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| Hispania Nova | |
|---|---|
| Conventional long name | Hispania Nova |
| Common name | Hispania Nova |
| Era | Antiquity and Middle Ages |
| Status | Historical region |
| Capital | Toledo |
| Year start | Roman Republic era |
| Year end | Early Modern concept |
| Today | Spain, Portugal, France, Gibraltar |
Hispania Nova is a historical name applied at different times to territories on the Iberian Peninsula and adjacent Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. The term appeared in classical sources, administrative documents, medieval chronicles, and early modern cartography, often overlapping with provinces, kingdoms, and dioceses such as Baetica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis, Gallaecia, and Cartagena (Spain). Scholars have debated its application in relation to entities like the Visigothic Kingdom, the Caliphate of Córdoba, the Crown of Castile, and the Kingdom of Portugal.
Ancient authors such as Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Ptolemy used variants of Hispania when describing the peninsula alongside regional names like Iberia (ancient region), Celtiberia, Lusitania, and Cantabria. Medieval Latin sources including Isidore of Seville and Jordanes preserved classical toponyms, while Carolingian annals like the Royal Frankish Annals and documents from Alfonso III of León adapted Hispania into terms such as Hispania Maior and Hispania Nova. Renaissance humanists—Erasmus, Aldus Manutius, Antonio de Nebrija—revived classical nomenclature on maps by Gerardus Mercator, Abraham Ortelius, and Martin Waldseemüller, influencing legal texts like the Las Siete Partidas and diplomatic correspondence of the Habsburg Netherlands and Spanish Empire.
Pre-Roman peoples recorded by Polybius and Livy included the Celtiberians, Iberians, Tartessos, Lusitanians, Vascones, Gallaeci, and Cantabri. Roman conquest under generals such as Scipio Africanus, Pompey the Great, and Julius Caesar produced provinces like Hispania Ulterior, Hispania Citerior, Baetica, and Tarraconensis. Administrative reforms by Emperor Augustus and later by Diocletian and Constantine the Great reconfigured provinces, dioceses, and the Praetorian Prefecture of the Gauls, with cities including Emerita Augusta, Corduba, Toletum, Barcino, Saguntum, Carthago Nova, and Bracara Augusta rising as ecclesiastical and municipal centers. Conflicts such as the Cantabrian Wars, the Sertorian War, and the Lusitanian War shaped Romanization, alongside urban institutions preserved in inscriptions and law codices like the Corpus Juris Civilis.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, successor polities—Visigothic Kingdom, Vandal Kingdom (transient), and the Byzantine Empire footholds—reorganized territory into dioceses and kingdoms. The Islamic conquest led by commanders linked to the Umayyad Caliphate and figures like Tarik ibn Ziyad established al-Andalus, confronting Christian polities such as Kingdom of Asturias, Kingdom of León, Kingdom of Navarre, and later the Kingdom of Castile. The Reconquista featured battles like Battle of Covadonga, Battle of Simancas, Siege of Toledo (1085), and Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, with dynasties including the House of Jiménez, House of Burgundy (Portugal), House of Trastámara, and the House of Habsburg. Early modern cartographers and chroniclers—Pedro Mártir de Anglería, José de Acosta, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas—used Hispania Nova variably to describe New World connections, imperial jurisdiction, and classical revival in texts printed by Juan Vázquez de Molina and patrons like Philip II of Spain.
Medieval and early modern usage of the name intersected with territorial units: the Roman provinces Tarraconensis, Baetica, Lusitania; the Visigothic dioceses; the Muslim Taifa of Zaragoza and Taifa of Seville boundaries; and the Christian realms of Castile and León, Aragon, Portugal, and Navarre. Colonial-era scholars linked Hispania Nova to demarcations on maps by Diego Gutiérrez, Sebastián Münster, and editions of Ptolemy, shaping perceptions in courts such as Vatican City and at institutions like the University of Salamanca and the Escorial Library. Military and diplomatic accords—Treaty of Tordesillas, Treaty of Utrecht—affected overseas possessions but also influenced metropolitan territorial terminology in chancelleries like the Council of Castile and the Council of the Indies.
Classical Hispania hosted material cultures represented in archaeological sites like Numantia, Italica, Segobriga, Altamira cave, and mosaics from Villa Romana de La Olmeda. Languages recorded include Latin, Vulgar Latin, Basque, Mozarabic, Arabic, and early forms of Spanish language, Portuguese language, and Galician language. Trade networks connected ports such as Gadir, Empúries, Cádiz (Gades), Valencia, and Barcelona to markets in Carthage, Massilia, Rome, Alexandria, and later Antwerp and Seville. Economic staples included olive oil, wine, garum, and mining—silver from Sierra Morena, gold from Las Médulas, and iron from El Bierzo—facilitating relations with institutions like the Roman Senate, medieval guilds, and merchant families documented in archives of Florence and Genoa.
Modern historiography on the term involves scholars across disciplines at universities like Complutense University of Madrid, University of Barcelona, University of Coimbra, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and research centers such as the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Real Academia de la Historia. Debates engage primary sources including Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, Historia Silense, Chronicon Mundi, and documentary corpora edited by Miguel de Cervantes-era printers. Antiquarian interest from figures like Flavius Josephus (references), Edward Gibbon (comparative narratives), and modern historians such as Américo Castro, Pierre Vilar, Julio Caro Baroja, and Raymond Carr foreground regional identities, imperial integration, and the continuity of institutions from Roman law to medieval fueros and early modern statutes. The term persists in cultural memory via museums like the Museo Arqueológico Nacional (Spain), archives such as the Archivo General de Indias, and commemorations in literature, cartography, and debates over regional autonomy within Spain and Portugal.
Category:Historical regions of Europe