The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe that lived around the modern Dutch Rhine delta in the area that the Romans called Batavia, from the second half of the first century BC to the third century AD. The name is also applied to several military units employed by the Romans that were originally raised among the Batavi. The tribal name, probably a derivation from batawjo ("good island", from Germanic bat- "good, excellent," which is also in the English "better," and awjo "island, land near water"), refers to the region's fertility, today known as the fruitbasket of the Netherlands (the Betuwe).