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The region is named for the Umbri tribe, who settled in the region in protohistoric times (6th century BC): 672 BC is the legendary date of foundation of the town of Terni (Interamna). Their language was Umbrian, a relative of Latin and Oscan.
In the early days of Italian history, Umbria may be taken as having extended over the greater part of northern and central Italy. Archaeological considerations show with approximate certainty that the Umbri are to be identified with the creators of the Terramara, and probably also of the Villanova culture in northern and central Italy, who at the beginning of the Bronze Age displaced the original Ligurian population by an invasion from the north-east.
From the time and starting point of their migrations, as well as from their type of culture, it may be provisionally inferred that the Umbrians were cognate with the Achaeans of prehistoric Greece. Pliny’s statement that they were the most ancient race of Italy may certainly be rejected.The Etruscans were chief enemies of the Umbri, and their invasion proceeded from the western seaboard towards the north and east (lasting from about 700 to 500 BC), eventually driving the Umbrians towards the Apenninic uplands and capturing 300 Umbrian towns. Nevertheless, the Umbrian element of population does not seem to have been eradicated in the conquered districts.
After the downfall of the Etruscan power, Umbrians made an attempt to aid Samnites in their decisive struggle against Rome (308 BC); but their communications with Samnium were impeded by the Roman fortress of Narni (founded 298 BC), and at the great battle of Sentinum (295 BC), which was fought in their own territory, substantially the Umbrians did not help Samnites at all.
Spoleto, the Roman TheatreThe Roman victory at Sentinum initiated the period of integration under the Roman rulers, who established some colonies (e.g., Spoletium) and built the via Flaminia (220 BC), which, passing through the region, became one of the principal vectors for its further development in Antiquity. During the second Punic war and Hannibal's invasion, the battle of Lake Trasimene was fought there, but Umbrians withheld all assistance from him. During the Roman civil war between Mark Antony and Octavian on the other hand (40 BC), the city of Perugia chose the side of the former and was consequently almost completely destroyed by the latter.
In Pliny’s time there still existed in Umbria 49 independent communities, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits furnished to the imperial army attest its continued populousness.
The modern region of Umbria, however, is essentially a different region of Italy than that bearing the same name in Roman times (see Roman Umbria), which extended through most of what is now the northern Marche, to Ravenna, but excluded the west bank of the Tiber — and thus for example Perugia — which was in Etruria, and the area around Norcia, which was in the Sabine territory.
After the decay of the Roman empire, Ostrogoths and Byzantines struggled for the supremacy in the region; the Lombards founded the duchy of Spoleto, covering a large portion of today's Umbria, and ruled from 571 to the 13th century. When Charlemagne conquered most of the Lombard kingdoms in Italy, some Umbrian territories were donated to the Pope, who established his temporal power over them. Some cities acquired a form of autonomy (the comuni); they were often at war with each other in the context of the more general conflict between papacy and empire and between Guelphs and Ghibellines.
The 14th century began with the rise of lordships, the signorie, all of which were gradually subjugated by the Pontifical State, which ruled the region until the end of the 18th century. After the French Revolution and conquest of Italy, Umbria was part of the ephemeral Roman Republic (1789-1799) and of the Napoleonic Empire (1809-1814). In 1