Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in
Spanish,
Portuguese,
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, and
Italian) was the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
name for the
Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the
Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two
provinces:
Hispania Citerior and
Hispania Ulterior. During the
Principate
The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...
, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces,
Baetica and
Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed
Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed "Callaecia" (or
Gallaecia, whence modern
Galicia). From Diocletian's
Tetrarchy (AD 284) onwards, the south of the remainder of Tarraconensis was again split off as
Carthaginensis, and all of the mainland Hispanic provinces, along with the
Balearic Islands and the North African province of
Mauretania Tingitana
Mauretania Tingitana ( Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chel ...
, were later grouped into a
civil diocese headed by a ''
vicarius''. The name Hispania was also used in the period of
Visigothic rule.
The modern place names
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
and
Hispaniola are both derived from ''Hispania''.
Etymology
The origin of the word ''Hispania'' is much disputed. The evidence for the various speculations is based merely upon what are at best mere resemblances, likely to be accidental, and suspect supporting evidence. The most commonly held theory holds it to be of
Punic origin, from the
Phoenician language of colonizing
Carthage. Specifically, it may derive from a Punic
cognate () of Hebrew () meaning 'island of the
hyrax', referring to the
European rabbit (Phoenician-Punic and Hebrew are both
Canaanite languages and therefore closely related to each other). Some Roman coins of the Emperor Hadrian, born in Hispania, depict Hispania and a rabbit. Others derive the word from
Phoenician , meaning 'hidden', and make it indicate "a hidden", that is, "a remote", or "far-distant land".
Other far-fetched theories have been proposed.
Isidore of Sevilla
Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of t ...
considered ''Hispania'' of
Iberian origin and derived it from the pre-Roman name for
Seville, ''Hispalis''. This was revived for instance by the etymologist
Eric Partridge (in his work ''Origins'') who felt that this might strongly hint at an ancient name for the country of ''*Hispa'', presumably an
Iberian or
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
root whose meaning is now lost. ''Hispalis'' may alternatively derive from ''
Heliopolis'' (Greek for 'city of the sun'). However, according to modern research by Manuel Pellicer Catalán, the name derives from Phoenician 'lowland',
rendering the above explanations of ''Hispania'' highly unlikely. Occasionally Hispania was called 'farthest western land' by Roman writers since the name ''Hesperia'' 'western land' had already been used by the Greeks to refer to the Italian peninsula.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Jesuits scholars like Larramendi and
José Francisco de Isla
José Francisco de Isla (24 April 1703 – 2 November 1781) was a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist in the style of Miguel de Cervantes.
Biography
De Isla's parents were José Isla de la Torre and Ambrosia ...
tied the name to the
Basque word 'lip', but also 'border, edge', thus meaning the farthest area or place.
During Antiquity and Middle Ages, the literary texts derive the term ''Hispania'' from an eponymous
hero named
Hispan Hispan, Espan, Hispalo or Hispano, is a mythological character of Antiquity, who would derive the name Hispania, according to some ancient writers. Therefore, Hispan is the eponymous hero of Hispania. Hispan is mentioned first by the Gallo-Roman his ...
, who is mentioned for the first time in the work of the Roman historian
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, in the 1st century BC.
Although is the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
root for the modern name ''
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
'', the words ''Spanish'' for or ''Hispanic'', or ''Spain'' for , are not easily interchangeable, depending on context. The ('The History of Spain') written on the initiative of
Alfonso X of Castile ('the Wise'), between 1260 and 1274, during the ''
Reconquista
The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
'' ('reconquest') of Spain, is believed to be the first extended history of Spain in
Old Spanish using the words ('Spain') and ('Spaniards') to refer to Medieval Hispania. The use of Latin , Castilian ,
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
, among others, to refer to Roman Hispania or Visigothic Hispania was common throughout all the
Late Middle Ages. A document dated 1292 mentions the names of foreigners from Medieval Spain as . Latin expressions using or (e.g. ) were often used in the Middle Ages, while the
Spain Romance languages of the ''Reconquista'' use the
Romance version interchangeably. In the
James Ist Chronicle ''
Llibre dels fets
The (; from Catalan: "''Book of Deeds''"; Old Catalan: ) is the autobiographical chronicle of the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276). It is written in Old Catalan in the first person and is the first chronologically of the four works cl ...
'', written between 1208 and 1276, there are many instances of this. The borders of modern Spain do not coincide with those of the
Roman province of Hispania or of the
Visigothic Kingdom, and thus medieval Spain and modern Spain exist in separate contexts. The Latin term , often used during
Antiquity
Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to:
Historical objects or periods Artifacts
*Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures
Eras
Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...
and the
Low Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, like with Roman Hispania, as a
geographical and political name, continued to be used geographically and politically in the
Visigothic Spania, as shown in the expression , 'Praise to Hispania', to describe the history of the peoples of the
Iberian Peninsula of
Isidore of Seville's ''
Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum'':
You are, O Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
, holy and always happy mother of princes and peoples, the most beautiful of all the lands that extend far from the West to India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. You, by right, are now the queen of all provinces, from whom the lights are given not only the sunset, but also the East. You are the honor and ornament of the orb and the most illustrious portion of the Earth ... And for this reason, long ago, the golden Rome desired you
In modern history, ''Spain'' and ''Spanish'' have become increasingly associated with the Kingdom of Spain alone, although this process took several centuries. After the union of the central peninsular
Kingdom of Castile
The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...
with the eastern peninsular
Kingdom of Aragon in the 15th century under the
Catholic Monarchs in 1492, only
Navarra
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spa ...
and
Portugal were left to complete the whole peninsula under
one monarchy. Navarre followed soon after in 1512, and Portugal, after over 400 years as an independent and sovereign nation, in 1580. During this time, the concept of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
was still unchanged. It was after the restoration of Portugal's independence in 1640 when the concept of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
started to shift and be applied to all the Peninsula except Portugal.
Pre-Roman history
The Iberian peninsula has long been inhabited, first by
early hominids such as ''
Homo erectus'', ''
Homo heidelbergensis'' and ''
Homo antecessor''. In the
Paleolithic period, the
Neanderthals entered Iberia and eventually took refuge from the advancing migrations of
modern humans. In the 40th millennium BC, during the
Upper Paleolithic and the
last ice age, the first large settlement of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
by modern humans occurred. These were
nomadic hunter-gatherers originating on the
steppes of
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
. When the
last ice age reached its maximum extent, during the 30th millennium BC, these modern humans took refuge in
Southern Europe, namely in
Iberia, after retreating through
Southern France. In the millennia that followed, the
Neanderthals became extinct and local modern human cultures thrived, producing
pre-historic art such as that found in
L'Arbreda Cave and in the
Côa Valley.
In the
Mesolithic period, beginning in the 10th millennium BC, the
Allerød Oscillation occurred. This was an interstadial
deglaciation that lessened the harsh conditions of the Ice Age. The populations sheltered in
Iberian Peninsula (descendants of the
Cro-Magnon) migrated and recolonized all of
Western Europe. In this period one finds the
Azilian culture in
Southern France and
Northern Iberia (to the mouth of the
Douro river), as well as the
Muge Culture in the
Tagus valley.
The
Neolithic brought changes to the human landscape of Iberia (from the 5th millennium BC onwards), with the development of
agriculture and the beginning of the
European Megalith Culture. This spread to most of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and had one of its oldest and main centres in the territory of modern
Portugal, as well as the
Chalcolithic and
Beaker cultures.
During the 1st millennium BC, in the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
, the first wave of migrations into Iberia of speakers of
Indo-European languages occurred. These were later (7th and 5th centuries BC) followed by others that can be identified as
Celts. Eventually urban cultures developed in southern Iberia, such as
Tartessos, influenced by the
Phoenician colonization of coastal
Mediterranean Iberia, with strong competition from the
Greek colonization. These two processes defined Iberia's cultural landscape – Mediterranean towards the southeast and Continental in the northwest.
Languages
Latin was the official language of Hispania during the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
's rule, which exceeded 600 years. By the empire's end in Hispania around 460 AD, all the original Iberian languages, except the ancestor of modern Basque, were extinct. Even after the
fall of Rome
The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its v ...
and the invasion of the
Germanic Visigoths and
Suebi, Latin was spoken by nearly all of the population, but in its common form known as
Vulgar Latin, and the regional changes which led to the modern Iberian Romance languages had already begun.
Carthaginian Hispania
After its defeat by the
Romans in the
First Punic War (264 BC–241 BC),
Carthage compensated for its loss of
Sicily by rebuilding a commercial empire in Hispania.
The major part of the
Punic Wars, fought between the
Punic Carthaginians and the Romans, was fought on the Iberian Peninsula. Carthage gave control of the Iberian Peninsula and much of its empire to Rome in 201 BC as part of the peace treaty after its defeat in the
Second Punic War, and Rome completed its replacement of
Carthage as the dominant power in the
Mediterranean area. By then the Romans had adopted the Carthaginian name, romanized first as ''Ispania''. The term later received an ''H'', much like what happened with ''
Hibernia'', and was pluralized as ''Hispaniae'', as had been done with the
Three Gauls.
Roman conquest
Roman armies invaded the Iberian peninsula in 218 BC and used it as a training ground for officers and as a proving ground for tactics during campaigns against the
Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
, the
Iberians, the
Lusitanians, the
Gallaecians and other
Celts. It was not until 19 BC that the Roman emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
(r. 27 BC–AD 14) was able to complete the conquest (see
Cantabrian Wars
The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) (''Bellum Cantabricum''), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars (''Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum''), were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what tod ...
). Until then, much of Hispania remained autonomous.
Romanization proceeded quickly in some regions where there are references to the togati, and very slowly in others, after the time of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, and Hispania was divided into three separately governed provinces, and nine provinces by the 4th century. More importantly, Hispania was for 500 years part of a cosmopolitan world empire bound together by law, language, and the
Roman road. But the impact of Hispania in the newcomers was also substantial.
Caesar wrote on the Civil Wars that the soldiers from the Second Legion had become Hispanicized and regarded themselves as ''hispanici''.
Some of the peninsula's population were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class and they participated in governing Hispania and the Roman Empire, although there was a native aristocracy class who ruled each local tribe. The ''
latifundia'' (sing., ''latifundium''), large estates controlled by the aristocracy, were superimposed on the existing Iberian landholding system.
The Romans improved existing cities, such as
Lisbon (''Olissipo'') and
Tarragona (''Tarraco''), established
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...
(''Caesaraugusta''),
Mérida (''Augusta Emerita''), and
Valencia (''Valentia''), and reduced other native cities to mere villages. The peninsula's economy expanded under Roman tutelage. Hispania served as a granary and a major source of metals for the Roman market, and its harbors exported
gold,
tin,
silver,
lead,
wool,
wheat,
olive oil,
wine,
fish, and
garum. Agricultural production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, some of which remain in use today. The Romanized Iberian populations and the Iberian-born descendants of Roman soldiers and colonists had all achieved the status of full Roman citizenship by the end of the 1st century. The emperors
Trajan (r. 98–117),
Hadrian (r. 117–138), and
Theodosius (r. 379–395) were of Hispanic origin. The Iberian denarii, also called ''argentum oscense'' by Roman soldiers, circulated until the 1st century BC, after which it was replaced by Roman coins.
Hispania was separated into two provinces (in 197 BC), each ruled by a
praetor: ''
Hispania Citerior'' ("Hither Hispania") and ''
Hispania Ulterior'' ("Farther Hispania"). The long wars of conquest lasted two centuries, and only by the time of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
did
Rome managed to control Hispania Ulterior. Hispania was divided into three provinces in the 1st century BC.
In the 4th century,
Latinius Pacatus Drepanius, a Gallic rhetorician, dedicated part of his work to the depiction of the geography, climate and inhabitants of the peninsula, writing:
This Hispania produces tough soldiers, very skilled captains, prolific speakers, luminous bards. It is a mother of judges and princes; it has given Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius to the Empire.
With time, the name Hispania was used to describe the collective names of the Iberian Peninsula kingdoms of the Middle Ages, which came to designate all of the Iberian Peninsula plus the
Balearic Islands.
The Hispaniae
During the first stages of Romanization, the peninsula was divided in two by the Romans for administrative purposes. The closest one to Rome was called ''Citerior'' and the more remote one ''Ulterior''. The frontier between both was a sinuous line which ran from Cartago Nova (now
Cartagena) to the
Cantabrian Sea.
''
Hispania Ulterior'' comprised what are now
Andalusia,
Portugal,
Extremadura,
León, a great portion of the former
Castilla la Vieja
Old Castile ( es, Castilla la Vieja ) is a historic region of Spain, which had different definitions along the centuries. Its extension was formally defined in the 1833 territorial division of Spain as the sum of the following provinces: San ...
,
Galicia,
Asturias, and the
Basque Country.
''
Hispania Citerior'' comprised the eastern part of former Castilla la Vieja, and what are now
Aragon,
Valencia,
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...
, and a major part of former
Castilla la Nueva.
In 27 BC, the general and politician
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa divided Hispania into three parts, namely dividing Hispania Ulterior into
Baetica (basically
Andalusia) and
Lusitania (including
Gallaecia and
Asturias) and attaching
Cantabria and the
Basque Country to Hispania Citerior.
The emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
in that same year returned to make a new division leaving the provinces as follows:
*''Provincia Hispania Ulterior Baetica'' (or ''
Hispania Baetica
Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic di ...
''), whose capital was
Corduba, presently Córdoba. It included a little less territory than present-day Andalusia—since modern
Almería and a great portion of what today is
Granada and
Jaén were left outside—plus the southern zone of present-day
Badajoz
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populati ...
. The river ''Anas'' or ''Annas'' (
Guadiana
The Guadiana River (, also , , ), or Odiana, is an international river defining a long stretch of the Portugal-Spain border, separating Extremadura and Andalusia (Spain) from Alentejo and Algarve (Portugal). The river's basin extends from the e ...
, from Wadi-Anas) separated Hispania Baetica from Lusitania.
*''Provincia Hispania Ulterior Lusitania'' (''
Lusitania''), whose capital was
Emerita Augusta (now
Mérida) and without
Gallaecia and
Asturias.
*''Provincia Hispania Citerior'' (or ''
Tarraconensis''), whose capital was
Tarraco (Tarragona). After gaining maximum importance this province was simply known as ''Tarraconensis'' and it comprised
Gallaecia (modern
Galicia and northern
Portugal) and
Asturias.
By the 3rd century the emperor
Caracalla made a new division which lasted only a short time. He split Hispania Citerior again into two parts, creating the new provinces ''Provincia Hispania Nova Citerior'' and ''Asturiae-Calleciae''. In the year 238 the unified province ''Tarraconensis'' or ''Hispania Citerior'' was re-established.
In the 3rd century, under the Soldier Emperors, Hispania Nova (the northwestern corner of Spain) was split off from Tarraconensis, as a small province but the home of the only permanent legion in Hispania,
Legio VII Gemina. After Diocletian's
Tetrarchy reform in AD 293, the new ''
Diocese of Hispania'' became one of the four
dioceses—governed by a ''vicarius''—of the
praetorian prefecture of Gaul (also comprising the provinces of
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
,
Germania and
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...
), after the abolition of the imperial Tetrarchs under the Western Emperor (in Rome itself, later Ravenna). The diocese, with its capital at Emerita Augusta (modern
Mérida), comprised the five peninsular Iberian provinces (Baetica, Gallaecia and Lusitania, each under a governor styled ''
consularis''; and Carthaginiensis, Tarraconensis, each under a ''
praeses''), the
Insulae Baleares, which were detached from Tarraconensis in the 4th century, and the North African province of
Mauretania Tingitana
Mauretania Tingitana ( Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chel ...
.
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
was introduced into Hispania in the 1st century and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century. Little headway was made in the countryside, however, until the late 4th century, by which time Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire. Some
heretical sects emerged in Hispania, most notably
Priscillianism
Priscillianism was a Christian sect developed in the Iberian Peninsula under the Roman Empire in the 4th century by Priscillian. It is derived from the Gnostic doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis. Priscillianism was later con ...
, but overall the local bishops remained subordinate to the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. Bishops who had official civil as well as ecclesiastical status in the late empire continued to exercise their authority to maintain order when civil governments broke down there in the 5th century. The Council of Bishops became an important instrument of stability during the ascendancy of the
Visigoths. The last vestiges of (Western·classical) Roman rule ended in 472.
Germanic conquest
The undoing of (Western classical) Roman Spain was the result of four tribes
crossing the Rhine on 31 December 406. After three years of depredation and wandering about northern and western Gaul, the
Germanic Buri,
Suevi and
Vandals, together with the
Sarmatian Alans moved into Iberia in September or October 409 at the request of Gerontius, a Roman usurper. Thus began the history of the end of (Western classical) Roman Spain, which came in 472. The Suevi established a kingdom in Gallaecia in what is today modern
Galicia and northern
Portugal. The Alans' allies, the
Hasdingi Vandals, also established a kingdom in another part of Gallaecia. The
Alans established a kingdom in
Lusitania – modern
Alentejo and
Algarve, in
Portugal. The
Silingi
The Silings or Silingi ( la, Silingae; grc, Σιλίγγαι – ) were a Germanic tribe, part of the larger Vandal group. The Silingi at one point lived in Silesia, and the names ''Silesia'' and ''Silingi'' may be related.Jerzy Strzelczyk, "Wand ...
Vandals briefly occupied parts of South Iberia in the province of
Baetica. In an effort to retrieve the region, the Western Roman emperor,
Honorius (r. 395–423), promised the Visigoths a home in southwest Gaul if they destroyed the invaders in Spain. They all but wiped out the Silingi and Alans. The remnant joined the Asding Vandals who had settled first in the northwest with the Sueves but south to Baetica. It is a mystery why the Visigoths were recalled by patrician Constantius (who in 418 married Honorius' sister who had been married briefly to the Visigothic king Ataulf). The Visigoths, the remnants of the two tribes who joined them and the Sueves were confined to a small area in the northwest of the peninsula. The diocese may even have been re-established with its capital at Mérida in 418. The Roman attempt under General Castorius to dislodge the Vandals from Cordoba failed in 422.
The Vandals and
Alans crossed over to North Africa in 429, an event which is considered to have been decisive in hastening the decline of the Western Roman Empire. However their departure allowed the Romans to recover 90% of the Iberian peninsula until 439. After the departure of the Vandals only the Sueves remained in a northwest corner of the peninsula. Roman rule which had survived in the eastern quadrant was restored over most of Iberia until the Sueves occupied Mérida in 439, a move which coincides to the Vandal
occupation of Carthage late the same year. Rome made attempts to restore control in 446 and 458. Success was temporary. After the death of emperor Majorian in 461 Roman authority collapsed except in Tarraconensis the northeastern quadrant of the peninsula. The Visigoths, a
Germanic people, whose kingdom was located in southwest Gaul, took the province when they occupied Tarragona in 472. They also confined the Sueves who had ruled most of the region to Galicia and northern Portugal. In 484 the Visigoths established
Toledo as the capital of their kingdom. Successive Visigothic kings ruled Hispania as patricians who held imperial commissions to govern in the name of the Roman emperor. In 585 the Visigoths conquered the
Suebic Kingdom of Galicia, and thus controlled almost all of Hispania.
A century later, taking advantage of a struggle for the throne between the Visigothic kings
Agila and
Athanagild, the
Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent an army under the command of
Liberius to take back the peninsula from the Visigoths. This short-lived reconquest recovered only a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast roughly corresponding to the ancient province of
Baetica, known as
Spania.
Under the Visigoths, culture was not as highly developed as it had been under Roman rule, when a goal of higher education had been to prepare gentlemen to take their places in municipal and imperial administration. With the collapse of the imperial administrative super-structure above the provincial level (which was practically moribund) the task of maintaining formal education and government shifted to the Church from the old ruling class of educated aristocrats and gentry. The clergy, for the most part, emerged as the qualified personnel to manage higher administration in concert with local powerful notables who gradually displaced the old town councils. As elsewhere in early medieval Europe, the church in Hispania stood as society's most cohesive institution. The Visigoths are also responsible for the introduction of mainstream Christianity to the Iberian peninsula; the earliest representation of
Christ in Spanish religious art can be found in a Visigothic hermitage,
Santa Maria de Lara. It also embodied the continuity of Roman order. Native Hispano-Romans continued to run the civil administration and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
continued to be the language of government and of commerce on behalf of the Visigoths.
Religion was the most persistent source of friction between the
Chalcedonian (
Catholic) native Hispano-Romans and their
Arian Visigothic overlords, whom the former considered heretical. At times this tension invited open rebellion, and restive factions within the Visigothic aristocracy exploited it to weaken the monarchy. In 589,
Recared
Reccared I (or Recared; la, Flavius Reccaredus; es, Flavio Recaredo; 559 – December 601; reigned 586–601) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianis ...
, a Visigothic ruler, renounced his
Arianism before the Council of Bishops at Toledo and accepted
Chalcedonian Christianity (
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
), thus assuring an alliance between the Visigothic
monarchy and the native Hispano-Romans. This alliance would not mark the last time in the history of the peninsula that political unity would be sought through religious unity.
Court ceremonials – from
Constantinople – that proclaimed the imperial sovereignty and unity of the Visigothic state were introduced at Toledo. Still, civil war, royal assassinations, and usurpation were commonplace, and warlords and great landholders assumed wide discretionary powers. Bloody family feuds went unchecked. The Visigoths had acquired and cultivated the apparatus of the Roman state but not the ability to make it operate to their advantage. In the absence of a well-defined hereditary system of succession to the throne, rival factions encouraged foreign intervention by the
Greeks, the
Franks, and finally the
Muslims in internal disputes and in royal
elections.
According to
Isidore of Seville, it is with the
Visigothic
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
domination of the zone that the idea of a peninsular unity is sought after, and the phrase ''Mother Hispania'' is first spoken. Up to that date, ''Hispania'' designated all of the peninsula's lands. In ''
Historia Gothorum'', the Visigoth
Suinthila appears as the first
monarch where Hispania is dealt with as a
Gothic nation.
Umayyad conquest
The Umayyad governor
Tariq ibn Ziyad led a raiding force of approximately 1,700 men from North Africa to southern Hispania in April 711.
They defeated the Visigothic army, in a decisive
battle at Guadalete in 712. Tariq's forces were then reinforced and within a few years they took control of more than two-thirds of the
Iberian Peninsula. The second invasion of the Umayyads comprised 18 thousand mostly Arab troops, who rapidly captured
Seville and then defeated Roderick's supporters at
Mérida and met up with Tariq's troops at
Talavera. The following year the combined forces continued into
Galicia and the northeast, capturing
Léon,
Astorga and
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...
.
The Umayyads called the area they controlled '
Al-Andalus' ( ar, الأندلس). Al-Andalus, then at its greatest extent, was divided into five administrative units.
In the chronicles and documents of the
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...
the terms derived from Hispania, ''Spania'', ''España'' or ''Espanha'', continued to be used by the Christians but only in reference to Muslim controlled areas.
Catholic reconquest
From the mid 13th to the late 15th century, the only remaining domain of Al-Andalus was the Emirate of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula. Then there was a war of Granada which resulted with the defeat of Emirate of Granada and its annexation by Castile, ending Islamic rule on the Iberian peninsula.
In the last years of the 12th century the whole Iberian Peninsula, Muslim and Christian, became known as "Spain" (''España'', ''Espanya'' or ''Espanha'') and the denomination "the Five Kingdoms of Spain" became used to refer to the Muslim
Kingdom of Granada and the Christian kingdoms of
Aragon,
Castile,
Portugal, and
Navarre.
Economy
Before the Punic Wars, Hispania was a land with much untapped mineral and agricultural wealth, limited by the primitive subsistence economies of her native peoples outside of a few trading ports along the
Mediterranean. Occupations by the Carthaginians and then by the Romans for her abundant
silver deposits developed Hispania into a thriving multifaceted economy. Several metals, olives, oil from Baetica, salted fish and
garum, and wines were some of the goods produced in Hispania and traded throughout the Empire. Gold mining was the most important activity in the north-west parts of the peninsula. This activity is attested in archaeological sites as
Las Médulas (Spain) and Casais (
Ponte de Lima, Portugal).
Climate
Precipitation levels were unusually high during the so-called
Iberian–Roman Humid Period. Roman Spain experienced its three phases: the most humid interval in 550–190 BC, an arid interval in 190 BC–150 AD and another humid period in 150–350.
In 134 BC the army of
Scipio Aemilianus in Spain had to march at night due to extreme heat, when some of its horses and mules died of thirst
(even though earlier, in 181 BC, heavy spring rains prevented the
Celtiberians from relieving the Roman
siege of Contrebia).
Through the 2nd century AD warm temperatures dominated particularly in the
mountains along the north coast, punctuated by further cool spells from to 180.
After about 200 the temperatures fluctuated, trending toward cool.
Sources and references
Modern sources in Spanish and Portuguese
*Altamira y Crevea, Rafael ''Historia de España y de la civilización española''. Tomo I. Barcelona, 1900. Altamira was a professor at the University of Oviedo, a member of the Royal Academy of History, of the
Geographic Society of Lisbon and of the Instituto de Coimbra. (In Spanish.)
*Aznar, José Camón, ''Las artes y los pueblos de la España primitiva''. Editorial Espasa Calpe, S.A. Madrid, 1954. Camón was a professor at the University of Madrid. (In Spanish.)
*Bosch Gimpera, Pedro;
Aguado Bleye, Pedro; and Ferrandis, José. ''Historia de España. España romana, I'', created under the direction of Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Editorial Espasa-Calpe S.A., Madrid 1935. (In Spanish.)
*García y Bellido, Antonio, ''España y los españoles hace dos mil años (según la Geografía de Estrabón)''. Colección Austral de Espasa Calpe S.A., Madrid 1945 (first edition 8-XI-1945). García y Bellido was an archeologist and a professor at the University of Madrid. (In Spanish.)
*Mattoso, José (dir.), ''História de Portugal. Primeiro Volume: Antes de Portugal'', Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 1992. (in Portuguese)
*Melón, Amando, ''Geografía histórica española'' Editorial Volvntad, S.A., Tomo primero, Vol. I Serie E. Madrid 1928. Melón was a member of the Royal Geographical Society of Madrid and a professor of geography at the Universities of Valladolid and Madrid. (In Spanish.)
*Pellón, José R., ''Diccionario Espasa Íberos''. Espasa Calpe S.A. Madrid 2001. (In Spanish.)
*Urbieto Arteta, Antonio, ''Historia ilustrada de España'', Volumen II. Editorial Debate, Madrid 1994. (In Spanish.)
* El Housin Helal Ouriachen, 2009, La ciudad bética durante la Antigüedad Tardía. Persistencias y mutaciones locales en relación con la realidad urbana del Mediterraneo y del Atlántico, Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Granada, Granada.
Other modern sources
*Westermann ''Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte'' (in German)
Hispania
Classical sources
*The
notitia dignitatum (c. AD 400; one edition online is http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0212/_PJ.HTM#1WJ)
Other classical sources have been accessed second-hand (see references above):
*
Strabo, ''Geographiká. Book III, Iberia'', written between the years 29 and 7 BC and touched up in AD 18. The most prestigious and widely used edition is
Karl Müller's, published in Paris at the end of the 19th century, one volume, with 2 columns,
Greek and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
. The most reputed
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
translation is Tardieu, París 1886. The most reputed
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
translation (with Greek text) is H.L. Jones, vol. I–VIII, London 1917ff., ND London 1931ff.
*
Ptolemy (
Greek astronomer of the 2nd century) ''Geographiké Hyphaégesis'', geographic guidebook.
*
Pacatus (
Gallic rhetorician) directed a
panegyric on Hispania to the emperor
Theodosius I in 389, which he read to the
Senate.
*
Paulus Orosius (390–418) historian, follower of
Saint Augustine and author of ''Historiae adversus paganos'', the first Christian
universal history, and of ''Hispania Universa'', an historical guide translated into
Anglo-Saxon by
Alfred the Great and into
Arabic by
Abd-ar-Rahman III.
*
Lucius Anneus Florus (between 1st and 2nd century). ''Compendium of Roman History'' and ''Epitome of the History of Titus Livius (Livy)''. The relevant texts of
Livy have been lost, but we can read them via Florus.
*
Trogus Pompeius. Believed to be a Gaul with
Roman citizenship. ''Historia universal'' written in Latin in the times of
Augustus Caesar.
*Titus Livius (
Livy) (59 BC–17 BC). ''Ab urbe condita'', Book CXLII of Livy's surviving work.
Neo-modern references
*
E. Hübner, ''La Arqueologia de España'' (Barcelona, 1888)
*E. S. Bouchier, ''Spain under the Roman Empire'' (Oxford, 1914)
Further reading
* Abad Casal, Lorenzo, Simon Keay, and Sebastián F. Ramallo Asensio, eds. 2006. ''Early Roman Towns in Hispania Tarraconensis.'' Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
* Bowes, Kim, and Michael Kulikowski, eds. and trans. 2005. ''Hispania in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives.'' Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World 24. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
* Curchin, Leonard A. 1991. ''Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation.'' London and New York: Routledge.
* Curchin, Leonard A. 2003. ''The Romanization of Central Spain: Complexity, Diversity, and Change in a Provincial Hinterland.'' Routledge Classical Monographs. London and New York: Routledge.
*
* Keay, Simon J. 2001. "Romanization and the Hispaniae." In ''Italy and the West: Comparative Issues in Romanization.'' Edited by Simon Keay and Nicola Terrenato, 117–144. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
* Keay, Simon, ed. 1998. ''The Archaeology of Early Roman Baetica.'' Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology
* Kulikowski, Michael. 2004. ''Late Roman Spain and its Cities.'' Ancient Society and History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
* Lowe, Benedict. 2009. ''Roman Iberia: Economy, Society and Culture.'' London: Duckworth.
* Mierse, William E. 1999. ''Temples and Towns of Roman Iberia: The Social and Architectural Dynamics of Sanctuary Designs from the Third century B.C. to the Third century A.D.'' Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
* Richardson, J. S. 1996. ''The Romans in Spain. History of Spain.'' Oxford: Blackwell.
See also
*
List of Roman sites in Spain
*
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
*
Iberian peninsula
*
Carthaginian Iberia
*
Iberian languages
Iberian languages is a generic term for the languages currently or formerly spoken in the Iberian Peninsula.
Historic languages Pre-Roman languages
The following languages were spoken in the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman occupation an ...
(all languages spoken, past & present, in Iberia)
*
Tartessos (Early Iberian civilization)
**
Tartessian language
**
Southwest script
The Southwest Script or Southwestern Script, also known as Tartessian or South Lusitanian, is a Paleohispanic script used to write an unknown language usually identified as Tartessian. Southwest inscriptions have been found mainly in the sou ...
*
Ophiussa
Ophiussa, also spelled Ophiusa, is the ancient name given by the ancient Greeks to what is now Portuguese territory near the mouth of the river Tagus. It means Land of Serpents.
The expulsion of the ''Oestrimni''
The 4th century Roman poet Ruf ...
**
Oestriminis
*
Iberians
**
Iberian language
**
Iberian scripts
*
Lusitanians
**
Lusitanian language
**
Lusitanian mythology
*
Cynetes
The Cynetes or Conii were one of the pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, living in today's Algarve and Lower Alentejo regions of southern Portugal, and the southern part of Badajoz and the northwestern portions of Córdoba and Ciudad R ...
*
Celtiberians
**
Celtiberian language
**
Celtiberian script
The Celtiberian script is a Paleohispanic script that was the main writing system of the Celtiberian language, an extinct Continental Celtic language, which was also occasionally written using the Latin alphabet. This script is a direct adapt ...
*
Hispania Citerior
*
Hispania Ulterior
*
Tarraconensis
*
Lusitania
*
Gallaecia
*
Baetica
*
Suevi Gallaecia
*
Vandals in Hispania
*
Alans in Hispania
*
Visigothic Hispania
*
Al-Andalus (Muslim Medieval Iberia)
**
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
**
Timeline of the Muslim Occupation of the Iberian peninsula
This is a timeline of notable events during the period of Muslim presence in Iberia, starting with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.
Conquest (711–756)
* 711A Muslim force consisting of Arabs and Berbers of about 7,000 soldiers under ge ...
**
History of Andalucía
*
Reconquista
The ' ( Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the N ...
*
Portugal
**
History of Portugal
**
Timeline of Portuguese history
__NOTOC__
This is a timeline of Portuguese history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Portugal and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Portugal.
Centuri ...
*
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
**
History of Spain
References
Footnotes
Citations
External links
Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)HISPANIA A Map of Roman Spain and Portugal.
Amphorae ex HispaniaHispania EpigraphicaEx Officina Hispana- Ancient Ceramics in Spain
{{Authority control
Ancient history of the Iberian Peninsula
*
*
Former countries on the Iberian Peninsula
New Testament places
States and territories established in the 3rd century BC
States and territories disestablished in the 5th century
218 BC
Pauline churches
210s BC establishments
3rd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic
5th-century disestablishments in the Roman Empire
3rd-century BC establishments in Spain
5th-century disestablishments