Most of the population lived in the countryside and farming was the main economic activity. However, there were other activities in rural areas, such as forestry, mining and craft industries linked to farm production. The villae, or large isolated farmhouses, were residential centres as well as farms and had a complex production infrastructure. The rural landscape began to change at the end of the 2nd century BC. Numerous villae were built during the time of Augustus as a result of the spread of vine growing in the Tarraconensis.