Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar) and to two provinces created there in the period of the Roman Republic: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. In the period of the Roman Empire, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two other provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed to Tarraconensis.

Prehistory and Early 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 Neanderthal enters Iberia and there will eventually take 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 by Modern Humans occurs, these where Nomadic Hunter-gathereres coming from the of the Steppes of Central Asia, characterized by the M173 mutation in the Y chromosome, defining them as an Haplogroup R population. 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, coming from Southern France. Here, this geneticaly homogenous population (caracterized by the M173 mutation in the Y chromosome), will develop the M343 mutation, giving rise to the R1b Haplogroup, still dominant in modern Portuguese and Spanish populations. In the millenia after this event, the Neanderthal became extinct and local Modern human cultures thrived, producing Pre-historic Art such as the one in L'Arbreda Cave and in the Valley of Foz Côa.

Related Topics:
Early Hominids - Homo erectus - Homo heidelbergensis - Homo antecessor - Paleolithic - Neanderthal - Modern Humans - 40th millennium BC - Upper Paleolithic - Last Ice Age - Europe - Nomadic - Hunter-gatherer - Steppes - Central Asia - Mutation - Y chromosome - Haplogroup - Population - 30th millennium BC - Southern Europe - Iberia - Southern France - Geneticaly homogenous population - M343 - Portuguese - Spanish - Pre-historic Art - L'Arbreda Cave - Valley of Foz Côa

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In the Mesolithic period, beginning in the 10th millennium BC, the Allerød Oscillation occurs, an interstadial Deglaciation that weakens the rigourous conditions of the Ice Age, and the populations sheltered in Iberia, descendents of the Cro-Magnon, migrate and recolonize all of Western Europe, thus spreading the R1b Haplogroup populations (still dominat, in variant degrees, from Iberia to Scandinavia). In this period we find 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.

Related Topics:
Mesolithic - 10th millennium BC - Allerød Oscillation - Deglaciation - Ice Age - Iberia - Cro-Magnon - Western Europe - Haplogroup - Scandinavia - Azilian - Southern France - Douro - Muge Culture - Tagus

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The Neolithic will bring changes to the human landscape of Iberia (from the 5th millennium BC onwards), with the development of Agriculture and the beginning of the Megalithic European culture, spreading to most of Europe and having one of its oldest and main centres in the territory of modern Portugal, as well as the Chalcolithic and Beaker cultures.

Related Topics:
Neolithic - 5th millennium BC - Agriculture - Megalithic European culture - Europe - Portugal - Chalcolithic - Beaker

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During the 1st millennium BC, in the Bronze Age, one can witness the first wave of Indo-European migrations into Iberia. These will later (7th and 5th Centuries BC) be followed by others of clearly Celtic nature. Eventually urban cultures develop in southern Iberia, such as Tartessos, strongly influenced by the Phoenician colonization of coastal Mediterranean Iberia, in competition with Greek colonization. These two processes define Iberia's cultural landscape - a Mediterranean southeast and a Continental northwest.

Related Topics:
1st millennium BC - Bronze Age - Indo-European - 7th - 5th - Celtic - Tartessos - Phoenician - Mediterranean - Greek

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Phoenician and Greek colonization eventually faded and gave rise to the growing presence of Carthage. After its defeat by the Romans in the First Punic War (264 BC-41 BC), Carthage compensated for its loss of Sicily by rebuilding a commercial empire in Hispania. The country became the staging ground for Hannibal's epic invasion of Italy during the Second Punic War (218 BC-201 BC).

Related Topics:
Greek - Carthage - Romans - First Punic War - 264 BC - 41 BC - Sicily - Hannibal - Italy - Second Punic War - 218 BC - 201 BC

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