The rise of Carthage as mistress of the seas and commerce is associated with the Phoenicians. Carthage was one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean.

Around 1000 BC, the eastern Mediterranean shore was settled by various Semitic populations. Those in the area stretching from modern Israel north into modern Lebanon were called Canaanites (and it was from them that the Jews seized the so-called Holy Land). The Semites to the north of modern Israel in the area corresponding more or less to modern Lebanon were called Phoenicians by the Greeks (they are mentioned in Herodotus and Homer and the Hebrew Bible). Their chief cities were Tyre and Sidon. The Phoenicians had risen to power in the area of Tyre in the 11th c BC when the Hittite empire to the north relaxed its grip on the eastern Mediterranean Canaanite areas.

The Phoenicians were sea-faring who traded extensively throughout the Mediterranean. They invented the alphabet and transmitted it through trade to the developing Greek world, which adopted it.

From at least the 8th c BC and traditionally earlier (1186 BC), port areas such as Utica and Carthage were settled by these near Eastern navigators and traders from cities such as Tyre. No doubt they were seeking trading centres (emporia) and stepping stones to Spain and southern Portugal (the fabled Tartessos).

The Phoenician cities were very much involved in trade. There were a number of major ports in the area, and the leading city was Tyre. From Tyre (perhaps with assistance from other Phoenician towns) a number of trading posts were established overseas.

In the sixth century, the Phoenicians were conquered by the Assyrians, and later by the Persians, making Phoenicia virtually disappear. Carthage, however, remained not as a colony, but as an independent state.

Extent Of Phoenician Settlement
The Phoenicians moved west along the coast of North Africa. The area directly west of Egypt is fairly inhospitable, but there are a few settlements in the area. Much more numerous are settlements in the area of Tunisia (where Carthage is). The Phoenicians also settle the southern shore of Iberia (the area south of the Pyrenees, now Portugal and Spain), western Sicily and Sardinia. Nature Of Phoenician Settlement It would seem that unlike Greek colonies, which were intended to be fully autonomous political organizations, the Tyrian settlements were at first simply stations at which Phoenician merchant ships could put in on voyages to gather cargo and and then bring it back home. These trading posts were often built like Tyre herself on offshore islands. Only at a later date did these settlements become proper towns. In particular, the nature of these settlements as trading posts meant that the populations tended to be small and that the interior was not thickly settled.


Dating Of Phoenician Settlement
The Greeks dated Phoenician colonial activities in the West to a much earlier date than their own. Greek colonization in the West begins around 750, but the Greeks dated the earliest Phoenician settlements to the period soon after the fall of Troy, that is, about 350 years earlier. Numerous sites have been excavated, and in none is there material directly datable to early than the eighth century. It would seem that Phoenician colonization took place at about the same time as that of the Greeks. This is perhaps confirmed by the fact that the Greeks occupied the eastern part of Sicily (the part closest for those sailing from Greece), the Phoenician settlements are in the west (the closest area for those sailing from North Africa, the path that would be taken by those approaching from the Near East). Apparently they started at about the same time and wound up splitting the island between them.


Based on text © 1999 Christopher S. Mackay