Category: Histories of countries and key towns and cities around the world

By Tim Lambert Early El Salvador Before the Spanish conquest, people called the Pipil lived in El Salvador. The Pipil were civilized and built cities and temples. However, in 1524 the Spanish invaded. They were led by Pedro de Alvarado (c- 1485 – 1541). The native people resisted fiercely but the Spanish had superior weapons.… Continue reading A Short History of El Salvador

By Tim Lambert Prehistoric and Ancient England About 4,500 BC farming was introduced into what is now England. Using stone axes the farmers began clearing the forests that covered England. They grew crops of wheat and barley and they raised herds of cattle, pigs, and sheep. However as well as farming, they also hunted animals… Continue reading A Short History of England

By Tim Lambert Early Estonia The Estonians are a Finno-Ugric people related to the Finns. A first-century Roman writer named Tacitus mentioned the Estonians. He called them the Aesti. Amber was exported from Estonia to other parts of Europe. However, for centuries the tribes of Estonia had little contact with Western civilization. They traded with… Continue reading A Short History of Estonia

By Tim Lambert Early Ethiopia By 100 AD a kingdom called Axum arose in Ethiopia. Axum was highly civilised and it traded with Rome, Arabia, and India. Axum became Christian in the 4th century AD. In 642 the Arabs conquered Egypt. In 698-700, they took Tunis and Carthage and soon they controlled all of the… Continue reading A Short History of Ethiopia

By Tim Lambert Ancient Finland The first humans arrived in Finland about 7,000 BC after the end of the last ice age. The earliest Finns were stone-age hunters and gatherers. Over thousands of years, successive waves of people entered Finland. After 2,500 BC people in Finland lived by farming. About 1,500 BC they learned to… Continue reading A Short History of Finland

By Tim Lambert Prehistoric and Ancient France During the last ice age, humans called Cro-Magnons lived in France. They dwelt in caves and they hunted animals such as mammoths and reindeer. They must have been resourceful people to survive in such a harsh climate and they also created art. The Cro-Magnons are known for the… Continue reading A Short History of France

By Tim Lambert Ancient Germany About 55 BC Julius Caesar conquered the Roman province of Gaul. He made the Rhine the frontier of the new province. It was a natural defensive barrier. Later the Romans also chose the Danube as a frontier. They also created a ditch and earth bank with a wooden palisade from… Continue reading A Short History of Germany

By Tim Lambert Ancient Greece From about 7,000 BC stone age farmers lived in Greece. Then about 3,000 BC bronze was introduced. About 2,500 BC a sophisticated society grew up on the island of Crete. It is known as the Minoan civilization. By about 1,950 BC the inhabitants had invented a form of writing using… Continue reading A Short History of Greece

By Tim Lambert Early Guatemala In 1523 Pedro de Alvarado was sent with a force of Spaniards to Guatemala. The Spaniards had a great technological advantage over the indigenous people and by 1540 they ruled the whole area. The Spaniards then became the ruling class. Meanwhile, the indigenous people were converted to Christianity (although they… Continue reading A Short History of Guatemala

By Tim Lambert Colonial Haiti Haiti forms part of the island of Hispaniola. Before the Europeans arrived a people called the Arawaks lived there. However, on 6 December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed at Mole Saint-Nicolas on the northwest and called the island Espanola, which was later anglicized as Hispaniola. Columbus built a fort on the… Continue reading A Short History of Haiti