Spread of Roman Power. Throughout the period beginning in the third century B.C.E. and ending with the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, increase in geographical and topographical knowledge was interchangeable with the spread of Roman power and wealth. Beginning with the Italian peninsula, information about mountain ranges and rivers was one of the most important resources that the Roman general could have. For this reason Caesar's Bellum gallicum, written in 46 B.C.E., is much more than a military document. It provides useful geographical, topographical, and ethnographical information about Gaul and its various peoples.

Expanding Knowledge. As their power and resources increased, Roman rulers discovered more about the orbis terrarum, the "circle of lands [around the Mediterranean Sea]," which was the inhabited world as they knew it. The westernmost boundary of the inhabited world was Spain, which fell under Roman jurisdiction in 206 B...