- Define and explain The Great Fire of London in your own words
- Use key terms such as Disaster accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
Some events are so big that everyone remembers them. In this chapter you will meet a fire that rebuilt a city, sailors who crossed unknown seas, and the astronauts who walked on the Moon. These stories show how single events can change the world.
This lesson focuses on The Great Fire of London: how a bakery fire in 1666 burned down most of London and changed the city.
How a bakery fire in 1666 burned down most of London and changed the city.
Key ideas
One event can change everything
Before 1666, London was a crowded city of wooden houses. After the Great Fire burned most of it down, the city was rebuilt in brick and stone with wider streets. A single event, lasting just four days, reshaped the capital for centuries.
Explorers opened up the world
Voyages across the Atlantic and around Africa connected continents that had been unknown to each other. These journeys brought new foods, ideas and maps — but they also led to suffering for the peoples explorers met. Great events can have both bright and dark sides.
Key term — Disaster: A terrible event that causes great damage, such as a fire or a flood. The Great Fire of London was a disaster.
In September 1666, a fire started in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane. Within days, most of London had burned. Why did it spread so quickly?
Recall what London's houses were made of: mostly wood with thatched roofs. Remember how close together the houses stood, almost touching across narrow streets. Note the weather: a strong wind blew the flames from house to house. Note the firefighting of the time: leather buckets and no proper fire engines.
Answer: The fire spread because London was built of wood, houses stood close together, a strong wind fanned the flames, and there were no proper fire engines to stop it.
- Thinking the fire was the end of London London was rebuilt quickly in brick and stone, and the new buildings, including St Paul's Cathedral, made it grander than before.
- Believing explorers found empty lands The lands explorers reached already had peoples living in them. 'Discovery' meant new to the explorers, not empty.
Practice
Because the events changed lives or showed what people can achieve, and remembering them helps people understand their history.
Houses were made of wood and stood close together (any one valid reason).
A king or queen who rules a country.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Disaster"?
Why is it wrong to say explorers 'discovered' empty lands?
- The Great Fire of London: how a bakery fire in 1666 burned down most of London and changed the city.
- One event can change everything: Before 1666, London was a crowded city of wooden houses.
- Monarch: A king or queen who rules a country.
- Watch out for: thinking the fire was the end of London