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The Stone Age was a time in prehistory when humans made and used stone tools. (Prehistory is the time before people invented writing.) Early humans began using stones as...

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The Stone Age for Kids | Bedtime History

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Fun Kids - the UK's children's radio station

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The Stone Age is a period in human history that lasted from around 3.4 million to 12,000 years ago. It is one of the most interesting and important periods of time in human history, as it marks the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to the beginnings of agriculture, animal domestication and the use of tools. It is a period of great technological and social advancement that laid the foundation for the development of civilisation. We'll explore 10 facts about the Stone Age that you may not have known. These facts will shed a light on the lives of people during this fascinating period of history.

1. The Stone Age began around 2.5 million years ago.

It may have started millions of years ago but it only ended in 2500BC, that was just 4,520 years ago!

2. There were 4 different types of humans in the stone age.

Seems strange to think there were different types of human (I thought there was only one right?) but it's true!

There were...

Tool-makers (called homo habilis)

Fire-makers (called homo erectus)

Neanderthals (called homo neanderthalensis)

Modern humans (called homo sapiens). That's us!

They also created artwork...

3. In the early Stone Age, humans lived in caves.

Yes, they didn't have house's yet - caves were the best they could do.

Later on in the Stone Age they did start to build huts made out of wood and animal skins and then towards the end of the stone age, they started to build permanent places to live - with a roof!

4. The only two things humans had to do was to look for food and protect themselves from wild animals.

That's right, no school to go to or homework to complete or chores around the house to do. The only thing they had to worry about was finding food to survive and not being eaten by wild animals!

5. Humans learnt to farm during the Stone Age.

Early on in the stone age, humans hunted animals and gathered fruits and nuts.

By the end of the stone age period, they learnt how to farm. They grew crops including maize, wheat and barley!

6. Humans used animal skins to keep them warm.

That's right! Humans used to take the skin off animals and use that to keep them warm.

Humans hadn't figured out how to make warm clothes yet so they had to find a way to stay warm when it got cold. Especially as they wouldn't be able to just turn the radiator on.

7. Some of the animals that lived in the stone age are now extinct.

There used to be lots of animals around in the Stone Age that just don't exist anymore. We either killed them all or they couldn't adapt to the changing world well enough to survive.

Some animals that are now extinct include the Woolly Rhinoceros, Woolly Mammoth, Cave Bear and Giant Deer.

They also had some animals that we still see today like sheep, wolves, hyena, hippopotamus and wild boars.

8. Stone Age people made their own tools.

They weren't very advanced and mostly made out of stone (which is why we call it the Stone Age), but they made tools like stone or wooden clubs, bone needles, bone flutes, stone axe, stone knife and even a bow and arrow.

9. Modern man appeared around 200,000 years ago!

Modern man is what we are, they are just humans.

In history there were a few different types of human but it was around 200,000 years ago that humans like us started to appear.

Modern humans are also called Homo Sapiens.

10. Dogs became domesticated in the stone age.

Before dogs were domesticated they would not have made good pets, they were wild animals!

It was in the Stone Age when humans started to domesticate them which means that they started living with humans.

Read Top 10 Facts about dogs!

Send us your favourite facts!

Is there something we've missed? Got a fact you're dying to tell us? Submit it below and we could use it on a future Top 10 Facts page!

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Top 10 Facts About The Stone Age! - Fun Kids - the UK's children's radio station

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The Stone Age is a period in human history that lasted from around 3.4 million to 12,000 years ago. It is one of the most interesting and important periods of more "

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Let's explore the Stone Age

This collection contains curriculum relevant videos, quizzes and games to help Years 3/4 and P4/5 History students with:

These educational resources are hand-picked from BBC Bitesize and the wider BBC.

Here you will find videos and activities about the Stone Age. Try them out, and then test your knowledge with a short quiz before exploring the rest of the collection.

Video Transcript Video Transcript

Narrator: Excuse me. Yes, you. Ever wondered what prehistoric Britain was like? Great! Well let's start at the beginning.The ancestors of humans first appeared in Britain around 900,000 years ago.

Here is one of them. I would like to introduce you to your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great......great, great, great, great, great... grandfather.

Don't worry about that, he's just saying pleased to meet you. These early Britons were hunter-gatherers. They used flint tools to hunt animals, like deer and mammoths.

And it got cold. Really cold, for a long time. Can you guess what it was called? No idea? It's quite obvious... Ok, I'll tell you... The Ice Age!

Then it was warm. Then hot. Then cold again. Once that was out of the way humans discovered farming and began to settle down in villages. This all happened during the... during the Stone Age... excuse me... stop!

Sorry, but we must get on to the Bronze Age.

It's called the Bronze Age because people discovered how to use metals like bronze for the first time.

Welcome to the Iron Age! You've upgraded. People used iron in the Iron Age because it was easier to find and knock into shape. Ah, Celtic warriors. Don't they look fierce!

The prehistoric period ended when the Romans arrived, who brought us roads and indoor plumbing.

Well, there we go, hundreds of thousands of years in a matter of minutes. Did you enjoy that? Fantastic! Me too.

Sorry, history can sometimes get a bit messy.

Explore the interactive image below to find out what footprints, bones and tools can tell us about prehistoric people.

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In the early Stone Age, people made simple hand-axes out of stones. They made hammers from bones or antlers and they sharpened sticks to use as hunting spears.

Watch the video to see how these were made.

Explore this interactive picture, and try the quiz below to see what you know about the Stone Age.

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There are more teaching resources available on the Stone Age on BBC Teach, like these short animated films that show the story of Britain - from the Mesolithic Stone Age through to Magna Carta.

BBC Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.

More on Prehistoric

Find out more by working through a topic

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The Stone Age - Years 3/4 and P4/5 History Collection - BBC Bitesize

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A collection of History resources for Years 3/4 and P4/5 on the topic of the Stone Age.

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The Iron Age was a time in early human history when people began to use tools and weapons made of iron. The Iron Age started and ended at different times in different places....

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Kid’s learn about the science and chemistry of Metals. Types, alloys, and the properties of metal.

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Some chemical elements are called metals. They are the majority of elements in the periodic table. These elements usually have the following properties:

1. They can conduct electricity and heat.

2. They can be formed easily.

3. They have a shiny appearance.

4. They have a high melting point.

The study of metals is called metallurgy.

Most metals are hard, shiny, they feel heavy and they melt only when they are heated at very high temperatures . Lumps of metal will make a bell-like sound when they are hit with something heavy (they are sonorous). Heat and electricity can easily pass through a metal (it is conductive). A lump of metal can be beaten into a thin sheet (it is malleable) or can be pulled into thin wires (it is ductile). Metal is hard to pull apart (it has a high tensile strength) or smash (it has a high compressive strength). If you push on a long, thin piece of metal, it will bend, not break (it is elastic).

Not all metals have these properties. Lead, for instance, is very soft, and heat and electricity do not pass through iron as well as they do through copper.

Metals are very useful to people. They are used to make tools because they can be strong and easy to shape. Iron and steel have been used to make bridges, buildings, or ships.

Some metals are used to make items like coins because they are hard and will not wear away quickly. For example copper (which is shiny and red in color), aluminium (which is shiny and white), gold (which is yellow and shiny), and silver and nickel (also white and shiny).

Some metals, like steel, can be made sharp and stay sharp, so they can be used to make knives, axes or razors.

Many things that are made of metals may, in fact, be made of mixtures of at least one metal with either other metals, or with non-metals. These mixtures are called alloys. Some common alloys are:

People first began making things from metal over 9000 years ago, when they discovered how to get copper from its ore. They then learned how to make a harder alloy, bronze, by adding tin to the copper. About 3000 years ago, they discovered iron. By adding small amounts of carbon to iron, they found that they could make a particularly useful alloy - steel.

In chemistry, metal is a word for a group of chemical elements that have certain properties. It is easy for the atoms of a metal to lose an electron and become positive ions, or cations. In this way, metals are not like the other two kinds of elements - the nonmetals and the metalloids.

On the periodic table, we can draw a zigzag line from the element boron (symbol B) to the element polonium (symbol Po). The elements that this line passes through are the metalloids. The elements that are above and to the right of this line are the nonmetals. The rest of the elements are the metals.

Most of the properties of metals are due to the fact that the atoms in the metal do not hold onto their electrons very tightly. Each atom is separated from the others by a thin layer of valence electrons. However, some metals are different. An example is the metal sodium. It is soft, melts at a low temperature, and is so light, it floats on water. People should not try this though, because another property of sodium is that it explodes when it touches water.

Compounds, which have metal atoms combined with other atoms to make molecules, are probably the most common substances on Earth. For example, common salt is a compound of sodium.

Metals in history

The use of metals is said to be the thing that makes people different from animals. Before they used metals, people made tools from stones, wood, and animal bones. This is now called the Stone Age.

Since these metals were money for a long time, many people thought that finding metals was a way to get rich. There have been many times when gold was found and people moved quickly in large numbers to those places for example, Central and South America after the year 1500, and many places after the year 1800 (the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). These are often called Gold Rushes.

In astronomy, a metal is any element other than hydrogen or helium. This is because these two elements (and sometimes lithium) are the only ones that form outside stars. In the sky, a telescope can see the signs of metals and then the astronomer knows that there are stars.

Related pages

Images for kids

A metal in the form of a gravy boat made from stainless steel, an alloy largely composed of iron, carbon, and chromium

Samples of babbitt metal, an alloy of tin, antimony, and copper, used in bearings to reduce friction

A sculpture cast in nickel silver -an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc that looks like silver

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Some chemical elements are called metals. They are the majority of elements in the periodic table. These elements usually have the following properties: They can conduct electricity and heat. They can be formed easily. They have a shiny appearance. They have a high melting point. The study of metals is called metallurgy.

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Introduction
The Bronze Age was a stage in human history. During this stage, people first began to use the metal bronze to make tools, weapons, armor, and other items. This level of development followed the Stone Age, when people made tools primarily of stone. Metal tools represented a significant advance. Unlike stone tools, they were shock resistant, chip proof, and could be bent without breaking. What is more, bronze can be fashioned into a great variety of shapes, including small, thin, and intricate forms. This is done by melting the metal and then casting it-pouring it into molds to set. The Bronze Age ended with the dawn of the Iron Age, in which people began to make tools primarily of iron. Iron is a metal that is more flexible and much tougher than bronze.

Bronze Ages Around the World
© Stanislav Khokholkov/Shutterstock.com

These three stages-the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age-were not specific time periods. People in different places reached these stages at different points. The Bronze Age began in Greece before 3000 bc. Bronze Age cultures later developed in Mesopotamia (in what is now Iraq), Egypt, China, and the Indus River valley (in what are now Pakistan and India). Bronze Age cultures also developed in other parts of the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and Europe, including Britain by about 1900 bc. People in other areas, including most parts of the Americas and Oceania, went through a Stone Age but not a Bronze Age. Explorers and colonizers from other cultures introduced Iron Age technologies there before the use of bronze had developed.

Early Metal Tools
Bronze is an alloy, or mixture, of copper and tin. Before bronze was discovered, early metal tools were made from pure copper or sometimes from rare iron meteorites. Copper is known to have been worked in Anatolia (now in Turkey) by 6500 bc. The use of copper later became widespread in many areas. The metal was hammered into sheets and then cut and worked into shape. People later began casting copper. Eventually, metalworkers discovered how to extract metals from ores (metal-containing rocks) in a process called smelting.

Making Bronze from Copper and Tin
Among the first metals to be smelted were copper and tin, the components of bronze. People discovered that melting copper and tin together produced a metal that was superior to copper for use in tools and weapons. Bronze is harder and tougher than copper and can be melted at lower temperatures. This makes bronze easier to cast. For a long time, however, the metal was rare. As a result, bronze tools were expensive specialty items, mainly luxuries for the wealthy and powerful and weapons for their armies. Bronze tools did not come into wide use until about the 2nd millennium bc. During that period large deposits of tin, such as those at Cornwall, England, were mined. An extensive trade in the metal grew.

Among the great many objects made of bronze were artwork and jewelry. Bronze was used to make items for warfare, including swords, daggers, spearheads, helmets, and shields. The metal was also used in tools and goods for agriculture, hunting, building, crafts, and ritual and household use. Among them were bronze axes, chisels, hammers, knives, saws, fishhooks, adzes, awls, pins, nails, and cooking vessels. Iron began to replace bronze for use in tools about 1200 to 1000 bc in parts of Europe and Asia. Bronze continued to be an important material for sculpture, however, because it could be easily cast.

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The Bronze Age was a stage in human history. During this stage, people first began to use the metal bronze to make tools, weapons, armor, and other items. This level of...

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The Age of Metals - 5 Things You Should Know - History for Kids

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Kids learn about the history of Ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Educational articles for teachers, students, and schools including religion, art, daily life, people and kings, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, city-states, science, and more.

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In about 1900 bce people called the Amorites conquered all of Mesopotamia. Under their rule Babylon became the most important city in Mesopotamia. Because the city was so powerful, the whole region became known as Babylonia. The most important Babylonian king was Hammurabi. He is famous for a set of laws made during his reign.

Babylonia began to lose strength after about 1600 bce. The next major power in Mesopotamia was Assyria. In the 1300s bce the Assyrians began to build an empire in northern Mesopotamia and beyond. In 671 bce the Assyrians expanded their rule all the way to Egypt. The Assyrian Empire ended in about 609 bce.

After the fall of Assyria, people called the Chaldeans created a new Babylonian empire. In 539 bce invaders from Persia conquered the Chaldeans. The conqueror Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in about 330 bce. Then Mesopotamia was ruled in turn by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks. In 1921 Mesopotamia became the kingdom of Iraq.

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Mesopotamia is a Greek name that means "land between the rivers." It describes an ancient region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. Some of the...

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Ancient Mesopotamia for Kids | Learn all about the history of ancient Mesopotamia

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The area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq is the site of ancient Mesopotamia, birthplace of the world’s first civilizations. The name is Greek for…

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History for kids - Free history network for kids

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All Facts about Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations. Mesopotamia soon saw the rise of cities, regions and empires. This timeline provides a summary of the history of Mesopotamia from its earliest settlements. It looks at the timeline through the main empires of the period: the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian Empires.

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All Facts about Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is an area in south western Asia where the first human civilisation emerged. The people who lived in Mesopotamia were nomads which means that they had no particular home; they moved from place to place. Soon this changed as people began to settle in particular locations.

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The Shang dynasty is believed to have come after the Xia, which was the first imperial dynasty in China. However, the Xia, which reportedly ruled from around 2205 to 1766 bce, are mentioned only in legends and may not have existed. According to legend, the founder of the Xia was Yü, who was credited with draining the waters of a great flood and who became a lord of the harvest. Tradition gives the names of the dynasty's successive rulers, ending with Chieh, who is said to have fallen in love with a beautiful but evil woman who acted cruelly. The story says that the outraged people rose up in rebellion. They were led by T'ang, who tradition says founded the Shang dynasty.

The Shang empire did not cover the entire territory that now makes up China. It was centered in the North China Plain and extended as far north as modern Shandong province and westward through present Henan province. The kings of the Shang are believed to have occupied several capitals one after another, one of them possibly at modern Zhengzhou, where there are rich archaeological finds. However, they eventually settled at Anyang in the 1300s bce.

The Shang met their downfall in the 1000s from the nearby Zhou. The Zhou coexisted with the Shang for many years, living just west of Shang territory in what is now Shaanxi province. They were friendly with the Shang, but they also fought with them at various times. Eventually, a Zhou ruler devised a plan to conquer the Shang and defeated them in a decisive battle, probably in the mid-1000s. The Shang continued to rebel against the Zhou, but the Zhou finally took control over all of the Shang's territory in about 1122 bce.

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The Shang dynasty is believed to have come after the Xia, which was the first imperial dynasty in China. However, the Xia, which reportedly ruled from around 2205 to 1766 bce, are mentioned only in legends and may not have existed.

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Kids learn about the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China including its history, culture, early writing, government, oracle bones, rise and fall, and interesting facts.

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Shang Dynasty Facts for Kids: KS2 History

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Shang Dynasty - KS2 History - BBC Bitesize

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KS2 History Shang Dynasty learning resources for adults, children, parents and teachers.

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Back to History for Kids
Ancient Rome was a powerful and important civilization that ruled much of Europe for nearly 1000 years. The culture of Ancient Rome was spread throughout Europe during its rule. As a result, Rome's culture still has an impact in the Western world today. The basis for much of Western culture comes from Ancient Rome, especially in areas such as government, engineering, architecture, language, and literature.

The city of Rome is the capital of Italy today
Map of Italy from the CIA World Factbook

The Roman Republic

Rome first grew into power as a Republic. This meant that Rome's leaders, such as senators, were elected officials that served for a limited amount of time, not kings who were born into leadership and ruled for life. They had a complex government with written laws, a constitution, and a balance of powers. These concepts became very important in forming future democratic governments, like the United States.

The Republic would rule Rome for hundreds of years from around 509 BC to 45 BC.

The Roman Empire

In 45 BC Julius Caesar took over the Roman Republic and made himself the supreme dictator. This was the end of the republic. A few years later, in 27 BC, Caesar Augustus became the first Roman Emperor and this was the start of the Roman Empire. Much of the lower level government stayed the same, but now the Emperor had supreme power.

The Roman Forum was the center of government
Photo by Adrian Pingstone

The Empire Splits

As the Roman Empire grew it became more and more difficult to manage from the city of Rome. Eventually the Roman leaders decided to split Rome into two empires. One was the Western Roman Empire and was ruled out of the city of Rome. The other was the Eastern Roman Empire and was ruled out of Constantinople (today's Istanbul in Turkey). The Eastern Roman Empire would become known as Byzantium or theByzantine Empire.

Fall of Rome

The fall of Rome generally refers to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fell in 476 AD. The Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire, would rule parts of Eastern Europe for another 1000 years.

Interesting Facts about Ancient Rome

The city of Rome is the capital of Italy today. It sits on the same site as the city of ancient Rome. If you were to visit Rome you could see many of the original ancient buildings such as the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

The Circus Maximus, a huge stadium built for chariot races, could seat around 150,000 people.

The fall of Western Rome is considered the start of the "Dark Ages" in Europe.

The highest position in the Roman Republic was the consul. There were two consuls at the same time to make sure that one didn't become too powerful.

The native language of the Romans was Latin, but they often spoke Greek as well.

When Julius Caesar took power he named himself dictator for life. However, this didn't last long as he was assassinated a year later.

Recommended books and references:

Nature Company Discoveries library: Ancient Rome by Judith Simpson. 1997.

Exploring the culture, people & ideas of this powerful empire by Avery Hart & Sandra Gallagher ; illustrations by Michael Kline. 2002.

Eyewitness Books: Ancient Rome written by Simon James. 2004.

Activities

Take a ten questionquiz about this page.
Ancient Rome crossword puzzle
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Works Cited
Back to History for Kids

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Kids learn about the civilization and history of Ancient Rome including the Roman Republic, Empire, art, religion, army, daily life, people, Senate, and the fall of Rome. Educational articles for students, schools, and teachers.

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Tens of thousands of Romans take their seats in an enormous stadium made of stone and concrete. It's the year 80, and these people are entering the newly built Colosseum for the first time. Men wearing togas and women in long dresses called stolas will spend the next hundred days watching gladiator games and wild animal fights to celebrate the opening of this amphitheater.

These ancient people were living in the center of a vast empire that spanned across Europe, northern Africa, and parts of the Middle East. Lasting over a thousand years, the ancient Roman civilization contributed to modern languages, government, architecture, and more.

History of ancient Rome

Around the ninth or tenth century B.C., Rome was just a small town on the Tiber River in what's now central Italy. (One myth says that the town was founded by two brothers-Romulus and Remus-who were raised by a wolf.) For about 500 years, the area was ruled by a series of kings as it grew in strength and power.

But around the year 509 B.C., the last king was overthrown, and Rome became a republic. That meant that some citizens could vote for their leaders and other important matters. Only male Roman citizens could cast votes; women and enslaved people-often brought back as prisoners from military battles-could not.

Elected officials included two consuls who acted sort of like today's U.S. presidents and kept each other from taking too much power. Both consuls worked with senators, who advised the consuls and helped create laws. Senators were appointed by other officials and could hold their positions for life.

The Roman army fought many wars during this period, first conquering all of what's now Italy. In 146 B.C., they destroyed the city of Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia, in northern Africa), which was Rome's greatest rival for trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. Next they conquered Greece.

For 500 years, the republic system mostly worked. But then a series of civil wars divided the people. In 59 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar, a politician and military general, used the chaos to take power. Serving as consul, Caesar made new laws that benefitted his troops and other regular citizens. Then he conquered what's now France and invaded Britain.

Even though his troops and many Roman citizens supported him, the Senate worried he was too powerful and wanted him gone. Knowing this, Caesar marched his loyal army into Rome. It was an illegal act that started a civil war, which Caesar would eventually win.

At first, he was named dictator for 10 years. (Before that, a dictator served during times of emergencies for only six months.) He canceled people's debts and granted Roman citizenship to people outside of Italy so they could vote. Caesar also traveled to Egypt, making an alliance with the pharaoh Cleopatra.

In 44 B.C., Caesar named himself dictator for life. Fearing he was becoming a king, a group of senators killed him on the floor of the Senate. Caesar was gone, but his supporters chased down the assassins. His heir and nephew, Octavian, and general Mark Anthony battled for power.

Octavian eventually won and renamed himself Augustus Caesar. (The family name, Caesar, would become a title that future emperors would use to connect themselves back to Gaius Julius Caesar.) He convinced the Senate to give him absolute power and served successfully for 45 years. After his death, he was declared a god.

For the rest of its existence, Rome was ruled by emperors who were not elected-they reigned for life. The Senate was still part of the government, but it had very little power. Some emperors, like Claudius, were good at their jobs; others, like Nero and Caligula, were so cruel that even their guards turned against them.

By A.D. 117, the Roman Empire included what's now France, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, parts of northern Africa, England, Romania, and more. At one point, one out of every four people in the world lived under Rome's control.

But emperors and the Senate found this vast empire difficult to rule from the city of Rome. In the year 285, it was split into a Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire. Known as the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire was ruled from the city of Constantinople, now the modern-day city of Istanbul in Turkey.

The Byzantine Empire would last for almost another thousand years, but the Western Empire-Rome-began to fall apart. Civil wars, plagues, money troubles, and invasions from other groups made the empire unstable. In the year 476, a Germanic king overthrew Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor.

Life in ancient Rome

Most people in the city of Rome lived in crowded apartment buildings called insulae that were five to seven stories high. Wealthier Romans lived in houses called domus that had a dining room and an atrium-an open-air courtyard that often had a pool at the center. Some Romans even had vacation homes in Pompeii and Herculaneum, two Roman cities that were destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.

Rich or poor, Romans gathered to relax, socialize, and clean themselves at Roman baths. Like modern spas, these structures had exercise rooms, swimming pools, saunas, hot and cold plunge pools, and massage spaces. The people also gathered to watch plays, chariot races, and gladiator battles.

Roman citizens enjoyed relaxing, but enslaved people in ancient Rome had a much more difficult life. Many worked in fields, mines, and on ships. Others, like educated Greeks who tutored wealthy children, were forced to work in rich people's homes. However, some enslaved people were able to buy or earn their freedom and eventually become Roman citizens.

Roman women sometimes worked as midwives-helping to deliver babies-or became priestesses. But in Roman society, women's main role was to look after the home and family. Although Romans could easily get divorced, children legally belonged to the father (or a male relative if he was no longer living).

Romans believed in many gods, including the sky god Jupiter; Mars, a god who protected Romans in war; and Vesta, the goddess of the home. People would worship these gods and goddesses both at public temples and in their homes.

Why ancient Rome still matters

Today, the city of Rome is the capital of Italy, with around three million people. Visitors can still see many ancient Roman ruins, from the Colosseum to the Roman Forum, where much of ancient Roman politics took place.

But beyond the crumbling buildings, Rome's impact is seen all over the world today, from huge sports stadiums inspired by the Colosseum to the way that we vote for politicians. The republic's system of checks and balances on power even inspired the founders of the United States government.

If you drive in Europe or the Middle East today, you might be on a route created by the ancient Romans. Those engineers built a system of 50,000 miles of roads that connected the empire, allowing troops to easily conquer new land and traders to travel and bring back wealth. (It's where we get the saying, "All roads lead to Rome.")

You can also thank Roman engineers for perfecting a system for getting running water. They built aqueducts, which were long channels that delivered fresh water from up to 57 miles away for people's baths, fountains, and even toilets. (Some ancient aqueducts still provide water to modern-day Rome!)

Julius Caesar even gave the world its 365-day calendar with an extra day every fourth year, or leap year. The month of July is named after him, and August is named after his successor, Augustus.

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Find out why this ancient civilization is still important more than 2,000 years after its fall.

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Ancient Rome for Kids | Learn all about the History of the Roman Empire for Kids

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Kingdom

The first settlers of Rome were people known as Latins, and the region around the city was called Latium. According to legend, twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome in 753 . Shortly before 600 bce, warriors from Etruria, a region north of Rome, attacked the city. The warriors, called Etruscans, conquered Rome.

Rome grew steadily under Etruscan kings. It became the largest and richest city on the Italian peninsula. In about 509 bce the Romans forced the last Etruscan king out of the city. Rome then became a republic. This meant that the Roman people elected the government.

Republic

The most important Roman leaders were called consuls. There were two consuls. Assemblies, or groups, of adult male Roman citizens chose both consuls. At first the consuls had to be patricians, or members of upper-class families.

An important group called the Senate gave advice to the consuls. The members, called senators, were patricians. They met in a building in the Forum, an area of Rome that was the center of public life. The Senate grew more powerful over the years.

Most Romans were not patricians but plebeians, or common people. The plebeians staged an uprising in 494 bce. They gradually won more power. By 367 bce one of the two consul positions was set aside for the plebeians.

Rome suffered some setbacks as it slowly expanded its territory. In about 390 bce a northern group called the Gauls took over the city. They would not leave until the Romans paid them a large amount of gold. Another group called the Samnites defeated the Romans in 321 bce. In general, however, Rome's conquests could not be stopped. By 275 bce Rome had forced the Greeks to give up their colonies in Italy.

By 260 bce Rome's last remaining rival in the western Mediterranean was the city of Carthage, in North Africa. For more than a century the Romans fought Carthage for power. It took three wars-called the Punic Wars-before the Roman forces totally destroyed Carthage in 146 bce.

Rome then turned to other areas, including Sicily, Spain, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor (now Turkey). Governors called proconsuls managed most of the conquered lands. They had great power. The Romans taxed the conquered people heavily. They also enslaved many conquered people. The Romans put these captives to work on farms and as personal servants in cities. Slaves were used in Rome until about the 300s ce.

Empire

In about 133 bce Rome entered a period of unrest and civil war. Peoples in Italy rebelled against Rome's strict rule in 90 bce. During 73-71 bce a gladiator, or professional fighter, named Spartacus led an army of runaway slaves in a war against Rome. Rome defeated both of these rebellions.

Meanwhile, Rome continued to expand its empire. The most successful general was Julius Caesar. He won victories in far-off areas and then took power in Rome. However, his enemies assassinated him in 44 bce. This set off another period of civil war.

Peace finally came under the leadership of Julius Caesar's grandnephew Octavian. Octavian defeated his rivals for power, including the Roman general Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, by 30 bce. He was crowned Rome's first emperor in 27 bce. He became known as Augustus Caesar. During Augustus' rule, the emperor gained absolute control over the state and came to be worshiped like a god.

Two centuries of peace and progress followed. The empire's frontiers expanded all the way to Britain and the Arabian Peninsula. The Romans built roads, bridges, and aqueducts, or water pipes, throughout their vast empire. They also brought their laws to conquered lands.

The emperor Tiberius ruled from 14 to 37 ce. During this time the Roman government in Palestine put Jesus to death. Some of Jesus' followers, called Christians, later set up a community in Rome. At first the Romans did not agree with the Christian religion. They mistreated and killed many Christians. But in 312 ce the emperor Constantine I became a Christian himself. Christianity eventually became the main religion of the Roman Empire.

Downfall

By this time, the empire was weakening. Constantine believed he could strengthen the empire if he moved its center away from Rome. In 330 he created a new capital in the Greek colony of Byzantium. He renamed the city Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).

After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395, the Roman Empire split in two. The Eastern Roman Empire was based in Constantinople. The Western Roman Empire was based in Rome. Several groups of outside peoples, including the Vandals and the Huns, attacked the western empire. A group called the Visigoths attacked the city of Rome in 410. The last western emperor fell in 476. This brought an end to the Western Roman Empire. The eastern empire continued as the Byzantine Empire until 1453.

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The ancient city of Rome was the center of one of the largest and most powerful empires the world has ever seen. The Roman Empire was based in what is now Italy. As the Roman...

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History for kids - Free history network for kids

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Discover Ancient Rome

Understanding people in the past can be fun, learning about ancient Rome is interesting and enjoyable. Some kings like Lucius were not very popular and sometimes cruel to people. They became very powerful and conquered other lands. They had patricians who were rich nobles and owner a lot of land. The plebeians were servants, tradesmen and generally had smaller farms. Enjoy learning and do not forget it is about having fun.

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Discover Ancient Rome Understanding people in the past can be fun, learning about ancient Rome is interesting and enjoyable. Some kings like Lucius were not very popular and sometimes cruel to people. They became very powerful and conquered other lands. They had patricians who were rich nobles and owner a lot of land.

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Kids learn about the civilization and history of ancient Greece including the government, philosophy, science, Athens, Sparta, daily life, people, art, architecture, theater, and mythology. Educational articles for students, schools, and teachers.

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Ready for an adventure back in time, gang? Then join us as we discover ten fascinating facts about Ancient Greece! And once you've had your fill of Ancient Greek facts, be sure to scroll down to learn more about Greece today...
Article continues below...

Facts about Ancient Greece

1. It's believed the first Ancient Greek civilisations were formed nearly 4,000 years ago (approximately 1600 BC) by the mighty Mycenaeans of Crete (a Greek Island). The Ancient Greek Empire spread from Greece through Europe and, in 800 BC, the Greeks started to split their land into city-states, each with its own laws, customs and rulers.

2. The Greeks had some strange superstitions about food - some wouldn't eat beans as they thought they contained the souls of the dead!

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Ancient Greeks primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

3. The Ancient Greeks had lots of stories to help them learn about their world. The gods featured heavily in these tales, and so did mythological monsters - like Cerberus, a three-headed dog that guarded the gates to the underworld; Medusa, a slithery sorceress whose look could turn people to stone; and the Cyclops who had one eye in the middle of its forehead - yikes! These tales are known as Greek mythology.

4. Events at the Greek's Olympics included wrestling, boxing, long jump, javelin, discus and chariot racing. But those taking part in the wrestling event had to be the toughest, as there were hardly any rules - and they had to compete naked. Eek!

5. Most Ancient Greeks wore a chiton, which was a long T-shirt made from one large piece of cotton. The poor slaves, however, had to make do with a loincloth (a small strip of cloth wrapped around the waist)!

6. Statues of Greek gods and goddesses were placed inside temples, the most famous of which is the Parthenon. This temple in Athens was built for the goddess Athena, the protector of the city.

7. A famous legend tells how, in 1180 BC, the cunning Greeks conquered the city of Troy - by hiding inside a giant wooden horse! The horse was left outside the city's walls and, thinking it a gift, the people of Troy wheeled it inside... only for the sneaky Greek soldiers inside to creep out and seize the city!

8. Did you know that the Ancient Greeks invented the theatre? They loved watching plays, and most cities had a theatre - some big enough to hold 15,000 people! Only men and boys were allowed to be actors, and they wore masks, which showed the audience whether their character was happy or sad. Some of the masks had two sides, so the actor could turn them around to change the mood for each scene.

9. The Ancient Greeks held many festivals in honour of their gods. To celebrate the god Zeus, for example, the first Greek Olympics were held in the city of Olympia in 776 BC and are thought to have inspired our own Olympic Games! The winners of each event were given a wreath of leaves, and when they returned home, they would be given free meals and the best seats in the theatre!

10. The city-states were often at war, but just before the Olympics, a truce would be called so that everyone could travel to Olympia safely.

Country fact file: Greece

Breathtaking landscapes, beautiful islands and cities steeped in history, now that you've discovered facts about Ancient Greece, learn about the Greece of today!
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary republic
CAPITAL: Athens
POPULATION: 11, 131, 582
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Greek
MONETARY UNIT: Euro
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Greek
FLAG:

Map of Greece

Greek geography and landscape

Greece is the southernmost country in Europe, sharing borders with Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Turkey. The mainland has rugged mountains, dense forests and beautiful lakes - but the country is best known for the thousands of islands dotting the blue Aegean Sea to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Ionian Sea to the west.

Greece is divided into three geographical regions - the mainland, the islands and the Peloponnese (the large peninsula south of the mainland).

The Pindus mountain range on the mainland contains one of the world's deepest gorges - Vikos Gorge. At its deepest parts, the walls of this cool canyon plunge a breathtaking 1,100m! Mount Olympus is Greece's highest mountain, standing a huge 2,917m above sea level. The Ancient Greeks believed this magnificent mountain was where the gods lived!

Greece's great nature!

Hundreds of years ago, most of the country was covered in forest. But over the centuries, the trees were cut down for firewood, lumber and to make room for farms. Today, forests can be found mainly in the Pindus and Rhodope mountain ranges.

Greece has ten national parks, which help to conserve the country's natural and historic landmarks. Marine parks help protect the habitats of two of Europe's most endangered sea creatures, the loggerhead turtle and the monk seal. The long coastline and clear waters make Greece an ideal location to spot lots of cool sea life, including starfish, sea anemones, sponges and seahorses. Snorkels at the ready!

Greece is home to lots of fascinating plant life, too. The Greek landscape is covered by maquis, a tangle of thorny shrubs that don't need a lot of water. These plants include fragrant herbs such as thyme, rosemary, oregano, and bay and myrtle trees.

Bird watching is also popular in Greece, where geese, ducks and swallows stop over during their migration from Africa to Europe.

Greek history

The first great civilisation in Greece was the Minoan culture on the island of Crete, around 2000 B.C. In 1450 B.C., the Minoans were conquered by the Myceneans from the mainland.

During ancient times, the country was divided into city-states ruled by noblemen. The largest were Athens, Sparta, Thebes and Corinth. Each state controlled the territory around a single city, and they were often at war with each other. Athens became the most powerful city-state and in 508 B.C., a new system of rule called democracy was instituted by the people. But during that time, only men were allowed to vote!

The first Olympic Games were held in the southern city of Olympia in 700 B.C. to honour Zeus, the king of the gods. Only men could compete in the events such as sprinting, long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling and chariot racing.

In the 2nd century B.C., Greece entered into a period of foreign rule which would last for over 2,000 years. The Romans conquered the Greeks in 146B.C., and 400 years later the country fell under Turkish control. But in 1832, following the Greek Revolution, Greece won independence.

Greece has had a troubled relationship with Turkey over the island of Cyprus, which has a large Greek population. Cyprus is divided into Greek and Turkish areas, and is monitored by the United Nations to make sure neither country starts a fight over the island.

Greek people and culture

Family life is considered very important in Greece. Children often live with their parents, even after they get married. Greeks live long lives and it is thought that their varied diet of olives, olive oil, lamb, fish, squid, chickpeas and lots of fruits and vegetables keep them healthy.

Olive trees have been cultivated in Greece for over 6,000 years, and every village has its own olive groves. Today the country is one of the world's biggest producers of olives and olive oil.

Nearly two-thirds of Greeks live in large cities. Athens is the largest city, with over 3.7 million people crowding the metropolis. As a result, air pollution can be a big problem in the capital, where thick clouds of smog form, known locally as nefos.

Greek government

Greece abolished their monarchy in 1975 and became a parliamentary republic. Under the new constitution, there is a president and a prime minister. The prime minister has the most power, and is the leader of the party running the country. The president selects cabinet ministers who run the different government departments.

The parliament, called the Vouli, has only one house with 300 members who are elected every four years. Greece became part of the European Union in 1981.

Credits:
Map of Greece: National Geographic Maps. Musicians and dancers in Greece: Maro Kouri. Mount Olympus, Greece: Helena Bilková, Dreamstime. Greek island and boat: F8grapher, Dreamstime. Hydra, Greece: Kokixx, Dreamstime. All other pictures and illustrations: Getty Images UK

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Ready for an adventure back in time, gang? Then join us as we discover ten fascinating facts about Ancient Greece! And once you've had your fill of Ancient Greek facts, be sure to scroll down to learn more about Greece today... Article continues below... 1.

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The area that is now Greece was home to the first civilizations in Europe. Ancient Greece had powerful cities, great thinkers called philosophers, and fine art. The idea of...

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Guide to Ancient Greece

The Ancient Greeks lived around 3,500 years ago their legacy shapes the world we live in today. For some people, life in Greece was good, and many lived in busy towns and cities. They build many temples and very important building that all stood on hills. You will learn about daily life and how they tried to make sense of the world with Philosophy. We hope you have fun learning about this wonderful topic and time in history.

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Guide to Ancient Greece The Ancient Greeks lived around 3,500 years ago their legacy shapes the world we live in today. For some people, life in Greece was good, and many lived in busy towns and cities. They build many temples and very important building that all stood on hills.

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The Middle Ages was the period in European history that came between ancient and modern times. It lasted from about ad 500 to about 1500. The Christian church played an important part in the history of the Middle Ages.

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The Industrial Revolution began in the cloth industry. Before that time making cloth was a slow process. After the wool was gathered it had to be spun into yarn and then woven into fabric by hand. In 1733 an invention called a flying shuttle made it easier to weave cloth. A machine called a spinning jenny, invented in 1770, made it easier to spin yarn. In 1793 Eli Whitney invented a machine called a cotton gin. It helped clean cotton after it was picked.

Whitney also came up with the idea of interchangeable parts. Before that time a worker who was skilled at making one type of product would spend a great deal of time making a single product by hand. Whitney discovered that a machine could make many copies of the individual parts of a product at once; the parts could then be assembled by any worker. This meant that many goods could be produced quickly. Soon factories were set up to produce these goods.

Factories and the machines in them needed power sources. In the early 1700s people discovered how to build steam engines. In the late 1700s James Watt invented a steam engine that could run factory machines.

The Industrial Revolution soon spread to all kinds of production. Farmers, for instance, began to invent new machines to plow fields and plant crops.

Soon people needed a way to bring in raw materials to make the products. They also wanted to be able to send the finished products to customers. This led to improvements in transportation. Robert Fulton perfected the steamboat in 1807. George Stephenson put a steam engine on wheels and put the wheels on rails in 1825. The result was a railroad.

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Take a look around the room you're in right now...

Do you see many things that you or a family member made with their own hands? Maybe you have a special baby blanket that someone knitted for you, or a few art projects hanging on the wall, but I'm guessing that most of the things in the room were made far away in factories.

250 years ago, things would have been very different. Most of the items in your house would have been made by someone you knew. Either you or a family member would make them, or you would have traded or bought them from someone in your community who made them. Other things might have been handed down from your grandparents.

Back then, people had to know how to do many things to survive and keep themselves comfortable. A man would have a trade, but would also be able to grow food, chop wood, and build and fix things in his house. Women knew how to cook, sew, spin, and weave cloth, keep a garden, and churn butter. A few might have traded too. Children would also do a variety of jobs and chores to keep the household or farm going. A boy would become an apprentice to learn a trade around 13. Most labor was done by people, not machines. The machines that did exist were powered by livestock, like horses and oxen.

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Industrial Revolution

All this would change with the Industrial Revolution. No single invention or person set off the industrial revolution. In fact, the industrial revolution was happening for about 100 years. It's also important to know that in this time period, these changes started in England, and then spread to the United States and Europe, so that is where we'll focus in this episode. There were several important inventions and ideas that would change the world and make it look a lot more like it does now. These innovations would drastically change how people worked, and how they bought and made things. Three big types of things happened:

1. New machines were invented.

2. People figured out how to power those machines. At first, they used steam power, then later electricity, oil, and gas.

3. People started building factories, where they could make large quantities of products in one place, instead of having individuals make things in small workshops

But why did people suddenly start inventing all these new machines and ways of doing things? One reason was a population explosion in Britain in the 18th century. All the new babies being born meant that people needed more clothing, and they didn't want to pay too much. The tradespeople who made cloth and clothing couldn't keep up. So some of these tradespeople started to invent ways to make more thread and cloth in less time and with less work. They invented machines for spinning thread and weaving cloth.

Water Power

At first, the factories that did this spinning and weaving were located next to rivers. The river's current would turn a giant wheel, which would power the moving parts of the machinery inside. As you can imagine, this could be inconvenient if you wanted to set up a factory but didn't live near a river. It wouldn't be long before people began to invent new ways of powering machines, so they wouldn't need to be near rivers anymore. You've probably heard of engines, like the ones in cars and planes. But did you know that an engine is any machine that generates energy? Engines were about to change how people made things once more.

Steam Power

The first new source of power was the steam engine. When you think of a steam engine, you probably imagine a big train with smoke pouring out of its stack. That is one type of steam engine, but the first steam engines didn't power trains. They were used in mines. Miners have to dig deep into the earth to find minerals or metals, and often, the mines would flood. The first steam engines were used to pump water out of mines, but they weren't very powerful.

A man named James Watt would change that. In 1765, he redesigned the steam engine to be much more powerful and efficient. This made it better at pumping water, but also made it useful for running machinery in factories. And of course, it paved the way for the train steam engine, which would make travel easier and faster!

Steam engines required wood or coal to operate. I won't go into the details, but wood or coal would be burned in order to heat water to create steam, which in turn powered the machinery. Burning wood and coal, of course, creates a lot of smoke, and this caused a lot of air pollution. In areas with many factories, such as around Birmingham, England, tree trunks even turned black from the smoke!

Eli Whitney

So far, all the inventions we've talked about were created in England, but inventiveness was spreading! In 1793, a tinkerer named Eli Whitney would invent the machine that would bring the industrial revolution to America. Whitney had traveled to South Carolina to work as a tutor. But, while he was visiting a friend's plantation, he learned about a big problem that southern farmers had with their cotton crops: the white fluff was full of sticky seeds that had to be picked out by hand. It took one person a full day to pick the seeds out of one pound of cotton!

In about 10 days, Whitney invented the cotton gin. The "gin" part is short for "engine." It used a system of combs, rollers, and wire sieves to pull the seeds out of the fluff. One person operated the machine with a simple crank. The cotton gin made the work much faster, which meant farmers could make more money by growing cotton.

Unfortunately, many cotton growers decided to buy more slaves in order to process even more cotton using the new machine. Whitney didn't expect this. He thought his machine would actually reduce slavery, since it did the same job that enslaved people had been doing. But instead, growers just decided to grow even more cotton. That meant more enslaved humans picking the cotton and operating the gins.

The industrial revolution had some other unexpected results when it came to workers. Many tradespeople didn't want things to change. They thought that the new machines would take away their work, and then they wouldn't be able to support themselves. Some got so angry that they attacked the new factories and mills, smashing machinery and even burning some factories to the ground!

Child Labor

Children working in a factory

Once it became clear that the factories weren't going away, many of these skilled workers didn't want to work in them. So, instead of hiring grown-ups, some factory owners began to hire children instead. Children, some as young as five years old, went to work in factories for long, exhausting days. Factory owners paid them only a fraction of what they paid adults for dangerous, difficult work. It would be a long time before countries made laws saying that children need to be allowed to go to school and play, instead of working in factories for very little pay.

Some people, though, welcomed the opportunity to work in a factory. The factories also hired women. In the old system, most women didn't learn a trade. They got married and did household and farm work to support the family. Working in factories allowed young women in some areas to earn and control their own money, instead of having to get married at a young age and rely on their husbands.

Before the industrial revolution, most people lived in rural areas or small towns, where they could grow food for themselves. As more and more products were made in factories, instead of small workshops, many more people moved from rural areas and farms into the cities where they could work in factories. Cities became crowded and dirty, with many people living in poverty.

What were working conditions like during the Industrial Revolution?

The factories themselves were also crowded and dirty. On top of that, they were often poorly lit and stuffy. Some were so loud that workers went deaf. Workers were often exposed to materials that could make them sick, and machines that could injure them. Unlike independent tradespeople, factory workers did the same task over and over again, and they didn't have much say in how or when they worked. Workdays were long-often 12 hours-and many bosses were very strict. They would only allow workers a few short breaks throughout the day. Many would take away pay if a worker made a mistake or didn't work fast enough.

The industrial revolution changed just about everything about how people lived and worked. People went from being skilled craftspeople who had a lot of control over their work, to factory laborers forced to endure harsh, unfair conditions. It changed where people live, as they moved from rural areas to cities. This trend has continued all the way until today, as cities are still growing.

But even though it resulted in pollution, bad working conditions, and child labor, the industrial revolution also made many other innovations possible. We've only had time to talk about a few of the innovations of the early industrial revolution, but it wasn't all about steam power and cloth manufacturing. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, we had cars, airplanes, and refrigeration.

People also started to work together in new ways. Workers began to talk to each other. They formed labor unions and insisted that their bosses make factories safer. The idea of the weekend was born, and laws were passed to require better working conditions. Child labor was eventually outlawed.

Conclusion

It's important to remember that events in history often have good and bad consequences. We have to look at both in order to understand the full impact they had on the world. Knowing about the unintended consequences of past events can help us avoid similar results in the future. When we see things in the world today that might cause people, animals, or the planet to suffer, we can ask what we can do to help make things better. That way, we can keep building a better future, bit by bit.

Sources
https://www.britannica.com/summary/Industrial-Revolution-Key-Facts https://www.eliwhitney.org/7/museum/about-eli-whitney/inventor https://www.loc.gov/collections/america-at-work-and-leisure-1894-to-1915/articles-and-essays/america-at-work/
March 14: Eli Whitney Patents the Machine He Thought Would Help End Slavery. Office of the State Historian, Connecticut. https://todayincthistory.com/2020/03/14/march-14-eli-whitney-patents-the-cotton-gin-2/

Major, Kenneth (1980) Pre-industrial Sources of Power: Muscle Power. History Today, 30:3.
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/a/1299/files/2019/07/sti2014_the-pre-industrial-sources-of-power_-muscle-power-_-history-today.pdf
Mooney, Carla (2011) The Industrial Revolution: Investigate How Science and Technology Changed the World. Nomad Press, Vermont.

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18th and the 19th century characterized by new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States is known as the Industrial Revolution.

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Kids learn about child labor during the Industrial Revolution including types of jobs, earnings, long hours, dangerous working conditions, reform, and interesting facts. Educational article for students, schools, and teachers.

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It's the year 2490 B.C. Wooden boats cruise along the Nile River in Egypt as thousands of workers stack giant stone blocks into a pyramid. This 200-foot-tall structure honors a pharaoh named Menkaure. This pharaoh's father, Khafre, ordered construction of a 450-foot-high pyramid nearby, and his grandfather Khufu built the Great Pyramid at Giza-the largest of the three-at about 480 feet. Covered in polished white limestone, the pyramids seem to glow in the sunlight.

The Egyptians working on the pyramids are helping create a culture that will last more than 3,000 years-it will be one of the longest-lasting civilizations in the world. During that time, ancient Egyptians created works of art and engineering that still amaze us today.

History of ancient Egypt

People settled in Egypt as early as 6000 B.C. Over time, small villages joined together to become states until two kingdoms emerged: Lower Egypt, which covers the Nile River Delta up to the Mediterranean Sea in the north, and Upper Egypt, which covers the Nile Valley in the south. (The Nile River flows from south to north, so for the ancient Egyptians, the southern part of the country was "up.")

Around 3100 B.C., a king (later called a pharaoh) united these two lands to be one country, and so historians begin the long history of ancient Egypt here, dividing it into different periods. (They don't always know the exact date of historical events. So that's why you'll see a "ca" next to some of the years. It stands for "circa" meaning "around.")

Early Dynastic Period, about 525 years (ca 3100 B.C. to ca 2575 B.C.): These early pharaohs worked to keep the two lands under their control. To do this, they claimed they were being watched over by the falcon god Horus, and so the people of Egypt should respect them. They also used record keeping in the form of hieroglyphic writing to record things like royal decrees and the taxes that the people paid in the form of grain. (A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family.)

Old Kingdom, about 425 years (ca 2575 B.C. to ca 2150 B.C.): By this time, the pharaohs had enough power and wealth to build pyramids in their honor; that's why the Old Kingdom is sometimes called the "Age of the Pyramids." The pharaohs at this time were mostly associated with the sun god Ra, a tradition that would remain for much of Egypt's history.

First Intermediate Period, about 200 years (ca 2130 B.C. to ca 1938 B.C.): These pharaohs lost power after drought hit Egypt. Instead, local leaders took control of their own communities, and they stopped passing along grain to the central government. Eventually, these local rulers formed independent states.

Middle Kingdom, about 300 years (ca 1938 B.C. to ca 1630 B.C.): Around 1938 B.C., Mentuhotep II reunited the country and began an era known for producing some of Egypt's greatest pieces of art. For the first time, Egyptians wrote stories for entertainment, and pharaohs started construction of Karnak Temple in the modern-day city of Luxor.

Second Intermediate Period, about 90 years (ca 1630 B.C. to ca 1540 B.C.): Weak pharaohs again lost control. Invaders from western Asia called Hyksos ruled in the north; people from Kush, a kingdom south of Egypt, took control in Upper Egypt.

New Kingdom, about 465 years (ca 1540 B.C. to 1075 B.C.): Egyptians took back control and crowned some of Egypt's most well-known rulers: The female pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled for 21 years; Akhenaten tried to start a new religion, and his son, the boy king Tutankhamun, reigned for 10 years. Ramses II built more monuments to himself than any other pharaoh. This was ancient Egypt's most prosperous and powerful period.

Third Intermediate Period, about 420 years (ca 1075 B.C. to ca 656 B.C.): This was a time of drought, famine, and foreign invasions. But some pharaohs thrived. Although King Taharqa was a foreign ruler from Kush, a kingdom south of Egypt, he repaired crumbling temples and even began building pyramids again for the first time in about 800 years.

Late Period, about 300 years (ca 656 B.C. to 332 B.C.): This period marks the last time that ancient Egypt was ruled by native Egyptians. Leading an army from Persia (what is now Iran), King Darius I took control.

Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt, about 300 years (332 B.C. to 30 B.C.): In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered the ruling Persians, then gave control to the Greek general Ptolemy I Soter. From then on, Egypt was ruled by Greek pharaohs. The last one, Cleopatra VII, lost a war to the Roman ruler Octavian. Egypt would be under Roman rule for the next 600 years.

Life in ancient Egypt

Most people in ancient Egypt were farmers. They lived with their families in houses made of mud bricks that were near the Nile River.

The Nile flooded each year, leaving behind fertile soil for planting crops like wheat, barley, lettuce, flax, and papyrus. As the Egyptians learned how to move river water to their fields, they were able to grow more food, including grapes, apricots, olives, and beans.

During flood season, farmers couldn't tend their crops. So instead, some worked building pyramids, tombs, and monuments. Other people worked as scribes (people who recorded events), priests, and doctors.

Women in ancient Egypt had more freedom than those in other ancient cultures. Like men, they could be scribes, priests, and doctors, and they usually had the same rights as men. Women could own their own homes and businesses.

Ancient Egyptians also like to have fun! They swam and canoed in the Nile, played board games, and they enjoyed making music and dancing.

The afterlife

In fact, Egyptians enjoyed life so much that they believed that the afterlife would be almost exactly the same-except without things like sadness, illness, or pesky mosquitoes. Even pets like cats, dogs, or monkeys would join them there.

Being mummified-the process of preserving a body-was an important part of how Egyptians believed their soul would enter the afterlife. So were tombs. These burial chambers were filled with things a person would need there: food, games, and even underwear!

According to legend, ancient Egyptian gods also helped people in the afterlife. Some, like the jackal-headed god Anubis, helped guide people to the underworld, where they would be judged by its ruler, the god Osiris.

Egyptians believed other gods helped them in real life, too. For instance, Osiris's wife, the goddess Isis, helped cure human sickness, and the goddess Tefnut caused the rain to fall.

Pyramid power

Click through this gallery to see how the pyramid developed over time.

Why ancient Egypt still matters

Today, millions of tourists visit the country of Egypt each year to see the pyramids, tombs, and temples. But these monuments aren't all this ancient culture left behind.

Ancient Egyptian astronomers created a calendar much like ours-based on the sun's rotation-and are thought to be the first civilization to measure a year using 365 days. They were also math geniuses: Historians think that division and multiplication were first developed by these people. (Plus, how else would they have figured out how to build pyramids without a lot of math?)

This was also one of the first civilizations to have a written language using a system called hieroglyphic writing, in which symbols-not letters-represent words or sounds. (These people even created writing sheets out of a plant called papyrus.) Hieroglyphs are carved into most temples and tombs to record names and dates, describe events like battles, and give instructions for passing on to the afterlife.

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Uncover the secrets of one of the world's oldest civilizations.

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Kids learn about the civilization of ancient Egypt including the pharaohs, pyramids, art, government, geography, Nile River, mummies, religion, hieroglyphics, and clothing. Educational articles for students, schools, and teachers.

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Ancient Egypt for Kids | Learn the History of Ancient Egypt

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The remains from ancient Egypt, including clothing, leather, wood, and food, provide an excellent idea of how the ancient Egyptians lived. Much information has also come from tombs, including the paintings of scenes of everyday life on the walls of the tombs. Because the Egyptians thought that life continued after death, everything they might need in the next world was placed in their tombs. One queen, Herneith, was buried with her dog. In a nobleman's tomb at Saqqarah researchers found a whole meal, consisting of barley porridge, quail, kidneys, pigeon stew, fish, bread, and small circular cakes. In the early tombs there were models of anything the dead might require, such as houses, granaries, boats, cattle, and servants making bread and beer. Later these scenes were painted on the tomb walls to serve the same purpose. The tombs of the wealthy contained jewelery and other precious objects.

The Egyptians preserved the dead as mummies by removing the internal organs and preserving the body with salt or other chemicals. In addition to those of people, thousands of mummies of sacred animals such as cats, ibises, and crocodiles have been found. Mummies of important people were placed in elaborate coffins called sarcophagi, often bearing a portrait of the deceased. The coffin of Tutankhamen was made of solid gold.

Medicine

In order to preserve the dead, the Egyptians needed to know a great deal about the human body. Their study of the body produced skillful doctors. Some of the earliest medical and surgical records have been found in Egypt. One of the earliest is the Ebers Papyrus, written about 1550 bce, which lists 700 cures for common sicknesses and problems.

Writing

The creation of a written language was one of the Egyptians' finest achievements. The first Egyptian writing was in a picture form called hieroglyphics. The pictures, which stood for sounds of words, were cut or painted on the walls of tombs and temples, and were delicately colored in red, yellow, green, black, and blue. Hieroglyphics were in use by 3100 bce.

They remained in use even after a form of cursive writing developed in about 2900 bce. It was written in ink with a pen made of reeds. This script was mainly written on papyrus, a form of paper made from papyrus plants. Another script began to appear in about 700 bce. The new form, called demotic, was used for ordinary writing. The earlier form, called hieratic, was then used mostly for sacred writings.

The key to understanding Egyptian writing was the Rosetta Stone, a stone tablet dating from about 200 bce that was found in Egypt in 1799. The stone shows words in Greek with translations in hieroglyphics and demotic script. By comparing the Egyptian text with the Greek text, a scholar who knew Greek was able to uncover the meaning of the hieroglyphics and the demotic words.

Everyday Life

Villages and towns were situated near the Nile River because it was the chief highway as well as the only source of water. The houses were made of mud brick. Windows were small, high openings covered with loosely woven matting to keep out the heat and glare of the sun. The walls were decorated with bright frescoes. Straw matting and rugs covered the floors.

Wall paintings are an especially rich source of information about how the common people lived with their children, hunted and farmed, raised animals, and performed daily tasks. The clothing, jewelery, and hair styles of all classes of people can be clearly seen. Egyptians were fond of perfumes and cosmetics. Both men and women wore a kind of green eyeshadow and outlined their eyes with a black substance called kohl. Women also applied color to their lips and nails. Vessels to hold cosmetics and the tools needed to grind them were included in tombs for use in the afterlife.

Clothing was simple because of the hot climate of Egypt. Small children, servants, and laborers often wore little clothing. White linen was the most commonly used fabric, with wool for cloaks when warmth was needed. In early garments the cloth was simply draped and tied around the body or held in place with pins and belts. Men typically wore a skirt of linen and sometimes a vest, while women wore a straight, simple ankle-length dress with shoulder straps. Necklaces and wide collars decorated with gems were often worn. Clothing became more elaborate over time. Many people wore wigs. Men often wore beards, and a false beard made of metal was worn by the ruler-even a female ruler.

Religion

The ancient Egyptians worshiped many gods. The main god of the sun was Re (or Ra). Each city had its own special gods. When the city of Thebes grew in importance, its special god Amon did also. Eventually, the Egyptians combined Amon with Re. Amon-Re was considered the king of the gods.

Because the ancient Egyptians believed in life after death, Osiris, one of the gods of the dead, was also important. His wife Isis and his son Horus were worshiped alongside Osiris.

Inventions

The ancient Egyptians were a very practical people. They learned the principles of engineering that enabled them to build vast structures such as the pyramids. They did not have pulleys to aid in lifting heavy weights, but they were able to move large stone blocks by means of sledges, rollers, and ramps. The Egyptians observed the stars and worked out calendars based on the phases of the Moon and on the solar year ( see astronomy). They also developed a complicated system of irrigation, which was based on the flooding times of the Nile.

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About 5,000 years ago, the civilization of ancient Egypt began in the Nile River valley of northeastern Africa. Ancient Egypt was one of the world's first civilizations. It...

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10 Facts About Ancient Egypt | National Geographic Kids

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Discover incredible facts about Ancient Egypt with Nat Geo Kids! Learn about the country’s ancient & modern history, pyramids, pharaohs & more