Sir Ifor Williams, in his work Enwau Lleoedd, suggests that the first syllable rhawdd is a form of the Welsh adrawdd or adrodd, as in 'recite, relate, recount', similar to the Old Irish rád; 'speech'.

A small chipped stone tool found at the site, recorded as possibly being of Creswellian type or at least from the early Mesolithic period, places human activity on the plateau above the valleys.

[7] Many other Mesolithic items have appeared in the Rhondda, mainly in the upper areas around Blaenrhondda, Blaencwm and Maerdy, and relating to hunting, fishing and foraging, which suggests seasonal nomadic activity.

During the late 11th century, the Norman lord, Robert Fitzhamon entered Morgannwg in an attempt to gain control of the area, building many earth and timber castles in the lowlands.

Unlike the communal dwellings of the Iron Age, the remains of medieval buildings discovered in the area follow a pattern similar to modern farmsteads, with separate holdings spaced out around the hillsides.

[29] Ynysygrug is dated around the 12th or early 13th century[29] and has been misidentified by several historians, notably Owen Morgan in his History of Pontypridd and Rhondda Valleys, who recorded it as a druidic sacred mound.

The historian Rice Merrick, in describing the upland area of the Vale of Glamorgan, noted there "was always great breeding of cattle, horses and sheep; but in elder time therein grew but small store of corn, for in most places there the ground was not thereunto apt".

Crops were grown in the lower part of the Rhondda on narrow meadows adjoining riversides, though during the Napoleonic Wars scarce supplies forced cultivation of upland areas such as Carn-y-wiwer and Penrhys.

The enclosure of freehold lands begun in the later Middle Ages now gained momentum and farms once owned by individual farmers passed to groups of wealthy landowners.

[36] By the 19th century, most Rhondda farms and estates were owned by absentee landlords such as the Marquis of Bute, Earl of Dunraven, Crawshay Bailey of Merthyr and the De Winton family of Brecon.

The 1890s recorded workers from the South West, places such as Gloucester and Devon, and by the 1900s people came from North Wales, the lead-mining area of Anglesey and the depressed slate-quarrying villages of Bethesda, Ffestiniog and Dinorwig.

In the late 19th century, they were forced out of London by over-saturation of the market, and instead set up a network of cafés, ice cream parlours and fish & chip shops throughout South Wales.

[63] By the time the miners returned to work, there was little desire for further action, which saw a decline in the popularity of 'The Fed'[63] and greater emphasis on solving problems by political and parliamentary means.

[66] One outcome of the lack of funds was a fall in health provisions, which in Rhondda lead to a shortage of medical and nursing staff,[67] a failure to provide adequate sewage works, and a rise in deaths from tuberculosis.

By then, 50 per cent of Glamorgan coal was supplied to steelworks,[81] with the second biggest market being domestic heating: the "smokeless" fuel of the Rhondda became once again fashionable after publication of the Clean Air Act 1956.

[83] The only way to ensure financial survival of the mines in the valleys was massive investment by the NCB, but its "Plan for Coal" paper drawn up in 1950 was overly optimistic about future demand,[84] which was drastically reduced after an industrial recession in 1956 and with increased availability of oil.

The first attempt to bring in business unconnected to coal began in the 1920s, when David Jones, Town Clerk of the Rhondda Urban Council, gained government support for so doing.

[85] Arrivals included Alfred Polikoff's clothing factory,[86] Messrs Jacob Beatus manufacturing cardboard boxes, and Electrical and Musical Industries Ltd.[86] After the Second World War, 23 firms were set up in the Rhondda Valleys, 18 of them sponsored by the Board of Trade.

[122] As part of the Redistribution Act of 1885 the Rhondda was granted its first seat in Parliament, which was won by a moderate trade union leader, William Abraham, who was notably the only working-class member elected in Wales.

Tonypandy was at the centre of further public disorder, when on 11 June 1936 at Dewinton Field, a crowd gathered to confront an open-air address by Tommy Moran, propaganda officer of the British Union of Fascists.

[126] In the 1930s Maerdy became such a hotspot of communist support known as "Little Moscow"[127] producing left-wing activists such as Merthyr born Arthur Horner and Marxist writer Lewis Jones.

The Encyclopaedia of Wales notes that the image of the Welsh Mam, a wife and mother constantly at home and exalted as the queen of the household, was essentially a Rhondda creation.

[132] The heavy industrial worker was a prime aggressive attack figure in early Welsh packs, typified by the likes of Treherbert's Dai 'Tarw' (bull) Jones who at 6-foot 1 inch (185.5 cm) and 16 stone (100 kg) in weight was seen as an animal of a man.

One of the first true rugby stars to come from the Rhondda was Willie Llewellyn, who not only gained 20 caps for Wales scoring 48 points but was also the first Rhondda-born member of the British Lions.

Many players came through the Rhondda to gain international duty, and after the split between amateur rugby union and the professional Northern League, many were also tempted to the North of England to earn a wage for their abilities.

Maurice Richards, born in Tynntyla Road, Ystrad Rhondda, was a Welsh international and British Lion of note, still known today for his scoring achievements playing in this code.

[162] The Houston brothers were born in Tonypandy, with Donald gaining the greater success as a film actor, with memorable roles in The Blue Lagoon (1949) and Ealing's Dance Hall (1950).

Reflecting the lives of the residents of the Rhondda, both Gwyn Thomas and Ron Berry brought a realism to the industrial valleys missing in the more rose-tinted writings of Richard Llewellyn.

The notable members of the group include Ernest Zobole, a painter from Ystrad, whose expressionist work was deeply rooted in the juxtaposition of the industrialised buildings of the valleys against the green hills that surround them.

[165] Also from the Rhondda Fawr was the sculptor Robert Thomas;[166] born in Cwmparc, his heavy-cast statues have become icons of contemporary Wales, with many of his works publicly displayed in Cardiff.