Winchester more urban settlement type developed, known as an oppidum, although the archaeology of this phase remains obscure. It was overrun by the confederation of Gaulish tribes known as the Belgae sometime during the first century BCE. It seems to have been known as Wentā or Venta, derived from the Brittonic for "town" or "meeting place", or the word for "white" (Welsh "gwyn"), due to Winchester's situation upon chalk. After the Roman conquest of Britain, the settlement served as the capital () of the Belgae and was distinguished as Venta Belgarum, "Venta of the Belgae". Although in the early years of
Venta (river) Venta (river) The Venta (Latvian pronunciation , Lithuanian , , , Livonian "Vǟnta joug") is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia. Towns along the Venta include Mažeikiai (Lithuania), Kuldīga and Ventspils (Latvia). It has only one tributary longer than 100 km, the Abava. Other major tributaries include the Virvyčia (99.7 km) and the Varduva (96 km), which flows into the Venta at the Lithuanian-Latvian border. Smaller tributaries include the Avižlys, which runs for 20 kilometers and flows into