Hispania

Roman province (218 BC - 472 AD)

Hispania was the Roman[a] name for the Iberian Peninsula and the provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.

Hispania
218 BC–472
Timeline of the Roman conquest of Hispania (220 BC–19 BC), with Roman provincial boundaries shown
Timeline of the Roman conquest of Hispania (220 BC–19 BC), with Roman provincial boundaries shown
Capital
40°13′N 4°21′W / 40.21°N 4.35°W / 40.21; -4.35
Common languagesLatin, various Paleohispanic languages
Religion
Traditional indigenous and Roman religion, followed by Christianity
GovernmentAutocracy
Emperor 
• AD 98 – AD 117
Trajan
• AD 117 – AD 138
Hadrian
• AD 379 – AD 395
Theodosius I
LegislatureRoman Senate
Historical eraClassical antiquity
• Established
218 BC
• Disestablished
472
Population
• 
5,000,000 or more
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Carthaginian Iberia
Visigothic Kingdom
Kingdom of the Suebi

During the beginning of the Roman Empire, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis.

Conquests

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Roman conquest

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The Roman invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC and used it as a training ground for tactics against the Carthaginians, the Iberians, the Lusitanians, the Gallaecians and other Celts.

Roman emperor Augustus was not able to complete the conquest until 19 BC. Much of Hispania remained autonomous until the end of the Cantabrian Wars.

Germanic conquest

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Iberian Peninsula (AD 530–AD 570)

In late 409 AD, the Germanic Buri, Suevi and Vandals moved into Iberia together with the Sarmatian Alans. The Suevi created a kingdom in Gallaecia and the Alans created a kingdom in Lusitania.

There were conflicts between the Chalcedonian natives and the Arian Visigoths. In 589, Recared renounced his Arianism and accepted Chalcedonian Christianity, this created an alliance between the Visigothic monarchy and the native Hispano-Romans.

Umayyad conquest

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Umayyad Hispania in 719 AD

On April 711, Berber Umayyad governor Tariq ibn Ziyad led around 1,700 soldiers and invaded southern Hispania from North Africa.[1] The North Africans defeated the Visgothic army in the Battle at Guadalete in 712.

  1. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.

References

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  1. Collins, Roger (1983). Early Medieval Spain. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 151. ISBN 0-312-22464-8.