In earlier times, the land now known as Croatia was inhabited by different kinds of humans including Neanderthals and Neolithic cultures. In Roman times, seafaring pirates known to the Romans as the Dalmatian Tribes lived there, as the Histri, Liburni and the Delmatae. The Romans conquered and annexed the territory in 9 AD, calling it the province of "Dalmatia," named after these tribes. During more than 400 years of Roman rule, the province of Dalmatia would become Romanized. The Roman invaders mixed with the natives and their descendants adopted a Roman lifestyle even after the collapse of the Roman state in 476 AD.
