History of Italy - E-book - ePub

According to archaeological diggings, presence of modernhuman date back to 200, 000 years ago to the Palaeolithictime. The Greek colonies settled in the southern portion of thepeninsula and the Sicily in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. By6th and 5th century BC they were in their Neolithic time. Thecommencement of Bronze Age of the Italian Empire isconsidered as 1500 BC. The Italians were dominated by the Romans for centuriesbefore their main city - Rome was made a part of Italy.
TheRomans always appreciated the Italians and always lookedforward to adopting their cultures. Christianity was the mainreligion by the end of the 4th century in the Italian region. By the 5th century the rule of Roman Empire came to anend and the Lombard Kingdom of Italy was established. Italianwars divided the entire peninsula into three main powers thatwere Spain, Europe and Austria. This was later taken over byNapoleon I and was overseen by the French.
The 19th century the peninsula was united once again and theKingdom of Italy was established in 1861. Italy developedquickly, yet there were many areas that were poor and inpoverty. It was again taken over by Benito Mussolini whoestablished dictatorship over the region. The Fascists weredefeated only in 1945 after which monarchy was abolished in1945 and a new Republic was set up on June 2, 1946. 1950'sand 60's saw tremendous growth and the nation developed somuch that the period is usually referred to as the ItalianEconomic Miracle.
Italy is one of the founding members of the European Union. It is also a part of the NATO, Organisation for EconomicCo-Operation and Development, G7 and United NationsOrganisation. Italy is a powerful country today and has its sayin the global undertakings.