218 BCE–409

Roman Hispania

In 218 BCE a Roman army landed at Emporion to cut off Hannibal's supplies. What began as a move in the Second Punic War became a conquest of two centuries, which ended only with Augustus's Cantabrian Wars in 19 BCE.

Augustus divided Hispania into three provinces, Baetica, Lusitania and Tarraconensis, with their capitals at Corduba, Augusta Emerita and Tarraco. Cities carried Roman life across the peninsula: Caesar and Augustus founded colonies and municipalities, and Vespasian granted Latin rights to every city in Hispania.

For centuries Hispania was one of the most stable parts of the Empire, and the emperors Trajan and Hadrian came from Italica. Roman rule ended in 409, when the Vandals, Suebi and Alans entered the peninsula.

What remains are its bridges, theatres, walls and aqueducts, many still standing in towns and fields, and Latin, the parent of the languages spoken in Spain and Portugal today.

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by Phantazein

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