Global InformationList of ancient peoples of Portugal information
In what is today's mainland Portugal territory, before the rule of the Roman Empire, several peoples and tribes were living there for many centuries and they had their own culture, language and political organization (tribal chiefdoms, tribal confederations and early forms of kingdoms and states), these peoples and tribes were in the Iron Age.
Nearly all or maybe all of these peoples and tribes were Celtic Indo-Europeans (Hispano-Celtic/Iberian Celts), Pre-Celtic Indo-Europeans or heavily celticized peoples.
Although there is today a strong identification of the Lusitanians with the territory of modern Portugal, not all the territory were dwelt by the Lusitanians, they were themselves a tribal confederation (they dwelt mainly between the rivers Tagus and Douro in central Portugal, Beira and Estremadura, and parts of the Spanish western Extremadura), other peoples and tribes speaking other languages and with distinct cultures (although related to some point) also lived in the centre, south and north of the modern Portuguese territory. It was the number and predominance of the Lusitanians regarding other peoples and tribes that caused this identification.
With the Roman conquest, the modern territory of Portugal south of the Douro river belonged to the Hispania Ulterior province. After that, in 27 BC, it was created the province of Lusitania (by Augustus) that initially covered the entire western side of the Iberian peninsula including Gallaecia and Asturias, but soon after, these later territories, north of the Douro river, were incorporated in the Hispania Tarraconensis province, an administrative division that lasted until the end of the Roman Empire. The province of Lusitania corresponded roughly with the territories of the Lusitanians (Lusitani), the Turduli Oppidani, the Vettones, the Celtici and the Cynetes and also of the Gallaeci and the Astures for a short period of time.
After the fall of the West Roman Empire, the name Lusitania continued to be used for administrative purposes but in the 9th century CE the name Portugal (a place name that started to be used in the territories north of the Douro river in south Gallaecia) started to be applied to the name of a county, the County of Portucale, and then, after independence from the Kingdom of León, to all the country, replacing the name Lusitania by the name Portugal.