History Fact Finder | Eras and Their Highlights - Who Were The Gauls, And What Happened To Them?

Who were the Gauls, and what happened to them?

The Gauls were a people who spoke variations of the Celtic language, which did not resemble other languages spoken in Europe and Asia. They lived in an area called Gaul, which was bordered on the south by the Pyrenees Mountains and on the east by the Rhine River (present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and portions of the Netherlands and Germany). During the fourth century B.C., the Gauls crossed the Alps and invaded Italy. Although they conquered the Romans during the third century B.C., their success was short-lived. Eventually the Romans, under Julius Caesar (100–44 B.C.), controlled all of Gaul and made the region part of the Roman Empire. Five hundred years later, the Franks (a Germanic people) ousted the Romans from Gaul. The present-day country of France is named for the Franks, and the French people are descendants of both the Gauls and the Franks.

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