Hispania Tarraconensis

Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of modern Spain along with the central plateau. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia, was the province of Hispania Baetica. On the Atlantic west lay the province of Lusitania, partially coincident with modern-day Portugal.

History

The Phoenicians and Carthaginians colonised the Mediterranean coast in the 8th to 6th centuries BC. The Greeks later also established colonies along the coast. The Romans arrived in the 2nd century BC.

The Imperial Roman province called Tarraconensis, supplanted Hispania Citerior, which had been ruled by a consul under the late Republic, in Augustus's reorganization of 27 BC.

Its capital was at Tarraco (modern Tarragona, Catalonia). The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) brought all of Iberia under Roman domination, within the Tarraconensis. The Cantabri in the northwest corner of Iberia (Cantabria) were the last people to be pacified. Tarraconensis was an Imperial province and separate from the two other Iberian provinces — Lusitania (corresponding to modern Portugal plus Spanish Extremadura) and the Senatorial province Baetica, corresponding to the southern part of Spain, or Andalusia. Servius Sulpicius Galba, who served as Emperor briefly in 68–69, governed the province since 61. Pliny the Elder served as procurator in Tarraconensis (73). Under Diocletian, in 293, Hispania Tarraconensis was divided in three smaller provinces: Gallaecia, Carthaginensis and Tarraconensis. The Imperial province of Hispania Tarraconensis lasted until the invasions of the 5th century, beginning in 409, which encouraged the Basques and Cantabri to revolt, and ended with the establishment of a Visigothic kingdom.

Hispania

Hispania (/hɪˈspeɪniəˌ -ˈspæ-/; Latin: [hɪˈspaːnja]) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the 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 Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed Callaecia (or Gallaecia, whence modern Galicia). From Diocletian's Tetrarchy (AD 284) onwards, the south of remaining Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and probably then too the Balearic Islands and all the resulting provinces formed one civil diocese under the vicarius for the Hispaniae (that is, the Celtic provinces). The name, Hispania, was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.

The modern placenames Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania.

Name

The origin of the word Hispania is much disputed and the evidence for the various speculations are based merely upon what are at best mere resemblances, likely to be accidental, and suspect supporting evidence. One theory holds it to be of Punic derivation, from the Phoenician language of colonizing Carthage. Specifically, it may derive from a Punic cognate of Hebrew אי-שפניא (i-shfania) meaning "Island of the Hyrax" or "island of the hare" or "island of the rabbit" (Phoenician-Punic and Hebrew are both Canaanite languages and therefore closely related to each other). Others derive the word from Phoenician span, in the sense of "hidden", and make it indicate "a hidden", that is, "a remote", or "far-distant land".

Hispania (disambiguation)

Hispania, the ancient Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula (comprising modern Portugal and Spain), may mean:

Places

Hispania (journal)

Hispania is a peer-reviewed academic journal and the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. It is published quarterly by the AATSP and covers Spanish and Portuguese literature, linguistics, and pedagogy. Hispania contains three major sections: literature, linguistics, and pedagogy, with a fourth section devoted solely to book and media reviews, which are subdivided into Pan-Hispanic/Luso-Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies, linguistics, language, media, and fiction and film.

History

The first publication of Hispania dates to the earliest days of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese and the first issue featured a summation of the possibilities of the new organization, written by Lawrence Wilkins, as well as an outline of future plans for the journal written by its founding editor in chief, Aurelio M. Espinosa (Stanford University). In the outline, Espinosa defined the journal's chief aim as "the betterment of the teaching of Spanish in our schools and colleges". Accordingly, Hispania's original subtitle was "A Journal Devoted to the Interests of Teachers of Spanish," which reflected the earnest pedagogic tone and content of its first volumes. In keeping with his vision of the journal's purpose, Espinosa published more pedagogical material than any of his successors: fully 64 percent of the articles in the nine volumes he edited were pedagogical in nature.