One of the most fascinating things about the French department of Gard in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon is that 2,000 years after the Romans first arrived, their visual and cultural imprint is still omnipresent. In 118 B.C., the Romans built the Via Domitia, a road that connected Italia with Hispania (Spain). It was begun around the time of the first Roman colony in Gaul, Colonia Narbo Martius, which is now known as Narbonne. The Via Domitia allowed Rome to control the whole of southern Gaul and to distribute land to Roman colonists. The A9, the main modern highway in the region, mostly follows this original Roman road.