Editing Spain (section)

=== Roman Hispania and the Visigothic Kingdom ===
{{Main|Hispania|Visigothic Kingdom}}
[[File:Teatro de Mérida, España, 2017 18.jpg|thumb|The [[Roman Theatre (Mérida)|Roman Theatre]] in [[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]]]]
During the [[Second Punic War]], roughly between 210 and 205&nbsp;BCE, the expanding [[Roman Republic]] captured Carthaginian trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast. Although it took the Romans nearly two centuries to complete the [[Roman conquest of the Iberian peninsula|conquest of the Iberian Peninsula]], they retained control of it for over six centuries. Roman rule was bound together by law, language, and the [[Roman road]].<ref name="hispania">{{cite web|last=Payne|first=Stanley G.|title=A History of Spain and Portugal; Ch. 1 Ancient Hispania|publisher=The Library of Iberian Resources Online|year=1973|url=http://libro.uca.edu/payne1/spainport1.htm|access-date=9 August 2008|archive-date=8 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008122627/https://libro.uca.edu/payne1/spainport1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

The cultures of the pre-Roman populations were gradually [[Romanization of Hispania|Romanised]] (Latinised) at different rates depending on what part of the peninsula they lived in, with local leaders being admitted into the Roman aristocratic class.{{efn|The ''[[latifundia]]'' (sing., ''latifundium''), large estates controlled by the aristocracy, were superimposed on the existing Iberian landholding system.}}<ref name="country">{{cite web|last1=Rinehart|first1=Robert|last2=Seeley|first2=Jo Ann Browning|title=A Country Study: Spain. Chapter 1 – Hispania|publisher=Library of Congress Country Series|year=1998|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+es0014)|access-date=9 August 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922143456/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+es0014%29|archive-date=22 September 2008 }}</ref>

Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) served as a granary for the Roman market, and its harbours exported gold, [[wool]], [[olive oil]], and wine. Agricultural production increased with the introduction of irrigation projects, some of which remain in use. Emperors [[Hadrian]], [[Trajan]], [[Theodosius I]], and the philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] were born in Hispania.{{efn|The poets [[Martial]], [[Quintilian]] and [[Lucan]] were also born in Hispania.}} Christianity was introduced into Hispania in the 1st century CE, and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century.<ref name="country" /> Most of Spain's present languages and religions, as well as the basis of its laws, originate from this period.<ref name="hispania" /> Starting in 170 CE, incursions of North-African [[Mauri]] in the province of [[Hispania Baetica|Baetica]] took place.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://repositorio.iaph.es/bitstream/11532/327602/1/Contribuci%C3%B3n%20al%20estudio%20de%20las%20invasiones%20mauritanas.pdf|chapter=Contribución al estudio de las invasiones mauritanas de la Bética en el siglo II|first=Carlos|last=Alonso Villalobos|year=1984|publisher=Sociedad Española de Estudios Clásicos|title=Actas del II Congreso Andaluz deEstudios Clásicos|volume=II|access-date=5 July 2022|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705191228/https://repositorio.iaph.es/bitstream/11532/327602/1/Contribuci%C3%B3n%20al%20estudio%20de%20las%20invasiones%20mauritanas.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Coronas votivas visigodas en el MAN (16846328238) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Votive crown]] of [[Recceswinth]] from the [[Treasure of Guarrazar]]]]

The [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[Suebi]] and [[Vandals]], together with the [[Sarmatian]] [[Alans]], entered the peninsula after 409, weakening the Western Roman Empire's jurisdiction over Hispania. The Suebi established a kingdom in north-western Iberia, whereas the Vandals established themselves in the south of the peninsula by 420 before crossing over to North Africa in 429. As the western empire disintegrated, the social and economic base became greatly simplified; the successor regimes maintained many of the institutions and laws of the late empire, including Christianity and assimilation into the evolving Roman culture.

The [[Byzantine]]s established an occidental province, [[Spania]], in the south, with the intention of reviving Roman rule throughout Iberia. Eventually, however, Hispania was reunited under [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigothic rule]].