The Albiones or Albioni were a
Gallaecian people living the north coast of modern
Spain in western
Asturias and eastern
Galicia mentioned by
Pliny the Elder.[1] They are generally included in maps of Roman Spain.[2]
The name Albiones is also attested on the "stele of Nicer Clutosi" found near
Vegadeo, which has the inscription:
☧ NICER CLUTOSI (filius) C(astello) CARIACA PRINCIPIS ALBIONUM AN(norum) LXXV HI(c) S(itus) EST, which can be translated as " Nicer, [son] of Clutoso from the house of Cariaca, prince of the Albions, [died aged] 75 years, lies here."[3]
This same area was settled by a group of Britons in the post-Roman period, from whom the region took the name Britonia or Bretoña, mentioned in ecclesiastical sources as Britonensis ecclesia ("British church") and an episcopal see called the sedes Britonarum - see the
History of Galicia.
^Tabula Imperii Romani K-29, Porto: Conimbriga, Bracara, Lucus, Asturica, (Madrid, 1991) 20-21; Richard J.A. Talbert (ed.), Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, map 24, E1.
The
Madeira,
Azores, and
Canary Islands were not occupied by the
Romans. The Madeira and Azores islands were unoccupied until the
Portuguese in the 15th century; the Canary islands, the
Guanches occupied the territory until the Castilians.