1,098
edits
Changes
no edit summary
Navigating the coastline along the extension of the ''Mare Nostrum'' and up to Rome was faster and cheaper than travelling by land. Transport ships enabled the crossing of rivers such as the Guadalquivir to reach Corduba (Córdoba), the Guadiana to reach Emerita Augusta, and the Ebro to arrive in the cities of Cesaraugusta (where the port is visible) and Calagurris.
Production on the Peninsula at this time was primarily based on agriculture, livestock and mining. Cultivation of the Mediterranean dietary trilogy of wheat, olives and wine as well as the herds of horses and flocks of sheep were the basis of wealth in Hispania. While the successful exportation of wine, oil, wool and ''garum'' (a unique seasoned sauce produced in the southwest) brought prosperity to prominent Hispano-Roman families, the mining of metals was an even more lucrative enterprise. There were numerous mining settlements and drilling was commonplace. Sophisticated extraction techniques such as the ''ruina montium'' were used. This technique involved the digging of cavities in mountains, which when filled with water, fragmented the rock walls. Though inadvertent, this technique produced spectacular landscapes like [https://www.facebook.com/guiasviajar/videos/c%C3%B3mo-se-formaron-las-m%C3%A9dulas-en-el-bierzo-de-le%C3%B3n/283727686286376/ Las Médulas]. Mining also greatly increased the wealth of the Roman State, both from its own mining operations or by collecting money from private mining companies financed by aristocratic capital.
The strong economic growth of Hispania and its integration into the Roman Empire afforded the wealthy Hispano-Roman clans the privilege of obtaining Roman citizenship. Three centuries later, in 212, the Edict of Caracalla granted citizenship to all inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula.
