The Roman times in British history

At the dawn of their history peoples on the planet lived in primitive societies. These primitive peoples began their long path of progress with stone tools, but they didn’t reach the same level of civilization at the same time in different countries. The ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome were already in existence when the people living in Britain were only at the first stage of social development.

In the early days of history (50-450) England was known as Britain and the people who lived there were Britons¹. There were no big towns on the British Isles at that time. People lived in small villages along the rivers or along the sea. The Britons caught fish, grew wheat and had many pigs, cows and sheep in the meadows, near the rivers and on the sides of the mountains. Later they learned to make things of wool and metal and sold them to the people who came across the sea.

The Romans with Julius Caesar at the head invaded the Bri­tish Isles and forced the population to pay the tribute. The Ro­mans kept their armies in Britain. They built roads and had the country under control.

They protected themselves from the attacks of the Britons by the walls which they built across Britain.

You can see the Roman walls in Britain even now. The Romans left the country only in the second half of the 5th century. The Roman armies were called back to Italy where they defended the country from barbaric peoples.

Answer the following questions:

1. How were the people who lived in Britain called?

2. Where did they live?

3. What did they do?

4. Who invaded the British Isles?

5. What did the Romans keep in Britain?

6. How did they protect themselves from the attacks of the Bri­tons?

7. When did the Romans leave the country?

Notes:

1. the Britons – древние бритты.