Lusitania Lusitania Lusitania (; ; ) or Hispania Lusitana was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and part of western Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a part of the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people). Its capital was "Emerita Augusta" (currently Mérida, Spain), and it was initially part of the Roman Republic province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the Roman Empire. Romans first came to the territory around the mid-2nd century BC. A war
Lusitania 28-24 BC). With Lusitania (and Asturia and Gallaecia), Rome had completed the conquest of the Iberian peninsula, which was then divided by Augustus (25–20 BC or 16-13 BC) into the eastern and northern Hispania Tarraconensis, the southwestern "Hispania Baetica" and the western "Provincia Lusitana". Originally, Lusitania included the territories of Asturia and Gallaecia, but these were later ceded to the jurisdiction of the new "Provincia Tarraconensis" and the former remained as "Provincia Lusitania et Vettones". Its northern border was along the Douro river, while on its eastern side its border passed through "Salmantica" (Salamanca)and "Caesarobriga" (Talavera de la Reina) to