IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later western provinces

LW-20 Narbonensis Prima

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 province retained the western coastal and inland routes linking Gaul with Hispania. Narbonne’s harbour system, road junctions, urban institutions, and Christian community made it a durable regional centre. Farming, wine, trade, and transport linked its territory to Mediterranean markets.

Visigothic power later made this region especially important as a connection between southern Gaul and the Iberian kingdom. Its political history therefore differed from that of the eastern Rhône districts. Roman legal and ecclesiastical inheritances continued under new rulers, while the provincial office itself lost its earlier place within a functioning western imperial hierarchy.