The
Batavi were an ancient
Germanic tribe that lived around the modern
Dutch Rhine delta in the area that the Romans called
Batavia, from the second half of the first century BC to the third century AD. The name is also applied to several military units employed by the Romans that were originally raised among the Batavi. The tribal name, probably a derivation from
batawjo ("good island", from
Germanic bat- "good, excellent," which is also in the English "better," and
awjo "island, land near water"), refers to the region's fertility, today known as the
fruitbasket of the Netherlands (the
Betuwe).