HISTORY Channel thinks Lusitanians were/are Spaniards... WTF?

[Luso]

Just watched this minutes ago and I cringed so hard at how they called Viriatus a Spaniard when he was most likely born around what is now Viseu, Portugal... Still thought it was pretty well made besides that;



HISTORY channel doesn't even understand basic geography They always ignore that Portugal exists and has its own territory. Yes... neither Portugal nor Spain existed during this time b/c it was a large territory called Hispania... but still they referred to it only as Spain territory when the larger chunk takes up modern day Portugal. Even the description of the video on youtube says: "When Romans were invading Spain..." lmao at least make it *"when Romans were invading Hispania"

[Morena]

lol. It's the History channel. The channel where History goes to die. At least they're having something on Viriatus.

[Adamm]

Just watched this minutes ago and I cringed so hard at how they called Viriatus a Spaniard when he was born near Viseu, Portugal...:



HISTORY channel doesn't even understand basic geography They always ignore Portugal. In the description of the video "When romans were invading Spain..." lmao

Didnt the Romans called the whole Iberian peninsula 'Hispania'?

[Luso]

Didnt the Romans called the whole Iberian peninsula 'Hispania'?

Romans after this point called the specific region "Lusitania"... but what is annoying is the "historians" citing territory in modern-day Spain every time without mentioning also/instead modern-day Portugal.

[Morena]

Didnt the Romans called the whole Iberian peninsula 'Hispania'?

Yes, and that's where the name "Spain" comes from. But in modern context, it's important to differentiate between that which later became Portugal and that which became Spain, since both places have different historical paths and different heroes. The Luso people and Viriato are uniquely Portuguese. It would have been better if the HC had titled it, "When Rome invaded Hispania" and then made references to the fact that Viriato and the Lusitanians are considered an important part of Portuguese history in its narrative.

[Tietar]

Viriato was not Spaniard, but Hispanic

[Tietar]

Yes, and that's where the name "Spain" comes from. But in modern context, it's important to differentiate between that which later became Portugal and that which became Spain, since both places have different historical paths and different heroes. The Luso people and Viriato are uniquely Portuguese. It would have been better if the HC had titled it, "When Rome invaded Hispania" and then made references to the fact that Viriato and the Lusitanians are considered an important part of Portuguese history in its narrative.

no





In a town in Extremadura there is a celebration in honor of Viriato, because they believe he was born there according to their tradition, therefore the guy of video may not be too wrong

[Damião de Góis]

They don't claim he was "spaniard" in the video. One guy said Spain once but most of the times they say Hispania which is correct.

As for where he was born, no one knows. Only description about his origins is this:

Little is known about Viriatus. The only reference to the location of his native tribe was made by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, who claims he was from the Lusitanian tribes of the ocean side.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viriathus

For the record, i don't consider Viriato portuguese, but hispanic. He also spoke a very different language than what we do nowadays.

no





In a town in Extremadura there is a celebration in honor of Viriato, because they believe he was born there according to their tradition, therefore the guy of video may not be too wrong

Those are roman provinces, not actual Lusitani territory. Which could be more something like this:

[Viriatus91]

It's a bit silly of them to call him either Portuguese or Spaniard as neither nation existed. The concept of the modern-nation state was still centuries away. Generally, the History Channel is pretty cringeworthy as a whole.

[Sebastianus Rex]

As mentioned before Spain is the translation for Hispania, upon the formation of the modern kingdom of Spain made possible by the union of Castille and Aragon, it was resurected the term and idea of reunification of the ancient visighotic kingdom of Hispania.

Nobody knows where Viriato was born but it's not even important, ancient Lusitania encompassed a territory covering present day Portugal south of the Douro river and part of present day Castilla & Leon and Extremadura in Spain. The ancient Roman provincial capital of Lusitania was Emerita Augusta, current day Merida in the province of Badajoz.

Therefore is asinine what some Portuguese historiography did for many years trying to apropriate the lusitanians as the direct ancestors of the modern Portuguese, even more nonsensical if we consider that Portugal originated north of the Douro river (corresponding to ancient Gallaecia and not ancient Lusitania).