The Iberian peninsula became in BC 197 a Roman province.

Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar) and to two provinces created there in the period of the Roman Republic: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was first divided into two other provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed to Tarraconensis. Next, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed Callaecia (or Gallaecia, hence modern Galicia).