The Ligures were a Celtic people who inhabited present-day southern France and northern Italy; the Italian region of Liguria is named for them. The Ligures originally lived in the vast southern region of Western Europe between Catalonia and Tuscany by 2000 BC, but, by the Roman era, the Ligures were confined to the region between the Maritime Alps of southern France and the Po Valley of northern Italy. From the 8th to 5th centuries BC, the migration of the Celts into Italy led to the native Ligures becoming Celticized, adopting many Celtic ways of life. In 600 BC, the Greek colony of Massilia was established on Ligurian territory, and the Ligures resisted further territorial expansion inland. The Ligures also resisted Etruscan expansion, but the Etruscans ultimately founded an emporium at Genua, with the local Ligurian tribe merging with the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC, the Ligures took over Genua. By the 3rd century BC, when the Roman Republic began to expand towards the Iberian Peninsula and Gaul, the Ligures were famed warriors (especially as mercenaries), and they lived on poor soil. During the First Punic War, most Ligurians were hostile to Rome, while a few tribes allied with the Romans. In 238 BC, the Ligures went to war with Rome, but their fleet was destroyed in 234-233 BC. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the Insubres and the Boii, and, during the Second Punic War, the Ligures were split between supporting Rome and Carthage. In 200 BC, after the Ligures and Boii destroyed the Roman city of Placentia, the Romans went to war with the Ligures once again. From 182 BC to 154 BC, the Romans conquered Liguria, and the last Ligures were subdued in 124 BC. In 42 BC, the Ligurian province of Cisalpine Gaul was merged into Italia, and, in 15 BC, Liguria was formally annexed to the Roman Empire. Ligurian names were still found south of Placentia by the early 2nd century AD.