Hispania was a country during Roman Empire, located in what is now Spain and Portugal or the Iberian Peninsula. This country attracted it’s settlers through its abundance of silver.
It was taken over by the Carthaginians after the First Punic War (264-41 B.C.), after they lost Sicily to the Romans. The Romans took the Peninsula from the Carthaginians (Britannica) and divided it into Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior at the end of the Second Punic War thanks to Emperor Augustus. “During the second Punic war the native tribes of the region switched between supporting the Carthaginians and the Romans. Eventually they turned fully against the Romans in a series of revolts.” (United Nations of Roman Victrix [UNRV]).
Hispania was significantly Romanized throughout the imperial period and it came to be one of the most important territories of the Roman Empire [UNRV]. It was the romans that changed the name of the area from Iberia to Hispania, thus paving the way for the name España (Spain) [History of Spain].
During the Roman rule, the metals in the land were exploited, with most of the population working in mines. Fishing was also a job around the coastal areas of the territory, with slavery also being prominent.
Hispania finally fell from the Roman Empire with the great Germanic migrations of the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Alani, Seuvi, Vandals and Visigoths poured through Gaul and into the west, effectively removing Hispania from Roman control by about 409 AD.
Traces of Spain’s Hispania Roman times are still visible in areas of the country. Such places as the amphitheather of ialica, the arches of Bara and Medinaceli are examples of the past. Hispania also contributed a very remarkable list of great figures to the history of Rome, from emperors, like Trajano, to writers, among them Seneca, Lucano, Quintiliano or Marcial, passing by the agronomist Columela or the geographer Mela [History of Spain].
Sources: United Nations of Roman Victrix (UNRV): http://www.unrv.com/provinces/hispania.php Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Hispania-ancient-region-Iberian-Peninsula History of Spain: https://historiaespana.es/edad-antigua/hispania-romana
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Astrix Star is a Dominican Born writer based in the United States of America. She was born on October 7th, 1993 and read her first book at the age of 11 and that book was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Although Astrix fell in love with reading thanks to the Harry Potter series, it wasn’t until the age of 13 when she was in the eight grade that she wrote her first story, a fan fiction about Daniel Radcliffe.
Astrix has multiple unpublished and unedited stories under her belt which she hopes to one day release to the world, but she thought she get started with one that is very close to her heart, a story she has been writing since the age of 14: The It Group.
The youngest of three, Astrix has one sole goal for her novels: incorporate her Latin roots as best as she can. Because although she knows more about the United States than her home country of Dominican Republic, she is proud of her heritage and wants to ignite knowledge of Hispanic culture to her readers.
Astrix Star 