Welsh History

Lesson 1: The Beginnings of a Nation

In this lesson the student will learn about the beginnings of Wales from the very first known period, through its occupation by Celts from Europe, its Roman occupation, and its beginnings as a nation state under strong, early leaders.

Recommended reading: Struggle pp, 1-13; Wales A to Y relevant entries; Intro to Lit. pp. 1-11.

A Nation Emerges

Unit One: Pre-Roman Britain

Wales was probably inhabited as early as 250,000 B.C. (the Lower Palaeolithic Age). Hand-worked tools have been found at various sites that date from around 26,000 B.C. It wasn't until the retreat of the glaciers of the Ice Age around 10,000 B.C., that human settlement in any significant numbers could begin.

In the Neolithic Age, around 5,000 years ago, many settlers came over from the European continent and perhaps from Ireland. Their huge stone structures, the Megaliths and their chambered-tomb companions, the Cromlechs (Cromlechi), dot the landscape of much of Wales even today.

By 2,000 B.C. various Celtic tribes came from the area of the Rhine River in Germany. Excavated battle axes, bronze knives, and other weapons of war and hunting show us that these people were already quite expert with the use of metal, a skill they must have passed on to the native tribesmen.

By 1,000 B.C. the Iron Age proper had arrived in Wales, as its people grouped themselves into large hill forts for protection. They seem to have practiced mixed, settled farming, but they also worked extensive copper mines, the remains of which can still be seen in such places as the Great Orme (Pen y Gogarth)at Llandudno, Gwynedd.

The advanced skills of the Celts seemed to have made them dominant in their new western homelands, despite their relatively few numbers. They were part of a great, unified Celtic "empire" encompassing many different peoples all over Northern Europe. The Greeks called these people, with their organized culture and developed social structure, "Keltoi"; the Romans called them Celtai. We call them Celts.

Very few modern European languages are derived from Celtic, despite its former widespread use. But in Britain, at least for a few hundred years after the Roman victories on mainland Europe, the Celts held on to much of their customs and especially to their distinctive language which has survived today as Welsh.

This language, used throughout most of Britain at the time of the Roman invasions (except in the far north where Pictish survived for a while), was derived from a branch of Celtic known as Brythonic; it later gave rise to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. Along with the new languages, new religions entered Britain, particularly that of the Druids, the guardians of traditions and learning.

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