Hispania (; ) was the
Roman name for the
Iberian Peninsula. Under the
Republic, Hispania was divided into two
provinces:
Hispania Citerior and
Hispania Ulterior. During the
Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces,
Baetica and
Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed
Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova, later renamed Callaecia (or
Gallaecia, whence modern
Galicia). From Diocletian's
Tetrarchy (AD 284) onwards, the south of remaining Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and probably then too the
Balearic Islands and all the resulting provinces formed one
civil diocese under the
vicarius for the Hispaniae (that is, the
Celtic provinces). The name, Hispania, was also used in the period of
Visigothic rule. The modern name
España derives from Hispania.