Victoria
Motto
Splendor Sine
Occasu (Splendor
Without
Diminishment)
When British
Columbia
Became a
Province
1871
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA British Columbia 133
Bronze
Mixing the metals copper and tin creates
bronze. Bronze, like other mixtures of
metals, is called an alloy. Bronze is
harder and stronger than copper. It also
does not wear away as easily as either
copper or tin. For these reasons bronze is
often used to make tools and machinery.
Bronze is also used to make electrical
hardware, springs, fasteners, and coins.
Bronze has been the most popular metal
for making statues and other artistic
objects since ancient times.
Working with Bronze
After melted bronze is poured into a
mold and begins to cool, it expands. As
the bronze expands, it fills in every detail
of the mold. When the bronze cools
further and hardens, it shrinks a little
bit. This makes the final object easy to
remove from the mold. Bronze also
changes colors when exposed to air and
water. This effect is called a patina and
can be very beautiful.
History
People first discovered how to make
bronze more than 5,000 years ago. The
discovery of bronze allowed ancient
peoples to make tools and weapons that
were stronger and longer lasting than
any made before. These advances were
so important that the ancient period of
bronze making came to be called the
Bronze Age. People later began making
statues, church bells, doors, bowls, and
many other objects out of bronze.
#More to explore
Alloy • Bronze Age • Metal
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age was a time in early
human history when people first began
to use tools made of bronze. It began in
some places about 5,000 years ago. It
began later in other places. Learning
how to use bronze led to advances in
many areas of human life.
Background
The earliest humans lived during the
Stone Age. Stone Age humans made
tools and weapons of stone. By about
6500 BC people had learned how to
shape copper into tools and other
objects.
Eventually people learned how to mix
tin with copper to make bronze. They
A bronze figure of a girl was made in
Greece about 2,500 years ago.
134 Bronze BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
probably discovered how to do this by
accident. In some places copper and tin
are mixed together naturally in the
ground. When ancient metalworkers
melted this mixture, they made a form
of bronze.
Bronze looked like copper. But it was
harder and more useful for making
tools, weapons, and artwork.
Events of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age began in Greece and
China before 3000 BC. Bronze Age cultures
also developed in Mesopotamia (in
modern Iraq), Egypt, and the Indus
River valley (in modern Pakistan). The
Bronze Age had spread to Great Britain
by about 1900 BC. Peoples outside
Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the
Middle East did not have a Bronze Age.
At first only rich people could afford
bronze. For a long time farmers and
craftspeople used cheaper stone tools to
do their work. But eventually more
people did metalworking as a full-time
job. Metalworkers, other craftspeople,
and farmers came together in cities to
trade their goods. This helped civilizations
to grow. Two new inventions—the
wheel and the ox-drawn plow—also
helped Bronze Age civilizations to grow.
In about 1200 BC people learned how to
shape iron into tools. This began the
Iron Age and ended the Bronze Age.
#More to explore
Bronze • Civilization • Iron Age • Stone
Age
Brooks,
Gwendolyn
The U.S. poet Gwendolyn Brooks wrote
about African American life. She wrote
especially about the everyday lives of
blacks in cities. Her poems describe the
racism and poverty that African Americans
have faced.
People used bronze to make daggers and
other tools during the Bronze Age.
Gwendolyn Brooks
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Brooks, Gwendolyn 135
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born
in Topeka, Kansas, on June 7, 1917. She
grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She wrote
her first poem at age 7.
Brooks’s first collection of poems was
published in 1945. It was called A Street
in Bronzeville. In 1950 Brooks won an
award called the Pulitzer prize for her
book Annie Allen. The poems are about
a black girl growing up in Chicago.
Brooks was the first African American to
win a Pulitzer prize.
Brooks’s most highly praised collection,
The Bean Eaters, was published in 1960.
It contains some of her most famous
poems, including We Real Cool.Written
in a simple style, We Real Cool describes
the difficulties of poverty on youth.
In addition to poetry, Brooks wrote a
novel based on her life. She also taught
poetry and English at different schools
throughout her career. Brooks died in
Chicago on December 3, 2000.
Brown, John
As an abolitionist, John Brown wanted
to end slavery in the United States.
Unlike most abolitionists, however, he
took the law into his own hands. Opponents
of slavery admired him, but others
considered him a dangerous criminal.
John Brown was born on May 9, 1800,
in Torrington, Connecticut. He moved
to Ohio as a child. As an adult he moved
restlessly from state to state. He tanned
leather and also tried other trades. He
was married two times and had many
children.
For a time he and his family lived in a
