Global InformationGermania information
Germania | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Today part of | Germany France Poland Denmark Czech Republic Netherlands Austria |
Germania (/dʒərˈmeɪni.ə/ jər-MAY-nee-ə; Latin: [ɡɛrˈmaːni.a]), also called Magna Germania (English: Great Germania), Germania Libera (English: Free Germania), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a historical region in north-central Europe during the Roman era, which was associated by Roman authors with the Germanic people. The region stretched roughly from the Middle and Lower Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east. It also extended at some point as far south as the Upper and Middle Danube and Pannonia, and to the known parts of southern Scandinavia in the north (this being linked to Germanic Migration Period). Archaeologically, these people correspond roughly to the Roman Iron Age of those regions. While dominated by Germanic people, Magna Germania was also inhabited by a few other Indo-European people.
The Latin name Germania means "land of the Germani", but the etymology of the name Germani itself is uncertain. During the Gallic Wars of the 1st century BC, the Roman general Julius Caesar encountered people originating from beyond the Rhine. He referred to these people as "Germani" and their lands beyond the Rhine as "Germania". In subsequent years, the Roman emperor Augustus sought to expand across the Rhine towards the Elbe, but these efforts were hampered by the victory of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. The prosperous Roman provinces of Germania Superior and Germania Inferior, sometimes collectively referred to as "Roman Germania", were subsequently established in northeast Roman Gaul, while territories east of the Rhine remained independent of Roman control.
From the 3rd century AD, Germanic people moving out of Magna Germania began encroaching upon and occupying parts of Roman Germania. This contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, after which territories of Roman Germania were captured and settled by migrating Germanic people. Large parts of Germania subsequently became part of the Frankish Empire and later East Francia. The name of Germany in English and many other languages is derived from the name Germania.