Hispania Ulterior

Hispania Ulterior (English: "Further Hispania", or occasionally "Thither Hispania") was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania (modern Portugal, Extremadura and a small part of Salamanca province) and Gallaecia (modern Northern Portugal and Galicia). Its capital was Corduba. Hispania is the Latin term given to the Iberian peninsula. The term can be traced back to at least 200 BC when the term was used by the poet Quintus Ennius. The word is possibly derived from the Punic אי שפן "I-Shaphan" meaning "coast of hyraxes", in turn a misidentification on the part of Phoenician explorers of its numerous rabbits as hyraxes. Ulterior is the comparative form of ulter, which means "that is beyond". According to ancient historian Cassius Dio, the people of the region came from many different tribes. They did not share a common language or a common government. After losing control of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica in the First Punic War, Carthage began to expand into the south of the Iberian peninsula. Soon afterwards, the Second Punic War began. Much of that war between Carthage and Rome took place in Hispania until Scipio Africanus effectively seized control of Hispania from Hannibal and the Carthaginians in the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC. Four years later, Carthage surrendered and ceded its control of the region to Rome after Carthage's defeat in 201 BC. In 197 BC, the peninsula was divided into two provinces because of the presence of two military forces during its conquest. These two regions were Hispania Citerior (Nearer Hispania) and Hispania Ulterior (Further Hispania). The boundary was generally along a line passing from Carthago Nova to the Cantabrian Sea. Hispania Ulterior consisted of what are now Andalusia, Portugal, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country. There was peace in the region until 155 BC when the Lusitanians attacked Hispania Ulterior.