England is famous for its educational institutes. It has some of the most famous universities of the world like Oxford, Cambridge and London universities. The city of Cambridge is in the county of Cambridgeshire and is famous because it is the home of Cambridge University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities of the world. The Cambridge City occupies an area of 16 square miles. It is 50 miles north of London and stands on the East Bank of the River Cam, and was originally a place where the river was crossed.
Other than being the home of Cambridge University, Cambridge City itself is a very lively city. It provides a lot of entertainment such as Ballet, Opera, Drama, Music, and Film. The river is use mostly for pleasure of boating and punting. The Fitzwilliam Museum, the University Museum of Archaeology, and the University Museum of the Zoology are among the best of all museums in Europe. Foundation of Cambridge The foundation of Cambridge goes back to 11th century when Normans built a castle at River Cam.
During Romans time, a small town situated just north of river in the Castle Hill area. The town was called Granata. Later on during the Saxon period, it was known as Grantabridge, which means Swampy River Bridge. The name later became Cantabridge and then by 14th century, Cambridge. Foundation of the University Of Cambridge The University of Cambridge was establish by religious groups like Franciscans and Dominicans in the early 12th century students from the Oxford University and Paris University left to study in Cambridge in the 13th century.
The origin of the college is trace to the association of the students, distinctive form of religious affiliated groups, who began to reside in independent hostels, or halls. Later on some tension developed between the town people and students known as town and gown conflict. This conflict led to the establishment of the first college, Peterhouse in 1284 by Bishop of Ely. In 1318, Pope John XXII issued a bull recognizing Cambridge as a Stadium Generale, or a place of study; that is a University. The University Of Cambridge From Past To Present
The university was basically established to study for religious purposes. It was one of the important centers of Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. Some of the famous religious reformers like William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer were graduates of Cambridge. The students were mostly poor and indigent. The university had no demands for admission in those times. The Dutch Scholar Eramus went to Cambridge in 1511, bringing the new learning of the renaissance. In 1546, King Henry VIII founded Trinity, which remain the largest of the Cambridge colleges.
As the humanistic method of teaching was replace by scholastic, it produced a group of scholars known as Cambridge Platonist, which included scientist like Isaac Barrow and Sir Isaac Newton. It was this period in which Mathematics and Natural Sciences became important subjects in the university, for which the University is still recognize. In the 19th century, the major change that took place was the establishment of the Girton College in 1873 for undergraduate women. Since then the university has been coeducational. In the 20th century, nine more colleges were established and the old colleges were expanded.
Since 1914, the state aid has been granted to all the British Universities. The University of Cambridge is a system of faculties, department, and 31 independent colleges, but all are united in educational entity. Areas of study include the classics modern and medieval languages, history, mathematics economics and politics, chemistry, physics, engineering, law, medicine, divinity, architecture, and history of arts. The University of Cambridge library has more than 3 million volumes and receives a copy of every book published in Great Britain.
