View source for Germania Inferior

{{Short description|Roman province in Western Europe (83 AD – 475 AD)}}
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{{Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name  = {{aut|Lower Germania}}
|conventional_long_name = Germania Inferior
|common_name  = Germania Inferior
|subdivision  = [[Roman province|Province]]
|nation       = the [[Roman Empire]]
|era          = [[ancient history|Antiquity]]
|capital      = [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium]] (CCAA)
|title_leader = 
|image_map    = Roman Empire Germania Inferior.svg
|image_map_caption = The province of Germania Inferior within the Roman Empire, {{circa|117}}
|life_span    =
|year_start   = 83
|event_start  = Established after the [[Gallic wars]]
|event1       = [[Gallic Empire]]
|date_event1  = 260–274
|year_end     = 475
|event_end    = [[Francia]]
|today        = [[Netherlands]]<br>[[Belgium]]<br>[[Germany]]<br>[[Luxembourg]]
|p1           = 
|flag_p1      = 
|s1           = Frankish Empire
|flag_s1      = Flag of None.svg
}}'''''Germania Inferior''''' ("Lower Germania") was a [[Roman province]] from AD 85 until the province was renamed '''''Germania Secunda''''' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the [[Rhine]] bordering the [[North Sea]]. The capital of the province was [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium]] (modern-day [[Cologne]]).

==Geography==
[[File:Germania inferior roads towns.png|thumb|left|200x200px|Borders of the Germania Inferior, with main roads and cities/forts]]
According to [[Geography (Ptolemy)|Ptolemy]] (2.9), Germania Inferior included the Rhine from its mouth up to the mouth of the ''Obringa'', a river identified with either the [[Aar]] or the [[Moselle (river)|Moselle]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P4LZM4qKIRkC&pg=RA2-PA10 "Obringa"] in Bruzen la Martiniere, ''Le Grand Dictionnaire Geographique'' Volume 6, 1737;
Albert Forbiger, ''Handbuch Der Alten Geographie'' Volume 3, Mayer und Wigand, 1848, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AvwoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127 fn (***) p. 126f.]</ref> The territory included modern-day [[Luxembourg]], the southern [[Netherlands]], part of [[Belgium]], and part of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] in [[Germany]], west of the Rhine.

The principal settlements of the province were Castra Vetera and Colonia Ulpia Traiana (both near [[Xanten]]), Coriovallum ([[Heerlen]]), [[Albaniana (Roman fort)|Albaniana]] ([[Alphen aan den Rijn]]), [[Lugdunum Batavorum]] ([[Katwijk]]), [[Forum Hadriani]] ([[Voorburg]]), Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum ([[Nijmegen]]), [[Traiectum (Utrecht)]], Atuatuca Tungrorum ([[Tongeren]]), Bona ([[Bonn]]), and [[Colonia Agrippinensis]] ([[Cologne]]), the capital of Germania Inferior.

==History==
{{Main|Germani cisrhenani}}
{{further|Romanization (cultural)}}

[[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|300px|The Roman empire in the time of [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138), showing, on the lower [[Rhine]] river, the [[imperial province]] of Germania Inferior (NW Germany/S. Netherlands, E. Belgium), and the three [[Roman legion|legions]] deployed there in 125. Note that the coast lines shown in the map are those of today, known to be different from those in Roman times in the North Sea area.]]The first confrontations between a [[Roman army]] and the peoples of Germania Inferior occurred during [[Julius Caesar]]'s [[Gallic Wars]]. Caesar invaded the region in 57 BC and in the next three years annihilated several tribes, including the [[Eburones]] and the [[Menapii]], whom Caesar called "Germanic" but who probably were Celtic or at least mixed Celtic-Germanic. Germanic influence (mainly through the [[Tungri]]) increased during Roman times, leading to the assimilation of all Celtic peoples in the area. In fact, Germania Inferior had Roman settlements since around 50 BC and was at first part of [[Gallia Belgica]].

It was only under [[Domitian]] (r. AD 81''–''96) that new territories were acquired, between the high valleys of the Rhine and the Danube, following the campaigns conducted by his generals in AD 83''–''85, which led to the creation of two new imperial provinces, lower and upper Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Maureen |title=Romans, Celts & Germans: the German provinces of Rome |date=2002 |publisher=Tempus Publ |isbn=978-0-7524-1912-1 |edition=Reprinted |location=Stroud |pages=15 |language=en}}</ref> Although this region had been occupied since the reign of [[Augustus]], it wasn't formally established as a [[Roman province]] until around AD 85, with its capital at [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium]] (modern-day [[Cologne]]).<ref>
{{cite book |last=Rüger |first=C. |title=The Cambridge Ancient History: X, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-521-26430-8 |editor=Alan K. Bowman |edition=2nd |volume=10 |pages=527–528 |chapter=Germany |editor2=Edward Champlin |editor2-link=Edward Champlin |editor3=Andrew Lintott |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZLW4-wba7UC&pg=PA528 |orig-year=1996}}
</ref> It later became an [[imperial province]]. It lay north of [[Germania Superior]]; these two together made up [[Lesser Germania]]. The adjective ''Inferior'' refers to its downstream position.

The army of Germania Inferior, typically shown on inscriptions as EX.GER.INF. (''Exercitus Germaniae Inferioris''), included several [[Roman legion|legions]] at various times: of these, Legions [[Legio I Minervia|I ''Minervia'']] and [[Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix|XXX ''Ulpia Victrix'']] were the most permanent. The Roman Navy's ''[[Classis Germanica]]'' (Germanic fleet), charged with patrolling the [[Rhine]] and the [[North Sea]] coast, were based at [[Castra Vetera]] and later at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis.

As attested in the early 5th century document ''[[Notitia Dignitatum]]'', the province was renamed '''Germania Secunda''' ('''Germania II''') in the 4th century. It was administered by a ''[[consularis]]'' and formed part of the [[Diocese of Gaul]]. Up to the end of Roman control, it was an intensely garrisoned province that was inhabited by Romans and [[Ripuarian Franks]] in the 5th century. Its capital remained at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, which also became the seat of a [[bishop of Cologne|Christian bishopric]], which was in charge of an ecclesiastical province that survived the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]].

After the final abandonment of the province it became the core of the [[Francia|Frankish Kingdom]].

==See also==
* [[List of Roman governors of Germania Inferior]]
* [[Revolt of the Batavi]], a major uprising against Roman rule
* [[Germanicus]], the role of Germania Inferior in Roman politics
* [[Roman Britain#Trade|Roman Britain's continental trade]]
* [[Germania]]
* [[Vetera]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |first=Jona |last=Lendering |title=De randen van de aarde : de Romeinen tussen Schelde en Eems |year=2000 |location=Amsterdam |isbn=90-263-1630-5 }}

==External links==
* [https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/inferior.htm Livius.org: Germania inferior] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607071937/https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/inferior.htm |date=2020-06-07 }}
* https://web.archive.org/web/20021027093553/http://www.library.ucla.edu/yrl/reference/maps/blaeu/germania-inferior-nt.htm#qvarta_branbantiae Blaeu Atlas Germania Inferior
*[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3301.htm Hilary of Poitiers, "On the Councils"]. An open letter sent to the bishop of the province of Germania Secunda, among others.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201721/http://biaa.mmsh.univ-aix.fr/Record.htm?idlist=1&record=120812494809 Documents: Province ecclésiastique de Cologne (Germania secunda)]

{{Germanic peoples}}
{{Ancient Roman sites in Germany}}
{{Roman provinces AD 117}}
{{Roman history by territory}}
{{Late Roman Provinces|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Germania Inferior| ]]
[[Category:Germany in the Roman era]]
[[Category:Former states in the Low Countries]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 80s]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 5th century]]
[[Category:80s establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:475 disestablishments]]
[[Category:470s disestablishments in the Roman Empire]]