Etruscan Tuscany
The Etruscan in
Tuscany - The François Vase
The Etruscan, a mysterious people coming from Asia Minor, the language of whom has not still been decoded, arrived in Italy around 900 BC and began to colonize Etruria, a region spreading on the territories of present
Tuscany Latium and Umbria. They founded various autonomous city-states forming some
dodecapoli, confederations of twelve cities. Between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, the Etruscan conquered part of the Po Valley and the Corsica.
Although Etruria ore deposits attracted them, the Etruscan were mainly interested in agriculture. They learnt to process iron in order to produce the tools they needed to work the land and their weapons. Etruria became an economic power but the defeats against Greece and Carthage forced The Etruscan to withdraw inside their traditional borders.
A long period of decay followed due to the two above-mentioned defeats and to the subdivision of power among local oligarchies and monarchies, which lead to the final defeat against the Roman in the 2nd century BC.
