The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lusitania

LUSITANIA, lū-sĭ-tā'nĭ-a, Spain, the name of an ancient region of Hispania, the boundaries of which appear to have varied at different times: (1) on south by the Tagus and the ocean on the north and west; (2) bounded on the north by the Douro; (3) one of the three provinces in which Augustus divided the Iberian Peninsula, and lying south of the Tagus. The inhabitants were warlike and brave, lived upon plunder and were rude and unpolished in their manners. The Romans had great difficulty in conquering them, being frequently defeated by Viriathus, chief of the Lusitanians, who was captured by treachery and put to death, about 140 B.C., Lusitania shortly afterward coming under Roman control.