IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later western provinces

LW-24 Alpes Graiae et Poeninae

The empire around 400 CE. The broad colours represent prefectural groupings, while…
The empire around 400 CE. The broad colours represent prefectural groupings, while regional names, major cities, and symbols for selected state industries show the larger administrative and logistical setting. These groupings contained many individual provinces; a region labelled on this map is not necessarily one province.

The combined late province coordinated routes with different local histories. Passes, river valleys, transport services, pastoral movement, and valley agriculture connected its communities to Italy and Gaul. Provincial affiliation with the Gallic sphere differed from the Italian placement of the Cottian Alps.

Winter conditions and mountain topography made administration dependent on practical local knowledge. Episcopal towns and later political authorities inherited this communications landscape. The province’s continuity lay partly in the enduring value of its corridors, even as offices, names, and dominant powers changed around them.