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London was founded by the Romans of the great Roman empire that covered half of the known world. They built it in the year 46 A.D. (efter Kristus).
Much of England was inhabited by barbarian tribes with many different names. Iceni, Caledonians but also the dangerous Woads, who had warriors that covered themselves in blue tattoos that scared the Romans when they were fighting Quiz: What did the Romans call London? A: London B: Londinium C: London Romano |
But the Romans could not defend all parts of their massive empire. At around year 500, London was attacked by the Saxons who took it from the Romans. The Saxons took over much of England, but after that they started fighting each other. They formed small kingdoms that always tried to steal each other's power. London became the capital of the kingdom of Essex. Quiz: Where did the Saxons come from? A: Germany B: France C: Sweden |
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Everything changed when the vikings came. They came from Denmark, Norway and Sweden and raided along the eastern coast of England.
In the beginning the vikings were just a pestilence, but more and more came, and soon they had a massive army that raided far into the English mainland. And this time they did not go back home. They settled all of eastern England and called it Danelaw (Danelov). They tried to take London, but never got it. Quiz: Did the vikings have horns in their helmets? A: No B: yes C: Only the richest vikings |
The vikings did not keep their hold on England for long. But the Saxon kingdoms did not get many years of peace after the vikings were gone.
In the year of 1066 the French people of Normandy invaded England and had a lot of success. In only a few years their leader, William the Conquerer, was crowned the first king of England. Quiz: Why is Normandy called Normandy? A: In French it means "Land of the North" B: It is in northern France, and the people there are very "mandy" C: Normandy was founded by vikings from North - "Nord-man-dy" |
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After this, the power of the English kingdom grew and became one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world.
But the noble families of England started a civil war over who was going to lead the country. A king or a parliament? The war lasted almost ten years and ended with King Charles II ruling the country along with a parliament in London. Quiz: How many Englishmen died during the civil war? A: 450.000 - 5.1% of the population. B: 200.000 - 2.5% of the population C: 90.000 - 1.7% of the population. |
After the civil war, London grew into a very big city. Many people moved from the country into the city. The many new farming machines made them lose their jobs as farmers.
Instead, they moved to big cities like London and worked in factories. This made the factory owners very rich, but the workers were all still very poor and lived in horrible small houses. Many people got sick from living so close together or got hurt by the dangerous conditions on the factories. Quiz: How fast did the population of London grow from year 1800 to 1900? A: 700.000 to 6.100.000 people B: 600.000 to 4.400.000 people. C: 500.000 to 3.900.000 people. |
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Today, 8,900,000 people live in London. It is by far the biggest and most popular city to visit in England.
But it is funny to think, that the land that London stands on has been the home of barbarian tribes, Romans, Saxons and Normans (and almost vikings). This is why the English language is filled with words from the French, German and Danish languages. Window comes from the Danish word 'vindue'. Beef comes from the French word "bouef" and hound comes from the German word "hund" Quiz: How many tourists visit London every year? A: 10 million. B: 30 million C: 50 million. |
Time travel interview:
Go into groups of 2. You are a TV-reporter and a person from another historical time in London. The reporter has managed to travel trough time to get the perfect interview about one of the eras of London. The reporter must now ask 6-10 questions about the time the historical figure is living in. You are going to act the interview as a small play. Rules:
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Inspiration:
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