Hispania

Hispania
Hispānia (Latin)
Ἱσπανία (Ancient Greek)
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
Spania

Hispania (Ancient Greek: Ἱσπανία, Latin: Hispānia [hɪsˈpaːnia], Spanish: [isˈpanja]; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, initially as Hispania Nova, which was later renamed "Callaecia" (or Gallaecia, whence modern Galicia). From Diocletian's Tetrarchy (AD 293) onwards, the south of the remainder of Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and all of the mainland Hispanic provinces, along with the Balearic Islands and the North African province of Mauretania Tingitana, were later grouped into a civil diocese headed by a vicarius. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.

The modern place names Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania.