Lusitania was an ancient Roman province incluing approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river, and part of modern Spain (the present autonomous community of Extremadura and a small part of the province of Salamanca). It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people (an Indo-European people, probably Proto-Celtic or Celt). Its capital was Emerita Augusta (currently Mérida), and it was initially part of the Roman Republic province of Hispania Ulterior, before becoming a province of its own in the Roman Empire.