The Illyrians (ancestors of modern Albanians per linguistic, archaeological, and recent ancient DNA evidence) lived in the western Balkans from the Bronze Age onward. Rome conquered the region in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, turning it into the province of Illyricum. After Caracalla's edict in 212 AD, free inhabitants—including Illyrians—became full Roman citizens. Several Roman emperors (Diocletian, Constantine) were Illyrian-born. South Slavs (including Serb ancestors) migrated to the Balkans centuries later, in the 6th–7th centuries AD. Romans engineered much of the infrastructure, but locals were integrated into the empire.