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The first recorded mention of Belgae, part of the mix that make up modern Belgians, was in the year 58 B.C.; Gaius Julius Caesar, departing from
the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis (now Provence),
decided to conquer the rest of the Gauls. In the northern part of Gaul he had to fight in 56 B.C. a series of tribes, which
Strabo said numbered fifteen in all. The Belgae occupied lands on the left bank of the
Rhine,
Whether the Belgae were Celts or Germans occupied 19th century and early 20th century historians. In his book De Bello Gallico
("The Gallic War") Caesar calls these tribes "Belgae" and quotes them in his book about the Gauls: horum omnium fortissimi
sunt Belgae (out of all of those Gauls the Belgians are the most brave). Other tribes that Caesar may have been includuing
among the Belgae were the Leuci, Treviri and Mediomatrici. After the conquest their homeland has been indicated by Roman authors
as "Gallia Belgica". The region reached almost from Paris in the south till the river
Rhine in the north and the east.
The Belgae had made their way across the English Channel into southern England in Caesar's time (Bello Gallica ii:4
and v:12), and settled in some of the southern counties where among their towns were Magnus Portus (Portsmouth) and Venta Belgarum (Winchester).
The Belgae fought in the uprising of Vercingetorix, 52 B.C.. After
their final subjugation, Caesar combined the three parts of Gaul, the territory of the Belgae, Celtae and Aquitani into a single
unwieldy province (Gallia Comata) that was reorganized by Augustus into its traditional cultural divisions. Roman
Belgica was bounded on its east by the Rhine and extended all the way from the North Sea to Lake Constance (Lacus
Brigantinus), including parts of what is now western Switzerland, with its capital at the city of the Remi (Reims).
Under Diocletian, Belgica Prima (capital, Augusta Trevirorum, Trier) and Belgica Secunda (capital, Reims)
formed part of the diocese of Gaul.
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