Throughout history, Spain has received different names according to the civilizations that inhabited or explored it.
From the Roman Hispania until Al-Andalus Morisca During the Muslim domain, each period has left its mark on the denomination of the territory.
However, a study suggests that The name of Iberiafor which the Greeks knew the peninsula, It does not have its origin in the Ebro Riveras is commonly believed, but in a river course of the current province of Huelva.
An Huelva origin for the name of Iberia
According to The historian Antonio García and Bellido In his work The most remote names in SpainIberia’s denomination would not come from the Ebro River, but from a river located in the Huelva region, possibly the red or odiel.
His theory is based on an important text on descriptive geography of Pre -Roman Hispania: the Ora Marítimawork by the Latin poet RUFO FESTO AVIENO, from the fourth century DC
In this document, when describing the Huelva coast, Avieno mentions a river called Hiberus And he adds: “Many argue that the Iberians have received his name and not from the river that runs through the restless Basques.”
This statement contradicts the extended belief that The name Iberia It was derived from the Ebroplacing its origin in the peninsular southwest.
According to García and Bellido, the ancient Greeks and Punics first met the Huelva region, because there were important mining and commercial centers, long before the East Peninsular acquired relevance in history.
Igletes: a key people in the denomination
The study also mentions Igletesa town that, according to the historian, inhabited the region of Huelva at the time when the journey contained in the Ora Marítima.
In their investigations, García and Bellido states that these Igletesalso known as Glets In theopompos texts, they could have been decisive in the transmission of the name Hiberia to Greek navigators.
Unlike this peninsular, where Mediterranean explorers did not find outstanding wealth in their first contacts, the South offered a much more attractive scenario for trade.
Huelva and its surroundings had rich emporiums and mining centers of great importance, including copper mines and Tartessos, famous, famous mineral deposits and commercial connection with their commercial connection with their commercial connection with regions such as Galicia and the British Isleswhere the tin came from.
A new approach to the names of Spain
This theory reinforces the idea that The first contact of the Greeks and the Punics with the Iberian Peninsula It occurred in the western region and not in the Eastern, as it has traditionally been considered.
In this context, The river Hiberus mentioned by Avieno would have given the peninsula and its inhabitants, long before The Hispania denomination was extended With the arrival of the Romans.
In short, The origin of the name Iberia I might not be in the Ebrobut in the southwest of the Peninsula, in a fundamental enclave for old civilizations for their mineral wealth and commercial importance.
This vision offers a new perspective on the first names of Spain and the crucial role played by the Huelva region in the history of the Peninsula.
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