The second half of the sixteenth century, which was known as the
Elizabethan period, was a very important time for English literature. Many
people liked to go to the theatre, and William Shakespeare wrote a lot of
plays and poetry at this time. Ships also began to travel to other parts of the
world. Sir Walter Raleigh sailed to America, and Sir Francis Drake became
the first Englishman to sail around the world.
But life in England was also very difficult for many people in the
Elizabethan period. There was less work in farming now, and a lot of people
were very poor. There was a lot of crime, but no police, and when people
were caught for crimes, they were often executed.
After Queen Elizabeth the First died in 1603, kings and queens called
the Stuarts came to power in England. The Stuarts were from Scotland,
and for the first time, they ruled both England and Scotland. The second of
the Stuart kings was Charles the First. He argued with Parliament because
he spent a lot of money fighting wars in Europe, and in 1642, he started a
civil war. For seven years, the King’s men and Parliament’s men fought
against each other, and thousands died. But with Oliver Cromwell as leader,
Parliament’s army became very strong and fought very well, and in 1649,
they won the war. Charles the First was executed, and for eleven years
England had no king or queen. The country was ruled by Cromwell and
Parliament. Cromwell was a Puritan – a Protestant who believed in a simple,
hard-working life – and when he ruled, there was no sport or dancing in
England, and theatres were closed.
When Cromwell died, England was ready to have a king again, and
the Stuarts came to power once more. There were some difficult times for
England in the second half of the seventeenth century. In 1665, another
terrible illness came to London and killed nearly seventy thousand people,
and a year later, large parts of London were burnt down in the Great Fire
of London.
There were many other changes at this time too. England now traded
– bought and sold things – with many other countries, so English people
could get different foods like tomatoes, chocolate, coffee and tea for the first
time. People continued to work on the land, but now there were other jobs,
in cloth-making or glass-making, and in the coal or iron industries.
London was rebuilt with wider roads and many beautiful new buildings,
and scientists like Sir Isaac Newton began to do important work and learn
many interesting things. England started its first colonies too. These were