Page "History of Italy" Paragraph 0

The origins of the Italian history can be traced back to the 9th century BC, when earliest accounts date the presence of Italic tribes in present-day central Italy.

Linguistically, they were divided into Oscans, Umbrians and Latins.

Later the Latin culture became dominant, as Rome emerged as a powerful city-state around 350 BC.

Other pre-Roman civilizations include Magna Graecia ( or Greater Greece ), when Greeks began settling in Southern Italy in the 8th century BC and lasted until the 3rd century BC and also the Etruscan civilization, which flourished between 900 and 150 BC in the central section of the peninsula.