History
Roman Empire
The first written reference to the name Cantabria emerges around the year 195 BC, in which the historian Cato the Elder speaks in his book Origins about the source of the Ebro River in the country of the Cantabri:
... fluvium Hiberum; is oritur ex Cantabris; magnus atque pulcher, pisculentus.
—Cato the Elder, Origines: VII
From then on, there are continuous references to the Cantabri and Cantabria, as the Cantabri Celts were used as mercenaries in various conflicts, both within the Iberian Peninsula and elsewhere. It is certain that they participated in the war of the Carthaginians against Rome during the Second Punic War, from references by Silius Italicus (Book III) and Horace (Book IV, Ode XIV). They are also mentioned during the siege of Numantia waged by Gaius Hostilius Mancinus, who is said to have lifted the siege of the city and fled upon being informed that Cantabri and Vaccaei were present among his auxiliaries.
Cantabria during the Cantabrian Wars. There is a map shows the borders of the Cantabrian territory relative to modern Cantabria as well as the different tribes who inhabited it, the neighboring towns, and geographic features with their Latin names.The majority of the references in the following period are related to the Cantabrian Wars against Rome which began in the year 29 AD. Roughly 150 references can be found in Greek and Latin texts, attesting to the notoriety of the Cantabri. Their territory was significantly larger than that of modern day Cantabria, bounded on the north by the Cantabrian Sea (the name used by the Romans to refer to the Bay of Biscay), and on the west by the western edge of the Sella River valley (in modern day Asturias). To the south it extended as far as the hill fort of Peña Amaya, in the modern-day province of Burgos, and to the east almost up to Castro Urdiales, in the vicinity of the Aguera River.
Middle Ages
Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, Cantabria regained its independence from the rule of the Visigoths. In the year 574, King Liuvigild attacked Cantabria and managed to capture the south of the country, including the city of Amaya, where he established a Visigoth province called the Duchy of Cantabria, which would serve as a limes or frontier zone to contain the Cantabri Celts as well as their neighbors the Vascones. To the north of this cordon, however, the Cantabri continued to live independently until the Arab invasion.
In the year 714, a mixed Arab/Berber army of Muslim Moors invaded the upper valleys of the Ebro and succeeded in capturing Amaya, the Cantabrian capital, forcing the Cantabrians to stick to the traditional war frontiers, in order to organize their defense, and early joined the Kingdom of Asturias.
In the first chronicles of the Reconquista, Cantabria still appears to be acknowledged as a region. In the Albendense chronicle, when speaking of Alfonso I it says “iste Petri Cantabriae ducis filius fuit, referring to the figure of Peter and the title of Duke of Cantabria, confirming the territory of his duchy.
Borders of the Duchy of Cantabria From this period on, source documents barely reference Cantabria by this name, with the name Asturias predominating in mentions of the comarcas called Asturias de Santillana, Asturias de Trasmiera and Asturias de Laredo.
From the central core formed by the Brotherhood of the Four Cities (Santander, Laredo, Castro Urdiales and San Vicente de la Barquera), the Brotherhood of the Marshes was created, thereby uniting all the important seaports to the East of Asturias.
During the period of the Reconquista, the Four Cities actively participated in the re-settling of Andalusia, dispatching men and ships. The coastal port cities of Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María were repopulated by families from the ports of the Cantabrian Sea. Ships from the Four Cities also took part in the taking of Seville, destroying the ship bridge linking Triana and Sevilla, a war achievement that is pictured with a Carrack and the Torre del Oro of Sevilla in the coat of arms of Santander, Coat of arms of Cantabria and Avilés (Asturias).
