The Economic and Social Evolution of the Iberian Peninsula as Revealed through Analysis of Roman Transport Infrastructure

Abstract

Abstract Rome was the first empire that through its expansion not only conquered the maritime perimeter of the Mediterranean but also occupied inland territories far away from the Mediterranean shore. But it was a burdensome task since Rome needed to build an extraordinary communications network that combined sea, river, and land routes in order to achieve this purpose. This chapter tries to analyse the evolution of Roman transport infrastructure in the Iberian Peninsula to detect how different political changes affected the economy and society of this territory as well as the construction and modification of communication routes. This chapter combines archaeological data, demography, and applications of network science analysis of transport networks on the Iberian Peninsula to offer an unprecedented overview of the impact of transport routes on the configuration of the territory. The connectivity of the transport network, which shows the best and worst connected urban settlements, can be related to the urban organization of the peninsula, the political role of the Iberian cities, and the economic design that Rome applied to this newly conquered territory.

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