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History of the Netherlands: Roman Empire
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The present-day territory of the Netherlands has been inhabited since the paleolithic. The historical period sets in with the Roman Empire, as the parts south of the Rhine were included in the province of Gallia Belgica, and later of Germania Inferior. The country was inhabited at the time by various Germanic tribes, and the south was inhabited by Gauls, who merged with newcomers from other Germanic tribes during the migration period. The Salian Franks migrated to Gaul from this region, establishing by the 5th century the powerful Merovingian dynasty.
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Historical accounts of the Netherlands date from the 1st century BC, when Roman forces conquered Germanic and Celtic tribes inhabiting the area. Under Roman rule, peace and prosperity prevailed for more than 250 years. About AD 300 German tribes invaded from the east. The Franks, the most powerful of the invaders, subjugated local tribes and converted them to Christianity. By 800 the territory was ruled by Charlemagne, the greatest of the Frankish kings. During the 9th and 10th centuries, Scandinavian Vikings frequently raided the coastal areas and sailed far up the rivers.
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Elements of the Netherlands' once far-flung empire were granted either full independence or nearly complete autonomy after World War II. Indonesia formally gained its independence in 1949, and Suriname became independent in 1975. The five islands of the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao, Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius, and a part of St. Maarten) and Aruba are integral parts of the Netherlands realm but enjoy a large degree of autonomy.
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If one took the oldest signs of human activity as a starting point for the history of the Netherlands, then such a history would span at least two hundred fifty thousand years. It was... not until Roman times that written sources on its inhabitants became available.
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Roman Empire