Coventry is an ancient city that predates
Birmingham and Leicester. It is likely that Coventry grew from a settlement of
the Bronze Age near the present-day city centre where Coventry's bowl-shaped
topography and, at that time large flowing river and lakes, created the ideal
settlement area, with mild weather and thick woods: food, water and shelter
would have been easily found. The people of the area may have been the
Corieltauvi, a largely agricultural people who had few strongly defended sites
or signs of centralised government.