Hispania
Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and the provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.
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
Roman conquest
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
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
On April 711, Berber Umayyad governor Tariq ibn Ziyad led around 1,700 soldiers and invaded southern Hispania from North Africa. The North Africans defeated the Visgothic army in the Battle at Guadalete in 712.
Notes
References
Places of Ancient Rome