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'''Gallia Narbonensis''' was a
Roman province located in what is now
Provence in southern
France.
Bordering directly on
Italy, control of the province gave the Roman state several advantages, such as control of the land route between Italy and the
Iberian peninsula; a buffer against attacks on Italy by tribes from
Gaul; and control of the lucrative trade routes of the
Rhone valley, over which commercial goods flowed between Gaul and the trading center of
Massalia.
It became a province in
121 BC, originally under the name of '''Gallia Transalpina'''. The Romans called it ''Provinica Nostra'' ("our province") or simply ''Provincia'' ("the province"), a name which has survived in the modern name of the region.
The name Gallia Narbonensis stems from the Roman colony of Narbo Martius (
Narbonne) which was founded on the coast in
118 BC
