The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler

volume three the classical world

episode 58 the Battle of the Catallonian Plains. Thank you. We have reached a point in the podcast where we are starting to see the origins of what we know today as the country of France.

France derives its name from the Germanic people of Northern Europe who are specifically referred to as the Franks

and who we can identify as a distinct group of Germanic tribes who existed during the first millennium B.C.

We know that this area of Europe, despite being distant from the typical areas of

human origins, that being the rift valley, the Mediterranean

coasts of Africa and the fertile crescent was still a very important area of the world when

exploring the timeline of human history.

We often look towards French lands to find out the extent of Neanderthal population

and to measure the effects of the ice sheets of the

last glacial maximum on human populations.

Western Europe even holds secrets to older human populations who migrated to this area

as we can find remnants of human activity which date back over a million years. We can find wonderful examples of parietal and

portable art dating back tens of thousands of years in the lands of southern France

and the adjoining Swabian-Dura mountain ranges of Western Germany.

So the lands in and around France are an essential part of the jigsaw puzzle of prehistory.

Our particular story this week takes us to an area roughly 100 miles east of the French

capital city of Paris and about 30 miles southeast of the major city of France.

But it is important to state that the Battle of the Catalonian Plains has been given alternative

names such as the Battle of the Catalonian Fields and the Battle of

Shalon.

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