History of the CELTAS in Spain

The celts they were one of the great european peoples in the Ancient Age, since although they are not usually as considered as the Romans or the Greeks their influence on Peoples such as the British, the French or the Iberians were key to the formation of new cultures in these regions. In order to know in depth the passage of this town through the Iberian zone, in this lesson of a Professor we must talk about the history of the Celts in Spain.

Index

1. When did the Celts arrive in Spain?
2. History of the Celts in Galicia
3. The Celtiberians
4. Other Celtic peoples in Spain

The celts They are a complicated town to track, since most historians use the word Celtic to refer to all those peoples whose language came from the Celtic languages, being therefore a enormous variety of peoples that on many occasions did not keep too many similarities except for the use of a language similar.

Celts they occupied much of Europe

Regarding its origin, we can talk about the presence of Celts in the Iberian Peninsula. around 900 BC C. being numerous towns with their similarities those that we can find in the sources. Over the years, other peoples such as the Iberians that remained until the arrival of the Romans, and therefore being one of the original towns of the Spanish and Portuguese.

To know the history of the Celts in Spain we must know their influence in Galicia. And it is that of the main towns that had a presence in Spain the Galician They are considered as the Celts who occupied the area of ​​Galicia during the Ancient Age, and achieving, thanks to their remoteness, be one of the last Celtic peoples to disappear by Roman rule, although being annexed during the so-called Cantabrian Wars.

The Galicians occupied the area that we now know as Galicia, before and after the Roman Empire, being a kind of fusion of the Celts from the British Isles and Indigenous Peoples from the Galician region. The Galician expansion It became much larger than what Galicia is today, occupying part of Asturias and the north of what is currently Portugal.

Regarding their main characteristics, we are not totally sure of all of them, but they do seem to have characteristics very similar to the Celts, such as their religion with celtic gods What Lug or certain typical political mechanisms of the Celts.

The influence that this town had in the future Galicia is demonstrated by the maintenance of many of their customs over the centuries.

The other great Celtic peoples of the Spanish region together with the Gaelics are the Celtiberians, being common that many people do not differentiate between the Celtiberians and the Celts who occupied the Iberian area.

The Celtiberians occupied the Spanish zone from the Iron Age to the arrival of the Romans to the region, being considered by many as the original town of Spain. Being a group of many different subcultures it seems clear that the only common characteristic of all of them was the celtic language, that being the reason why they are spoken of as a Celtic culture.

We are not totally sure how the Celtic influence came to the Iberian Peninsula, but Roman sources speak of the Celtiberians being born as a fusion between Iberian and Celtic cultures, so there must be a way that Celtic thoughts and language reach Iberian lands at some point in the Iron Age.

Regarding their main characteristics we can say that they were very different from the Celtic ideals, since, although they kept Similar elements such as some gods or certain forms of politics, also have a series of their own and unique characteristics as a moral code between regions or a formation of cities very advanced.

To finish this lesson about the Celts in Spain we must talk about the other less relevant cultures of the Celts in the Spanish area, in order to understand the enormous amount of Celtic cultures that occupied the place. The main Celtic cultures in Spain are the following:

• Astures: A town located in the Asturian and León area that had a great influence from Galicia.
• Caristios: Located in the area of ​​Álava and Vizcaya, there is a great debate about whether they were a Celtic people or if, on the contrary, they were Basques.
• Cantabrians: Located in the area of ​​Cantabria and Palencia, we should not be confused between this town and the group of towns that the Romans called Cantabrians.
• Lusitanians: A key town for Hispanic history that had its place in the western part of the peninsula near Portugal, although there are still sources that differ from its Celtic origin and speak of a possible origin Indo-European.
• Gaps: Located in the central basin of the Duero this Celtic town this town is known for its battles against the Romans and against Aníbal Barca.
• Várdulos: Located in the eastern part of the Basque Country, the Várdulos were a people that even today it is debated whether they were really Celts or Aquitaine.
• Turmogos: Located in Burgos and Palencia, this Celtic town was an ancient town that over the years merged with the Celts, forming a mixed town.

Image: Docsity

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• Kruta, V. (1981). The Celts (Vol. 195). Edaf.
• Villar, F. (2005). Basques, Celts and Indo-Europeans. Genes and languages ​​(Vol. 307). University of Salamanca.
• Gorbea, M. TO. (1992). The origin of the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula: Proto-Celts and Celts. Polis: magazine of ideas and political forms of Antiquity, (4), 5-31.