Ligures

The Ligures or Ligurians were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named.

In pre-Roman times, the Ligurians occupied the present-day Italian region of Liguria, Piedmont, northern Tuscany, western Lombardy, western Emilia-Romagna and northern Sardinia, reaching also Elba and Sicily. They inhabited also the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Corsica. However, it is generally believed that around 2000 BC, the Ligurians occupied a much larger area, extenting as far as what today is Catalonia (in the north-eastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula).

The origins of the ancient Ligurians are unclear, and an autochthonous origin is increasingly probable. Little is known about the ancient Ligurian language, which is based on placenames and inscriptions on steles representing warriors. The lack of evidence does not allow a certain linguistic classification; it may be Pre-Indo-European or an Indo-European language.

Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were also known in antiquity as Celto-Ligurians.