The very earliest inhabitants of Spain are known as the Iberians， and they probably came from North Africa.
From about 900 BC onwards， groups of Celtic people from central Europe started to drift across the Pyrenees into the peninsula and to settle there.
When the power of the Phoenicians declined in the 7th century BC， GREek traders began to settle right along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Their influence on Spanish agriculture was very great.
By 206 BC the last of the Carthaginians had been driven out of the peninsula， and the Romans could begin the difficult task of bringing the native Iberians under control.
