these expert mariners and merchants
established trading posts in the southern
peninsula. The Greeks began to estab-
lish their own trading posts in the 7th
century b.c.
In the 3rd century b.c., much of the
Iberian Peninsula was conquered by
Carthage, a powerful Phoenician city in
what is now Tunisia in North Africa.
They bequeathed Spain its name, calling
it “Ispania,” or “land of rabbits,” for the
preponderance of rabbits they found
there. (Rabbit stew remains a favorite
dish of Spanish country dwellers.) The
Romans later adapted the name as
“Hispania,” which became the basis for
the Spanish national name “España” and
the English name “Spain.”
Carthaginian rule was short-lived.
During the Second Punic War with
Rome (218–201 b.c.), Carthage was
forced to surrender the peninsula to
Rome, which went on to hold sway there
from 205 b.c.until a.d.409. The Iberian
Peninsula was eventually segmented into
three Roman provinces: Lusitania, rough-
ly corresponding to modern Portugal;
Baetica, in what is now southern Andalu-
sia; and Hispania Tarraconensis, the rest
of the peninsula.Roman Spain
Rome’s influence on Spanish history was
profound. While permitting local tradi-
tions to flourish, the empire unified
Spain’s disparate regions, most visibly in a
system of highways, more subtly with the
introduction of Roman law and central
administration. Imperial expansion devel-
oped the peninsula into a thriving source
of grain and mineral wealth, including sil-
ver and gold; the separation between a few
wealthy landowners and a vast peasantry
that arose in Roman times became a hall-
mark of many Hispanic societies. In the
country’s interior, where only villages had
stood, Rome founded such cities as
Corduba (modern Córdoba) and HispalisTHE ROOTS OF A PEOPLE 3A Roman theater at Medellín, Spain (©Philip Baird/www.anthroarcheart.org)