The History of the Ancient World: Практическое пособие по английскому языку. Часть 1. Гончарова Л.Ю. - 18 стр.

                                          18

      Chapter 5

                      The Indo-European Invasions

      Read and translate the text:

       Most modern day Whites are to the greatest part, either direct or part
descendants of a great wave of White peoples who swept into Europe from about
5000 BC till around 500 BC – these peoples had their original heartland in the region
known today as central and southern Russia (hence Whites are often today called
Caucasians – after the Caucasus mountains which are situated in the southern reaches
of the country).
       It is still unknown precisely what caused these Indo-European peoples to start
migrating. Recent research indicates that the flooding of the Black Sea Basin from
the Mediterranean – established as a factual occurrence around 5600 BC – was the
probable cause of the first great movements.
       Meltwaters from the retreating ice sheets at the end of the Pleistocene caused
the world’s oceans to rise by almost 100 meters. In 5600 BC, the rising waters of the
Mediterranean Sea burst through the narrow neck of the Bosporus, destroying the
civilization ringing the fertile Black Sea Basin. It is this catastrophe which triggered
the great Indo-European migrations and spawned the Biblical legend of the flood,
familiar to the adherents of the Christian faith.
       With the aid of the horse, the first Indo-Europeans moved in all directions,
disrupting the slow but steady pace of development everywhere they went. Large
numbers settled in northern Europe, staying there till they later began again to move
south; others moved off to the Middle and Near East; while others ventured west,
crossing into Britain and Spain.

      Northern and Central Europe
       The largest Indo-European invasion of Europe was carried out by four main
groups: the Celts, the Germans, the Balts and the Slavs.
       By 600 BC the Britanni Celts had occupied much of what is today known as
western Europe – France, parts of the Low Countries (Belgium, Holland), Britain and
Spain. The very names Brittany (in France) and Britain itself are derived from this
group.
       The word Celt itself is derived from the word Keltoi, the name given to the
invaders by the Greek writer Herodotus. To the Romans, the Celts were known as
Galli, or Gauls; and in the British Isles as Britanni.
       These western European Celts were later to be overrun by the descendants of
other Indo-European tribes who had invaded Italy and had become the Romans.
       The Germani Indo-European tribes initially settled in what is today Denmark
and southern Scandinavia around the year 000 BC, but soon thereafter started moving
south, closer to central Europe, later giving their name to Germany.