Founded by Phoenician settlers, Carthage grew into the leading commercial power of the western Mediterranean, controlling trade routes to Iberia, Sardinia, Sicily, and the North African coast. Carthaginian merchants dealt in silver, tin, purple dye, salted fish, and agricultural goods, supported by a strong navy and a network of ports and trading posts. The city's wealth and commercial reach brought it into repeated conflict with Greek city-states in Sicily and, later, with Rome during the Punic Wars. Carthaginian trading practices and coinage reflect strong continuity with earlier Phoenician commercial traditions.
Relevance to Trade History
Carthage extended Phoenician commercial traditions into a dominant western Mediterranean trading power whose rivalry with Rome shaped the region's later political and economic history.
Read the full story in our article Phoenician Maritime Trade.
Source: British Museum — Carthage and the Phoenician West. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.