Spain has been invaded and inhabited by many different peoples. The peninsula was originally settled by groups from North Africa and western Europe, including the Iberians, Celts, and Basques. Throughout antiquity it was a constant point of attraction for the more advanced civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean. From about 1100 BC the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Carthaginians began to establish settlements and trading posts, especially on the eastern and southern coasts.

These outsiders found a mosaic of peoples collectively known as the Iberians, who, however, did not have a single culture or even share a single language. There was a kingdom called Tartessus, which flourished between 800 and 550 BC, that ruled much of the valley of the Guadalquivir. Elsewhere political organization was less sophisticated, consisting of a number of city-states in the coastal regions and of clans in the interior and the northwest.

The Phoenician and Greek presence was limited to small coastal regions. The Carthaginians were the first to move inland; late in the 3rd century BC they set out to conquer as much of the peninsula as they could. Yet their success led to intervention in Iberia from the Romans, who quickly drove out the Carthaginians and conquered much of the peninsula. But the Romans had to deal with a number of revolts, and it was only in 19 BC, after almost 200 years of warfare, that they secured their rule over all of Iberia.

The Romans brought Iberia under a single political authority for the first time, but they did not try to impose a single culture on the inhabitants. Much of the indigenous elite did adopt Roman culture and became Roman citizens, particularly in the south and east where the Roman presence was strongest. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.)