History
The expansion of the Germanic tribes 750 BC – AD 1 (after the Penguin Atlas of World
History 1988): Settlements before 750BC
New settlements until 500BC
New settlements until 250BC
New settlements until AD 1
Germania was inhabited by different tribes, the vast majority Germanic but also including some Celtic, Baltic, Scythian, and proto-Slavic. The tribal and ethnic makeup changed over the centuries as a result of assimilation and, most
importantly, migrations. The Germanic people spoke several different dialects.
The classical world knew little about the people who inhabited the north of Europe before the
2nd century BC. In the 5th century BC the Greeks were aware of a group they called Celts (Keltoi). Herodotus also mentioned the Scythians but no other barbarian tribes. At around 320 BC, Pytheas of Massalia sailed around Britain and along the northern coast of Europe, and what he found on his journeys was so unbelievable
that later writers refused to believe him. He may have been the first Mediterranean to distinguish the Germanic people from the Celts. Caesar described the cultural differences between the Germanic tribesmen, the Romans, and the Gauls. He said that the Gauls, although warlike, could be civilised, but the Germanic tribesmen were
far more savage and were a threat to Roman Gaul and so had to be conquered. His accounts of barbaric northern tribes could be described as an
expression of the superiority of Rome, including Roman Gaul. Caesar's accounts portray the Roman fear of the Germanic tribes
and the threat they posed. The perceived menace of the Germanic tribesmen proved accurate. The most complete account of Germania
that has been preserved from Roman times is Tacitus' Germania.
Map showing the distribution of the Germanic tribes in Proto-Germanic times, and stages
of their expansion up to 50 BC, AD 100 and AD 300. The extent of the Roman Empire in 68 BC and AD 117 is also shown.
Tacitus wrote in AD 98:
For the rest, they affirm Germania to be a recent word, lately bestowed. For those who first
passed the Rhine and expulsed the Gauls, and are now named Tungrians, were then called Germani. And thus by degrees the name
of a tribe prevailed, not that of the nation; so that by an appellation at first occasioned by fear and conquest, they afterwards
chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name lately invented were universally called Germani.[5]
Regions
Germania was defined by Rome as having two regions: Lesser Germania, west and south of the
Rhine, occupied by the Romans, and Greater Germania (Magna Germania) east of the Rhine. The occupied Germania was divided
into two provinces: Germania Inferior (Lower Germania) (approximately corresponding to the southern part of the present-day Low Countries) and Germania Superior (Upper Germania) (approximately corresponding to present-day Switzerland and Alsace). The Romans under Augustus began to conquer and defeat the Germania Magna in 12 BC, having the Legati (generals) Germanicus and Tiberius leading the Legions. By AD 6, all of Germania up to the River Elbe was temporarily pacified by the Romans as well as being occupied by them. The Roman plan to complete
the conquest and incorporate all of Magna Germania into the Roman Empire was frustrated when Rome was defeated by the German
tribesmen in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. Augustus then established the boundary of the Roman Empire as being the Rhine and the River Danube.
Modern Use
"Germany" in English and similar names in other languages are derived from "Germania," though
the country's own inhabitants call it "Deutschland". Several modern languages continue to use the name "Germania" including Hebrew (גרמניה), Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Italian.
