 This conquest of the peninsula started with the Roman acquisition of the former Carthaginian territories in southern Hispania and along the east coast as a result of their defeating the Carthaginians (206 BC) during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), after which the Carthaginian forces left the peninsula.This resulted in an ongoing Roman territorial presence in southern and eastern Hispania.Four years after the end of this war, in 197 BC, the Romans established two Roman provinces.