1.
Gallaeci
They spoke a Q-Celtic language related to Northeastern Hispano-Celtic, usually called Gallaic, Gallaecian, or Northwestern Hispano-Celtic. The region was annexed by the Romans in the time of Caesar Augustus during the Cantabrian Wars, the fact that the Gallaeci did not adopt writing until the first contacts with the Roman Empire makes the study of history before the first contacts with Romans impossible. The attack on these Southern Gallaecian peoples, probably in the modern Alto Douro, near the border with Vettones, had a character of punishment, the Gallaeci were a local Atlantic Bronze Age people. During the Iron Age they received several influences, from central-western Europe, the Gallaeci dwelt in hill forts, and the archaeological culture they developed is called Castro culture, a hill-fort culture with round houses. However, an important quantity of Gallaecian hillforts continued to be inhabited until the 5th century AD and these fortified villages tended to be located in the hills, rocky promontories and peninsulas surrounded on the sea, it improved its visibility and the domain over territory.
The location of settlements was studied to a better control of natural resources used by its inhabitants. Gallaeci tribes, The Romans named the region north of the Douro. The Romans established a city in the south of the region which they called Portus Calle, todays Porto, when the Romans first conquered the Callaeci they ruled them as part of the province of Lusitania but created a new province of Callaecia or Gallaecia. The names Callaici and Calle are the origin of todays Gaia, besides, many of the isolated words of Celtic origin preserved in the local Romance languages could have been inherited from these Q-Celtic dialects. This will highlight the following, Gallaecian God of War, similar to the Roman god, great success among the Gallaeci of Braga. Berobreus, god of the Otherworld and beyond, the largest shrine dedicated to Berobreo documented until now, stood in the fort of the Torch of Donón, in the Morrazos Peninsula, front of the Sias Islands. Bormanicus, god of hot springs similar to the Gaulish god, goddess of waters, of fountains and rivers.
Cossus, warrior god, who attained great popularity among the Southern Gallaeci, was one of the most revered gods in ancient Gallaecia, several authors pointed out that Cosso Bandua and are the same God under different names. Reue, associated with the supreme God hierarchy and death, lugus, or Lucubo, linked to prosperity and craft occupations. His figure is associated with the spear and it is one of gods most common among the Celts and many, many place names derived from it throughout Europe Celtic Galicia to Loudoun, and even the naming of people as Gallaecia Louguei. Coventina, goddess of abundance and fertility, strongly associated with the water nymphs, their cult record for most Western Europe, from England to Gallaecia. Endovelicus, god of prophecy and healing, showing the faithful in dreams, Francisco and Castros, Oxford. Silva, Armando Coelho Ferreira da, A Cultura Castreja no Noroeste de Portugal, detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia http, //www. celtiberia. net
2.
Arevaci
The Arevaci or Aravaci, were a Celtic people who settled in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania and which dominated most of Celtiberia from the 4th to late 2nd centuries BC. The Arevaci were of Celtic origin and part of the Celtiberians, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that the ancestors of the Celtiberian groups were installed in the Meseta area of the Iberian peninsula from at least 1000 BC and probably much earlier. This led some historians to state that the Arevaci were actually an off-shot of the latter. They founded or seized several important city-states in northern Celtiberia, namely Clunia, Voluce/Veluka, Uxama Argelae, Termantia named Termes or Termesos and Numantia. Other towns often mentioned in the sources, such as Segovia, Comfluenta, Lutia, Mallia and Colenda have not yet been located. In the late 4th-early 3rd centuries BC however, the Arevaci shifted the direction of their expansion to the east, towards the upper Duero and south into the central Iberian system mountains.
In around the mid-3rd century BC, the Arevaci founded with their neighbours the Lusones and Titii a tribal federation designated the Celtiberian confederacy, with Numantia as federal capital. During the Second Punic War the confederacy kept itself neutral, though Celtiberian mercenaries are mentioned fighting for both sides on a number of occasions, the Arevaci and the Belli revolted against Roman rule in the Celtiberian War. However, not only were the Arevacians ruthlessly quashed by Proconsul Titus Didius in 92 BC, in spite of being technically submitted and finally aggregated to Hispania Citerior after 93 BC, the Arevacians’ own relationship with Rome remained uneasy. During the Sertorian Wars, the Arevaci sided with Quintus Sertorius, the Romanization of Central Spain, Complexity and Change in a Provincial Hinterland. Esteban, J. Koch, Celtic Culture, A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO Inc
3.
Cea (river)
The Cea River is a river of northeastern Spain. It is an affluent of the Esla River, and its course runs through the provinces of León, Valladolid and its source lies in the municipality of Prioro, in León province. It arises from the spring called Fuente del Pescado, at the foot of the Peñas Prietas
4.
Cantabri
These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis in the year 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars. Cantabri is a Latinized form of a name, presumably meaning Highlanders. Following the Roman conquest, this area was, much reduced, making up only Cantabria, regarded as savage and untamable mountaineers, the Cantabri long defied the Roman legions and made a name for themselves for their independent spirit and freedom. Indeed, Cantabri warriors were regarded as being tough and fiercest fighters, suitable for mercenary employment, other important Cantabrian strongholds included Villeca/Vellica and Amaya/Amaia. The remaining Cantabrian population and their lands were absorbed into the newly created Transduriana Province. The Cantabri re-emerged, like their neighbors the Astures, amid the chaos of the Migration Period of the late 4th century, thenceforward the Cantabri started to be Christianized and were violently crushed by the Visigoths in the 6th century.
However and the Cantabri are heard of many decades in the context of the Visigoth wars against the Vascones and they only became fully Latinized in their language and culture after the Muslim Conquest of Iberia in the 8th century. Astures Cantabria Cantabrian Wars Corocotta Sertorian Wars Duchy of Cantabria Almagro-Gorbea, les Celtes dans la péninsule Ibérique. Eutimio Martino, Roma contra Cantabros y Astures – Nueva lectura de las fuentes, º33, Diputación provincial de León/Editorial Eal Terrae, Santander ISBN 84-87081-93-2 Lorrio, Alberto J. A. celtiberia. net http, //www. montebernorio. com
5.
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula /aɪˈbɪəriən pəˈnɪnsjᵿlə/, known as Iberia /aɪˈbɪəriə/, is located in the southwest corner of Europe. The peninsula is divided between Portugal and Spain, comprising most of their territory. With an area of approximately 582,000 km2, it is the second largest European peninsula, at that time, the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabos Iberia was delineated from Keltikē by the Pyrenees and included the land mass southwest of there. The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the Phoenicians, hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC. Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with. According to Strabo, prior historians used Iberia to mean the country side of the Ἶβηρος as far north as the river Rhône in France. Polybius respects that limit, but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, elsewhere he says that Saguntum is on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia.
Strabo refers to the Carretanians as people of the Iberian stock living in the Pyrenees, according to Charles Ebel, the ancient sources in both Latin and Greek use Hispania and Hiberia as synonyms. The confusion of the words was because of an overlapping in political, the Latin word Hiberia, similar to the Greek Iberia, literally translates to land of the Hiberians. This word was derived from the river Ebro, which the Romans called Hiberus, hiber was thus used as a term for peoples living near the river Ebro. The first mention in Roman literature was by the annalist poet Ennius in 200 BC. Virgil refers to the Ipacatos Hiberos in his Georgics, the Roman geographers and other prose writers from the time of the late Roman Republic called the entire peninsula Hispania. As they became interested in the former Carthaginian territories, the Romans began to use the names Hispania Citerior. At the time Hispania was made up of three Roman provinces, Hispania Baetica, Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, Strabo says that the Romans use Hispania and Iberia synonymously, distinguishing between the near northern and the far southern provinces.
Whatever language may generally have been spoken on the peninsula soon gave way to Latin, except for that of the Vascones, the Iberian Peninsula has always been associated with the Ebro, Ibēros in ancient Greek and Ibērus or Hibērus in Latin. The association was so known it was hardly necessary to state, for example. Pliny goes so far as to assert that the Greeks had called the whole of Spain Hiberia because of the Hiberus River, the river appears in the Ebro Treaty of 226 BC between Rome and Carthage, setting the limit of Carthaginian interest at the Ebro. The fullest description of the treaty, stated in Appian, uses Ibērus, with reference to this border, Polybius states that the native name is Ibēr, apparently the original word, stripped of its Greek or Latin -os or -us termination
6.
Geography of Spain
With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the fourth largest country in Western Europe and with an average altitude of 650 m. Its total area is 504,782 km2 of which 499,542 km2 is land and 5,240 km2 is water, Spain lies between latitudes 36° and 44° N, and longitudes 19° W and 5° E. Its Atlantic coast is 710 km long, the Pyrenees mountain range, extends 435 km from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Biscay. Most of Spains boundaries are water, the Mediterranean Sea on the south to the French border, the affiliation of Gibraltar has continued to be a contentious issue between Spain and Britain. The sovereignty of the plazas de soberanía on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco is disputed by Morocco, Spain has a small boi exclave inside France called Llívia. The majority of Spains peninsular region consists of the Meseta Central, other landforms include narrow coastal plains and some lowland river valleys, the most prominent of which is the Andalusian Plain in the southwest. These are commonly grouped into four types, the Meseta Central and associated mountains, other regions, lowland regions.
The Meseta Central is a vast plateau in the heart of peninsular Spain, rimmed by mountains, the Meseta Central slopes gently to the west and to the series of rivers that form some of the border with Portugal. The Sistema Central, described as the spine of the Meseta Central, divides the Meseta into northern and southern subregions. The Sistema Central rims the capital city of Madrid with peaks that rise to 2,400 m north of the city, west of Madrid, the Sistema Central shows its highest peak, Pico Almanzor, of 2,592 m. The mountains of the Sistema Central, which continue westward into Portugal, display some glacial features, the southern portion of the Meseta is further divided by twin mountain ranges, the Montes de Toledo running to the east with the Sierra de Guadalupe, to the west. Their peaks do not rise higher than 1,500 m. With many easy passes, including those that connect the Meseta with the Andalusian Plain and this chain of lower mountain ranges is separated from the Sistema Central to the north by the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula, the Tagus River.
The mountain regions that rim the Meseta Central and are associated with it are the Sierra Morena, the Cordillera Cantábrica, the massif of the Sierra Morena extends northward to the Río Guadiana, which separates it from the Sistema Central. Despite their relatively low elevations, seldom surpassing 1,300 m, the Cordillera Cantábrica, a limestone formation, runs parallel to, and close to, the northern coast near the Bay of Biscay. Its highest points are the Picos de Europa, surpassing 2,600 m, the Cordillera Cantábrica extends 182 km and abruptly drops 1,500 m some 30 km from the coast. To the west lie the hills of the northwest region and to the east the Basque mountains that link them to the Pyrenees, the Sistema Ibérico extends from the Cordillera Cantábrica southeastward and, close to the Mediterranean, spreads out from the Río Ebro to the Río Júcar. The barren, rugged slopes of mountain range cover an area of close to 21,000 square kilometers
7.
Province of Valladolid
Valladolid is a province of northwest Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has a population of 526,223 people in a total of 225 municipalities, an area of 8,110 km2, the capital is the city of Valladolid. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, León, Burgos, Segovia, Ávila and it is, the only Spanish province surrounded only - and entirely - by other provinces of the same autonomous community. Its the only province which doesnt have mountains. Precisely because of its plain has a strategic importance because it is an important communications hub. From the national point of view, is the track that connects Madrid with all the north of Spain, from the international point of view, here goes the shortest land route that connects Portugal with France, from the north of Portugal to the south of France. The capital has an important historical - artistic heritage and one of the important museums of sculpture of Europe. The province of Valladolid is specially famous for his processions of Holy Week, as much in the capital as in the localities of Medina de Rioseco and Medina del Campo.
The province of Valladolid was established as such by the Royal Decree of September 29,1833 driven by the minister Javier de Burgos, in the year 178 BC the Romans conquered the territory. After the invasion of the Iberian peninsula by the Muslims in the year 711, they arrived in these lands just a year later, in 712. Later, during the Reconquista, this area was the subject of battles between the Muslims and the Christian Kingdom of León in the first half of the eleventh century. In 939, after the Battle of Simancas clinched the domain of the basin of the Douro river by the Christian kingdoms, Valladolid was founded in the year 1072 by Count Pedro Ansúrez. From here its history was linked to that of the Crown of Castile, in fact, cities such as Medina del Campo or Valladolid became important administrative centers Castilians and experienced an economic boom. Had a great importance in the Discovery of the Americas in 1492, the revolt of the comuneros in the year 1520, which ended with the ringleaders of that revolt publicly executed in Villalar de los Comuneros.
Valladolid became the capital of the Spanish empire between the years 1601-1606, during the War of the Spanish Succession It positioned the side of the Bourbon pretender, that would be the one who got the throne. In the Peninsular War against France, There were a succession of small battles, the province was controlled by Francos Nationalists throughout the Civil War. During the Franco period there was an exodus from the countryside to the industrial cities. A further exodus occurred with the arrival of democracy in Spain, start a process of economic growth that peaked with the Spanish property bubble and suffers from the economic crisis of 2008-2015, like the rest of the south of Europe
8.
Province of Salamanca
Salamanca is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila and it has an area of 12,349 km ² and in 2014 had a population of 342,459 people. It is divided into 362 municipalities,11 comarcas,32 mancomunidades, of the 362 municipalities, more than half are villages with fewer than 300 people. The Vettones occupied the areas of the current Spanish provinces of Salamanca and Ávila, as well as parts of Cáceres and they were a pre-Roman people of Celtic culture. Their numerous archaeological sites exist throughout the province, and several locality names have Vettone origin and this is the case of Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo. Vettone villages were established on the banks of rivers or on mountains. The area between La Armuña and Salamanca marked the border between Vettones and Vaccaei, the other people of the province. They were situated in the northeast area of the province, Salamanca Province is situated in western Spain, in the western part of Castile and León.
Also of note is the Sierra de Francia mountain range, the Salamanca hydrographic network is mainly formed by the Duero basin. The most important rivers are the Duero, Tormes, Águeda, Huebra, of particular note is the Almendra Dam, five kilometres from the village of Almendra. Constructed between 1964 and 1970, the dam forms part of the system known as the Duero Drops, along with the Castro, Saucelle. It is one of the largest reservoirs in Spain with an area of 86.5 square kilometres and 2.5 billion cubic metres of water. The dam itself is more than half a wide and, at a height of 202 metres. There are Roman Catholic cathedrals at Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, the Old Cathedral of Salamanca was founded by Bishop Jerome of Périgord, in the 12th century and completed in Romanesque/Gothic style in the 14th century. It is dedicated to Santa Maria de la Sede, the New Cathedral of Salamanca was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries in the Late Gothic and Baroque styles. Building began in 1513 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1733 and it was commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile of Spain.
It was declared a monument by royal decree in 1887. List of municipalities in Salamanca Kingdom of León Media related to Province of Salamanca at Wikimedia Commons
9.
Celts
The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities.
By the 6th century, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, today, Scottish Gaelic and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed.
Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region
10.
Province of Burgos
The province of Burgos is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia, Vizcaya, Álava, La Rioja, Soria and its capital is the city of Burgos. The Cartularies of Valpuesta from the monastery Santa María de Valpuesta, the site has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The province has an area of 14,300 km² and a population of approximately 375,000 of whom nearly half live in the capital, the other locations higher than 20,000 inhabitants apart from Burgos are Miranda de Ebro and Aranda de Duero, both very industrialized. The Sierra de la Demanda, the northwesternmost end of the Sistema Ibérico, is located in Burgos Province, the most important rivers in the province are the Ebro and the Duero. The river Duero is in the south of the province and leads to the Atlantic Ocean at Porto, planted near it is a notable vineyard, Ribera de Duero. The north and south-east of the province are mountainous, the Ebro flows to the Mediterranean Sea.
In Valpuesta the oldest texts in the Spanish language has been found, transportation is developed through a wide net of highways and roads. Besides, the province is served by the Burgos Airport, in the Bureba Pass area, archaeologists have found evidence of occupation by hominids and humans for more than one million years. Discoveries have included the earliest hominid skull in Europe, the Celtiberian region that became Burgos was inhabited by the Morgobos, Turmodigi and perhaps the Pellendones, the last inhabitants of the northern part of the Celtiberian region. According to the Greek historian Ptolemy, the cities included, Sisara, Ambisna Segiasamon. Under Roman colonization, it was part of Hispania Citerior and Hispania Tarraconensis, in the fifth century, the Visigoths drove back the Suevi. In the eighth century, the Arabs occupied all of Castiles, alfonso III the Great, king of León reconquered the area around the middle of the ninth century, and built many castles for the defence of Christendom.
The region came to be known as Castile, i. e. land of castles, in the eleventh century, Burgos became the capital of the Kingdom of Castile. The province of Burgos is divided in 10 comarcas, list of municipalities in Burgos Media related to Province of Burgos at Wikimedia Commons Website of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León Website of the Province of Burgos delegation
11.
Coca, Segovia
Coca is a municipality in the province of Segovia, central Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. It is located 50 kilometres northwest of the capital city of Segovia. Coca is known for its 15th-century Mudéjar castle, and as the birthplace of Roman Emperor Theodosius I, the town had a population of 2,131 in 2009. The town is surrounded by forests which contribute to the economy of the town
