A Brief History of Great Britain, Second Edition

William Burns

Description

A Brief History of Great Britain, Second Edition provides a clear, lively, and comprehensive account of the history of Great Britain from ancient times to the present day. It relates the central events that have shaped the country and details their significance in historical context, touching on all aspects of the history of the country, from political, international, and economic affairs to cultural and social developments. Illustrated with full-color maps and photographs, and accompanied by a chronology, bibliography, and suggested reading, this accessible overview is ideal for the general reader.

Coverage includes:

• Early Settlements, Celts, and Romans


• Anglo-Saxons, Scots,and Vikings


• Scotland, England, and Wales


• Britain in the Late Middle Ages


• The Making of Protestant Britain


• Industry and Conquest


• Britain in the Age of Empire


• An Age of Crisis


• The Age of Consensus


• A House Divided


• The Age of Brexit

Sujets

• Histoire
• Reino Unido
• Lifestyle
• Geography
• Demography
• United Kingdom
• Politics
• Great Britain
• World
• History
• Culture
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438199559
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

A Brief History of Great Britain, Second Edition
Copyright © 2021 by William E. Burns
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Facts On File An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-9955-9
You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Chapters Introduction Early Settlements, Celts, and Romans Anglo-Saxons, Scots,and Vikings Scotland, England, and Wales Britain in the Late Middle Ages The Making of Protestant Britain Industry and Conquest Britain in the Age of Empire An Age of Crisis The Age of Consensus A House Divided The Age of Brexit Support Materials Documents Chronology Bibliography Suggested Reading
Chapters
Introduction

Like that of all nations, the history of Great Britain is conditioned by its geographic setting. The geography of Britain shapes the lives of its inhabitants and reflects the ebb and flow of power over the centuries.
Geography, Climate, and Natural Resources
Great Britain, which includes the constituent units of England, Wales, and Scotland, is the world's ninth-largest island. It covers about 80,823 square miles (209,331 square kilometers) and extends about 600 miles (966 kilometers) from north to south and about 300 miles (483 kilometers) from east to west. Britain is the largest island of the British Isles, an archipelago—that is, a group of islands.
Despite Britain's position in the northern latitudes of Europe—the same distance from the equator as the southern parts of the cold countries of Norway and Sweden—the presence of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream makes the archipelago much warmer than the corresponding areas in North America or Scandinavia. (Some fear that global warming will alter the course of the Gulf Stream away from the British Isles; thus, paradoxically, some British worry that it will make their islands much colder.) The climate is very wet, and rainfall is evenly distributed and frequent, meaning that British farmers have little need for the elaborate irrigation systems characteristic of drier climes. Britain is seismically stable, and British earthquakes are small and very rarely destructive.
Britain is well endowed with minerals, particularly tin, lead, iron, and coal. The availability of iron and coal is one of the reasons why Britain was the home of the Industrial Revolution. Its North Sea coastal waters also have oil, but the supply is fast running out.
No place on the island of Great Britain is farther than 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the sea, and Britain's rivers and irregular coastline provide numerous harbors, particularly facing south and east. The British were not always great sailors, nor did they always have a strong navy, but those powerful on the seas were a constant threat. Britain's separation from the continent also means that most invaders of Britain were not entire peoples on the move but smaller groups of warriors. Successful invasions and conquests in British history have usually resulted in the imposition of a new ruling class rather than the introduction of an entirely new people.
Britain is marked by pronounced regional differences. The most basic division is that between highland areas and lowland areas. The "highland zone" is defined by being over 200 meters (656 feet) above sea level. Highland zones are found in Wales, much of Scotland, northern England, and parts of southwestern England, although lowland pockets exist in highland territories. The British highland zone is not really mountainous, as the highest mountains reach the modest height of roughly 4000 feet (1,219 meters). There is a much higher proportion of highland land in Scotland than in England, and the difference between the highlands and the lowlands and their inhabitants plays a central role in Scottish history and culture.
The highlands are marked by a greater emphasis on pastoralism, as they have mostly chalky soil and are too wet and cold for successful agriculture. The highlands are also much less densely populated than the lowlands, as it requires much more land to support a human being through pastoralism than through agriculture. Lowland areas are usually more fertile. The most fertile lowlands are in the south and southeast of Britain, where there is rich, heavy soil more suited to agriculture. Lowlanders can engage in raising either grains or livestock, depending on circumstances. In the Middle Ages much of the lowlands was turned over to the highly profitable production of wool. Lowlanders tended to live in villages, highlanders in small hamlets or isolated farmsteads, or to be nomadic.

The United Kingdom has both highland and lowland areas. Highlands, areas that are more than 656 feet (200 m) above sea level, are found in Wales, Scotland, northern England, and parts of southwestern England. Northern Ireland consists mainly of low-lying plateaus and hills.
Source: Infobase.
Invasions of Britain had much less effect on the highlands than on the lowlands, which constituted the really valuable prize due to their greater agricultural productivity. Those regimes exercising power throughout Britain or the British Isles were usually based in lowland England, the only place capable of supporting them. The extension of power from the lowlands to the highlands was a difficult challenge due to the difficulty of the terrain. Mountainous Wales preserved its independence for centuries despite its poverty and its inability to unite politically. The only invaders to subdue Wales before the 13th century were the well-organized and disciplined Roman legions, and it took them years after the conquest of England. The less-organized Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and Normans had a much harder time, and Wales was only permanently annexed to England in 1284.
The greater poverty of the highlands meant that highlanders often raided lowlanders, creating hostility between the two. The highlands were also more culturally and linguistically conservative. Cultural innovations usually originated in the lowlands and spread to the highlands. The highlands were where the Celtic languages lasted the longest, as English and its offshoots, originally the language of Anglo-Saxon invaders, became the dominant tongue of the lowlands in the early Middle Ages. This cultural division further added to the hostility between highland and lowland peoples.
Other variations in land include those of open country, with lighter soils; forests with heavy, clayey soils; and fens and swamps. Britain in the earliest times was heavily forested and also contained many fens and swamplands. These areas were often associated with outlaws and people who lived freer but poorer lives. Over the course of millennia, much of this land has been developed into agricultural use.
There are no really large rivers in Britain due to the small size of the island. The most important is the Thames in the south; others include the Trent and the Tweed in the north. Despite the lack of good, waterborne internal communications, the ocean's proximity makes it relatively easy to move goods from place to place, as coal was moved from the north to London. In the 18th and early 19th centuries British entrepreneurs and landowners created a network of canals to make up for the relative lack of inland waterways. In the 19th and 20th centuries, railroads served a similar function.
Great Britain in the British Archipelago
Great Britain has usually been the archipelago's dominant political and cultural power, and it is certainly the most heavily populated island. The other big island is Ireland, whose history is closely connected with Britain's. Today Ireland is divided into a large, independent southern country, the Republic of Ireland, and a smaller section in the north, Northern Ireland, which along with Great Britain makes up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, called the United Kingdom for short. The United Kingdom is often commonly referred to as Britain, a political usage that differs from the geographical one. Connections between Ireland and Great Britain have included invasions across the Irish Sea in both directions, although the last Irish invasion of any part of Great Britain was in the early Middle Ages. There are long-standing connections of trade and migration between northwestern Britain and Northern Ireland. Christianity first arrived in northwestern Britain from Ireland.
The archipelago also includes many smaller islands. The Isle of Wight, about 147 square miles (381 square kilometers) in size, lies about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) off the southern coast of Britain. The Isle of Wight's close proximity to south Britain has led its history to be part of south Britain's rather than one with its own identity. Today it is politically united with Britain, as it has been for centuries.
Another close island is the Welsh island of Anglesey, off the northern coast of Wales. The Menai Strait, which separates Anglesey from the mainland of Wales, is only about 273 yards (250 meters) at its narrowest point. Anglesey covers about 276 square miles (715 square kilometers). Its isolation made it a stronghold of Welsh tradition, the last area in Wales to fall to the Romans and currently one of the areas with the greatest density of Welsh speakers.
The Isle of Man, about 221 square miles (572 square kilometers), sits in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland and has a very different history and status, having belonged to England, Scotland, and Norway. Unlike Anglesey and the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man today is not formally part of the United Kingdom but a separate Crown dependency.
Another Crown dependency is the Channel Islands, a chain of small islands between