Gallia Belgica, which means"Belgian Gaul" inLatin, was aRoman province. Different parts of it are in several countries today, includingBelgium,Luxembourg, a big part of northernFrance, and part of theRhineland inGermany, which is the part of Germany west of theRhine River.
The people who lived in Gallia Belgica were called theBelgae. They were a group of tribes within the bigger country calledGaul, which covered all of modern France. According toJulius Caesar, the Belgae were different from the other Gauls. He said that the border between Belgica and the mainCeltic part of Gaul was theMarne and theSeine rivers[1] and that the border with Germania was the Rhine river.[2] It is no longer certain what language or languages were spoken in Gallia Belgica, but historians know there was an influence of both Celtic andGermanic languages.
The area was conquered in 57 BC by Julius Caesar. EmperorDiocletian changed the Gaulish provinces around 300 AD. He split Belgica into two provinces:Belgica Prima andBelgica Secunda. Belgica Prima had Treveri (Trier) as its main city and was the eastern part. The border between Belgica Prima and Belgica Secunda was along theRiver Meuse.
In 406 AD, theVandals,Burgundians and other tribes crossed the Rhine. They defeated the Gaulish forces. Belgica Secunda became in the 5th century the center ofClovis'Merovingian kingdom and during the 8th century the heart of theCarolingian Empire.
