> the Olympic Games;

> well-designed theatres and great writers whose plays are still performed today;

> teachers like Socrates and Plato, who taught people how to think logically;

> mathematicians like Euclid and Pythagoras, who worked out the patterns and rules in maths;

> scientists like Aristotle (who studied plants and animals) and Eratosthenes (who proved that

the Earth is a sphere and worked out how big it is).

The Roman Empire

(roughly 500 BC to 500 AD — AD means after the birth of Christ)

Rome started out as just a village in Italy. But the Romans were very well organised, their

army was very good at fghting and they gradually conquered all the lands around the

Mediterranean. Eventually the Roman empire stretched all the way from northern England to

the Sahara Desert and from the Atlantic to Asia. 

The Middle Ages

(roughly 500 to 1500 AD)

When the Roman empire collapsed, different parts of Europe

were taken over by different peoples. For example...

The Celts

Before Roman times, Celtic peoples lived in many parts of Europe. Their descendants today live mainly in Brittany (France), Cornwall (England), Galicia (Spain), Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In these parts of Europe, Celtic languages and culture are very much alive.

The Germanic people

Not all of them settled in Germany:

> The Angles and Saxons moved to England and ruled it until 1066.

> The Franks conquered a large part of Europe,

including France, between about 500 and 800 AD. Their most famous king was Charlemagne.

> The Goths (Visigoths and Ostrogoths) set up

kingdoms in Spain and Italy.

> The Vikings lived in Scandinavia. In the 800s and 900s they sailed to other countries, stealing treasure and trading and settling where there was good

farmland.

The Normans

or ‘Northmen’, were Vikings who settled in France (in the area we call Normandy) and then conquered England in 1066. A famous Norman tapestry shows scenes from this conquest. It is kept in a museum in the French town of Bayeux.

Wars

During the Middle Ages, kings and nobles in Europe often quarrelled and there were many wars. (This was the time when knights in armour fought on horseback.) To defend themselves from attack, kings and nobles often lived in strong castles, with thick stone walls. Some castles were so strong

that they are still standing today. 

Religion

Christianity became the main religion in Europe during the Middle Ages and churches were built almost everywhere. Some of them are very impressive — especially the great cathedrals, with their tall towers and colourful stained-glass windows.

Monks were involved in farming and helped develop agriculture all over Europe. They also set up schools and produced beautifully illustrated books. Their monasteries often had libraries where important books from ancient times were preserved. 

In southern Spain, where Islam was the main religion, the rulers built beautiful mosques and minarets. The most famous ones left today are the mosque in Córdoba and the Giralda minaret in Seville.

Assignment

With the person sitting next to you, pick one of the peoples we just talked about and describe what an important person from the time as well as an important event. 

Describe the time it happened / he or she did their most important thing. What kind of person he or she was. What the event was. etc. Write at least 170 words.

Your options are: the ancient Greek, Romans, the Celts, Germanic people, Normans and the Middle Ages.