英美国家社会与文 化. unit 1-2 introduction to the united kingdom

英美国家社会与文化

Unit 1-2 Introduction to the United Kingdom

Lead in

What’s the difference between UK, Britain and England?

Where do you want to visit if you go to UK? Who do you know in the history of England?

contents

A brief introduction to the United Kingdom England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland

the Map of U.K.

British Isles

Britain

Great Britain

Two large islands several small ones two states

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

England, WalesScotland

Introduction to UKI. Name and Constituents

II. Effects of its imperial past

1. Establishment of the Commonwealth

2. A Multiracial Society

III. Differences in society

1. Race difference

2. Class difference

3. Region difference

London is the Capital of Britain ， one seventh of the nation’s population, the cultural centre, the business

centre and the financial centre.

EnglandIV. Introduction to England1. Physical features2. History of invasionsa. Roman invasions b. Anglo-Saxon’s invasionc. Viking invasiond. Norman invasionf. Next few hundred years following the Norman invasion

British history has been a history of invasion. It was made of many tribal kingdoms of Celtic people. Then in 43AD British was invaded by the Roman Empire.

Anglo-Saxon Invasion of England, 4th and 5th century

Roman armies and Roman protection were withdraw from Britain, and it was again divided into small kingdoms, it came under threat from outside, this time from Germanic people: the Angles and the Saxon.

King Arthur and his magical sword, Excalibur drove the Saxon back.

Conflicts between King Arthur’s Knights led to Arthur creating the famous “round table”

Anglo-Saxon did succeed in invading Britain, and they were the forefathers of the English.

Scandinavia

Two more groups of invaders were to come after the English: from the late 18th century on, raiders from Scandinavia, the ferocious Vikings, threatened Britain’s shores.

King Alfred the Great fought against the Vikings

Crusader Norman The next invaders

were the Normans, from northern France, who were descendants of Vikings.

Norman Warrior

William the conqueror

King Harold

Under William the Conqueror, they crossed the English Channel and in the Battle of Hastings, defeated an English army under King Harold. William took the English throne, and became William the First of England.

King Harold is slain

William the First of England

The Tower of London, a castle in the centre of London which William the First

of England built, still stands today.

Robin Hood

Charles the First Charles the First’s

attempt to overrule parliament led to a civil war in which the king was executed and England was ruled by parliament’s leader, Oliver Cromwell, the monarchy was restored.

Oliver Cromwell

William and Mary Further conflict

between parliament and the king led to the removal of the Scottish house Stuart from the throne and William and Mary was imported from Holland to take the throne, thus finally establishing parliament’s domination over the throne.

Scotland

V. Introduction to Scotland Physical features History

A. Viking raids

B. The battle of Bannockburn

C. Union with England

3. Retaining strong Scottish identity

The largest city of Scotland, Glasgow

It is renowned for its beauty, and dominated by its great castle on a high rock in the centre of the city.

Glasgow University

Capital city Edinburgh

The Romans built a wall to mark the northern edge of their domain and to help defend it,

Hadrian’s Wall

People from northern Ireland invaded the south-west. They were called the Scots, and it is they that gave the modern country of Scotland its name.

The division between highland and lowland Scotland remains a cultural divide today. The highlands people speak the old language Gaelic 盖尔语 .

William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is set in the Scotland of this period.

The Brave Heart, the story of William Wallace’s uprising.

Queen Elizabeth the First

When she died childless, and the next in line to the throne was James the Sixth of Scotland, so he also became James the First of England, uniting the two thrones.

Queen Elizabeth II

James the First of England

In 1707 by agreement of the English and Scottish parliament, Scotland joined the Union. There followed two rebellions in 1715 and 1745 in which the heir to the Stuart claim to the British throne attempted to reassert his right to rule Britain.

The Battle of Culloden In 1745 this led to a

brutal military response from the British army. The rebel army was destroyed at the Battle of Culloden.

Walter Scott 沃尔特 司各特

Robert Burns 彭斯A Red Red Rose

Robert Louis Stevenson 斯蒂文森

Wales

VI. Introduction to Wales

1.Physical features

2. A history features campaigns for independence

Wales is the smallest among the three nations on the British mainland.

Capital of Wales, Cardiff

Wales was conquered by the Romans eventually. When the Roman left Britain, Wales was again a Celtic land, though again divided into separate kingdoms.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd

His military campaign forced the English to acknowledge him as Prince of Wales in 1267.

Edward the First But when he died, the

English king, Edward the First, set about conquering Wales, building a series of great stone castles there from which to control the population. These castles stand today as one of Wales’ greatest tourist attractions.

Owain Glyndwr Edward the First

named his son the Prince of Wales to try to bring Wales into the British nation. And Owain Glyndwr led an unsuccessful rising against the English. The old British Celtic tongue, the Welsh language is still in daily use.