Editing Spain (section)

=== Prehistory and pre-Roman peoples ===
{{Main|Prehistoric Iberia}}
[[File:2014 Castro de Santa Trega. Galiza-2.jpg|thumb|Celtic castro in Galicia]]
Archaeological research at [[Archaeological site of Atapuerca|Atapuerca]] indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populated by [[hominid]]s 1.3&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6256356.stm|title='First west Europe tooth' found|publisher=BBC|date=30 June 2007|access-date=9 August 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021003923/http://encarta.msn.com/text_761575057___0/Spain.html|archive-date=21 October 2009}}</ref>

Modern humans first arrived in Iberia from the north on foot about 35,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=William D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWj4tnHCj04C |title=A Concise History of Spain |last2=Phillips |first2=Carla Rahn |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-60721-6 |pages=12 |language=en}}</ref> The best-known artefacts of these prehistoric human settlements are the paintings in the [[Altamira (cave)|Altamira cave]] of Cantabria in northern Iberia, which were created from 35,600 to 13,500 [[Before Common Era|BCE]] by [[Cro-Magnon]].<ref name="Science2012">{{cite journal|last1=Pike|first1=A. W. G.|last2=Hoffmann|first2=D. L.|last3=Garcia-Diez|first3=M.|last4=Pettitt|first4=P. B.|last5=Alcolea|first5=J.|last6=De Balbin|first6=R.|last7=Gonzalez-Sainz|first7=C.|last8=de las Heras|first8=C.|last9=Lasheras|first9=J. A.|last10=Montes|first10=R.|last11=Zilhao|first11=J.|title=U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain|journal=Science|volume=336|issue=6087|year=2012|pages=1409–1413|issn=0036-8075|doi=10.1126/science.1219957|pmid=22700921|bibcode=2012Sci...336.1409P|s2cid=7807664}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bernaldo de Quirós Guidolti|first1=Federico|last2=Cabrera Valdés|first2=Victoria|journal=Complutum|volume=5|year=1994|title=Cronología del arte paleolítico|url=http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=164330&orden=1&info=link|access-date=17 November 2012|issn=1131-6993|pages=265–276|format=PDF|archive-date=12 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230912033428/https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CMPL/article/view/CMPL9494120265A|url-status=live}}</ref> Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that the Iberian Peninsula acted as one of several major refugia from which northern Europe was repopulated following the end of the [[Quaternary glaciation|last ice age]].

The two largest groups inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman conquest were the [[Iberians]] and the [[Celts]]. The Iberians inhabited the Mediterranean side of the peninsula. The Celts inhabited much of the interior and Atlantic sides of the peninsula. [[Basques]] occupied the western area of the Pyrenees mountain range and adjacent areas; Phoenician-influenced [[Tartessos|Tartessians]] flourished in the southwest; and [[Lusitanians]] and [[Vettones]] occupied areas in the central west. Several cities were founded along the coast by [[Phoenicia]]ns, and trading outposts and colonies were established by [[Greek colonisation|Greeks]] in the East. Eventually, Phoenician-[[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]] expanded inland towards the meseta; however, due to the bellicose inland tribes, the Carthaginians settled on the coasts of the Iberian Peninsula.