Roman Gaul - Geographical Divisions

Geographical Divisions

Gaul had three geographical divisions, one of which was divided into multiple Roman provinces:

1. Gallia Cisalpina or "Gaul this side of the Alps", covered most of present-day northern Italy.
2. Gallia Narbonensis, formerly Gallia Transalpina or "Gaul across the Alps" was originally conquered and annexed in 121 BC in an attempt to solidify communications between Rome and the Iberian peninsula. It comprised the present-day region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, most of Languedoc-Roussillon, and roughly the southeastern half of Rhône-Alpes.
3. Gallia Comata, or "long haired Gaul", encompassed the remainder of present-day France, Belgium, and westernmost Germany, which the Romans gained through the victory over the Celts in the Gallic Wars. The Romans divided Gallia Comata into three provinces:

Gallia Aquitania

Gallia Belgica

Gallia Lugdunensis

The Romans gave these divisions the term pagi (from which comes the French word pays, "region"); these pagi were organized into civitates, which corresponded more or less with the pre-Conquest communities or polities sometimes described misleadingly as "tribes," such as the Aedui, Allobroges, Bellovaci, and Sequani (see List of Celtic tribes). These administrative groupings would be taken over by the Romans in their system of local control, and these civitates would also be the basis of France's eventual division into ecclesiastical bishoprics and dioceses, which would remain in place—with slight changes—until the French revolution.

• Gaul in the Roman Empire

• Map of Gaul circa 58 BC