Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

A smattering of remains exist from the Neanderthals who occupied the Italian peninsula half a million years ago, but the main period of colonization began after the last Ice Age. Evidence of Paleolithic settlements dates from this time, around 20,000 BC, the next development being the spread of Neolithic tribes crossways the peninsula, between 5000 and 6000 years ago. More sophisticated tribes developed towards the end of the prehistoric period, between 2400 and 1800 BC; those who left the most visible traces were the Ligurians (who inhabited a much greater area than modern Liguria), the Siculi of southern Italy and Latium, and the Sards , who farmed and raised livestock on Sardinia. More advanced still were migrant groups from the orient Mediterranean, who introduced the techniques of working copper. Later, various Bronze Age societies (1600-1000 BC) built a network of farms and villages in the Apennines, and on the Sicilian and southern coasts, the latter population trading with Mycenaeans in Greece.Other tribes brought Indo-European languages into Italy. The Veneti, Latins and Umbrii moved down the peninsula from the north, whilst the Piceni and the Messapians in Puglia crossed the Adriatic from what is now Croatia. The artificial line between prehistory and history is drawn around the eighth century BC, with the arrival of the Phoenician alphabet and writing system. Sailing west along the African coast, the Phoenicians established colonies in Sicily and Sardinia, going on to build trade links between Carthage and southern Italy. These soon encouraged the arrival of the Carthaginians , who set themselves up on Sicily, Sardinia and the Latium coast, at the same time as both Greeks and Etruscans were gaining influence.

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