The Batavi were once a tribe of the Chatti, living on the further bank of the Rhine. But an outbreak of civil war had driven them across the river, where they settled in a still unoccupied district on the frontier of Gaul and also in the neighbouring island, enclosed on one side by the ocean and on the other three sides by the Rhine.
Batavoek, katoen zati batek, Rheno ondoan bizi zirenean barne sedizio batek egotzirik, bizilagunez hutsik zegoen galiar itsasertzaren azken aldea okupatu zuten, baita inguruko irla bat ere, ozeanoak aurretik eta Rhenok atzetik eta alboetatik bainatzen duena.