Helvetians, << hehl VEE shuhnz, >> were members of a tribe that lived in what is now northwestern Switzerland. Threatened by Germanic tribes, they tried to migrate into Gaul (now mainly France), part of which was controlled by Rome. But troops led by Roman general Julius Caesar defeated the Helvetians in 58 B.C., and the Helvetians were forced to return home. Under Augustus, emperor from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, Rome conquered Switzerland. As a result, the Helvetians adopted Rome’s customs and its Latin language. Today, the French-speaking people of western Switzerland sometimes refer to their area as Helvetia.
