PREHISTORY is the period of time from the appearance of the first human being to the invention of writing.

It started 3 million years ago and lasted to the 3.000 BC (Before Christ)

3 million years 3.000 BC

No writing documents exist, so we study that period with material remains:For example, the human body itself, hunting instruments, paintings, sculptures , etc.

1) STONE AGEThis age is divided into Paleolithic and Neolithic:

PALEOLITHIC. During this stage the man was:

-NOMAD: he never lived in the same place, and lived in CAVES.

-HUNTER (animals for food) and COLLECTOR (from plants)

-Invented the FIRE.-Clothing was made from FUR (skin of the animals).

NEOLITHIC. During this stage the man was:

-AGRICULTURE and FARMING: people learned how to grow the food, and people domesticated animals-They were SEDENTARY (lived in the same place) and had permanent HOUSES. Homes were usually made from wood or bricks .-They started to use CLOTHES made by the skin of the animals (knitting).

2) METAL AGEIn this period of time in which the use of metal tools

appears along with the use of stone tools.

First metal used by humans seems to have been COOPER.

BRONZE AGE.

This age is the new period in the development of technology when metals are first used regularly in the development in the creation of tools and weapons.

Bronze was also used in art.

IRON AGE.

Iron is the key metal (most important metal) of history.

This age is the new period in the development of industry that begins with the general use of iron and continues into modern times.

Iron is more common, durable, stronger and sharper than bronze.

Ancient History started when people invented writing.

In ANCIENT TIMES, all over the world, civilizations appeared, for example, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans.

A civilization can be defined as the way of life of a people and how they organize themselves into a society.

A society is a group of people with a common territory, interaction, and culture.

This way, early people joined together to create villages, city-states, nations and empires.

First Governments were formed. People started to TRADE, i.e. (that is) to sell or

buy things with coins.

And important constructions were built too, like Egyptian Pyramids, the Greek Parthenon or Roman theatres.

Ancient History finished when the Roman Empire ended.

Archaeologists have learned a great deal about these early civilizations from the artifacts (man-made objects) they left behind (created in that time).

Egypt is a dry, hot desert country and ancient life depended on the waters of the River Nile.People lived beside the Nile and Egyptian houses were almost all built from bricks of Nile mud. (The palaces of the Pharaohs were built from stone.)

The richer families in ancient Egypt had houses with beautiful gardens, looked after by slaves or servants.The Egyptians also enjoyed story-telling, parties and music. There were a number of great public festivals, such as the celebration of the resurrection of Osiris (god) where thousands of people danced to the music of harps and flutes.

Greek history is an interesting and wonderful era of human invention, philosophy, art and architecture.

Education was taken very seriously in school. Students studied many of the same subjects learned in school today.

In school, maths was difficult, as six Roman letters (I, V, X, L, C, and M)

While the kids were in school and the mothers and daughters tended to the household chores, the fathers spent a few hours working each day. At night, Romans used lamps that burned olive oil.

Public games, sporting, and athletic events were an important past time, which eventually led to the creation of the Olympic Games that we still celebrate today!

Greeks adopted and utilized a new alphabet, which is very similar to the one we use today.

The government and economy were structured into a form of democracy that we are familiar with today.

The Middle Ages refers to a time in European history from 400-1500 AD.

It occurred between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.

 

Historians usually divide the Middle Ages into three smaller PERIODS called the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, and the Late Middle Ages. 

  

During much of the Middle Ages, people in Europe were FIGHTING against the Islamic Empire to take back the Eastern Mediterranean, especially Jerusalem, for the Christian religion. These wars were called the CRUSADES.

The Middle Ages was defined by a FEUDAL SYSTEM in much of Europe. This system consisted of kings, lords, knights, vassals, peasants and serfs. The people who were part of the church played an important part also. When a person was born into a certain group, they rarely moved to another level. 

KINGS ruled by what they believed was their “Divine Right”.

This meant they believed God made them the King, and their kingdom was passed down through generations. 

The soldiers that fought for the king and lords were called KNIGHTS.

When conflict arose, the peasants would leave their fields and villages and come into the safety of the castle walls.

CASTLES were built for the lords and kings who lived in them. The bigger and stronger the castle, the more wealthy (rich) the person who had it built.

The poor lived in HUTS made from sticks, straw and mud.

The CHURCH had a great influence over the people.

The peasants believed that the harder they worked, the more of their money they gave to the church, and the more they served the church, the better the after-life would be for them.

By the early 1300s, however, Europe suffered from both WAR and DISEASE. The wars were made much worse by the Black Death (bubonic plague), which spread along the Silk Road from China to Europe starting in 1328, killing millions of people. By the 1400s, after the plague, Europe looked very different, and the wars were over (finished), and Middle Ages were coming to an END.Also, many FAIRY TALES have their roots in the Middle Ages. When you read about castles and the characters that lived and around them, these stories are being told about this time in history.