In order to conquer and hold vast foreign territories, it was necessary for the Romans to build a massive network of roads.  Many of these can still be seen today. The Roman roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire, by enabling the Romans to move armies. At its peak, the Roman road system spanned 85,004 km and contained about 372 links.The Romans, for military, commercial, and political reasons, became adept at constructing roads, which they called viae. They were always intended primarily as carriage roads, the means of carrying material from one location to another. These long highways were very important in maintaining both the stability and expansion of the empire. The legions made good time on them, and some are still used millennia later on. In late Antiquity these roads played an important part in Roman military reverses by offering avenues of invasion to the barbarians. These roads ran from Rome to every corner of their empire, including what is now Scotland (Caledonia), France (Gaul)  and Spain. Spain was a very important Roman colony where there build no fewer than 34 major roads.