Phoenicia made her way through the only path that Nature had allowed her:the sea . The first Phoenician trade relations were with Egypt, known since ancient times. According to Vandersleyen the Hyksos were Canaanites (i.e. Phoenicians or its predecessors) and the Phoenician era XV dynasty intensified extraordinarily from the XXII Dynasty (945-715 BC).
The overseas expansion perhaps it is, together with the alphabet, the most outstanding note of this civilization.
In the same Greek mythology there are many legends referring to the Phoenician expansion that passed to Rome (such as the legend of the mythical Cadmus that led Beoda to a group of Phoenicians).
This expansion is known through archaeological remains, mythology and cults, and philological evidence and toponyms.
Archaeological remains they are mainly objects of commerce and, above all, ceramics. Phoenician pottery has special well-known characteristics:They are amphorae and vessels with protruding mouths (classic mushroom mouth ) fairing neck and has a bright varnish or red slip .
Phoenician epigraphic documents, mythology and cults, which spread during their travels, are also known, especially the cult of the goddess Astarte.
The philological and toponymic evidence is the Semitic names that remained in the places of expansion and especially the arrival and use of their alphabet.
It is known that since ancient times (Gades was founded around 1100 according to the traditional chronology) the Phoenicians began their expansion towards the West, perhaps looking for tin mines and began to found factories on the Mediterranean coast to trade with the indigenous people. Lately, the existence of pre-phoenician navigations has been admitted during the II millennium in the Mediterranean.
From the first moment, Tire was the city that most enthusiastically embarked on the traveling and colonizing adventure. The rest of the Phoenician cities had a more secondary role in the West.
Undoubtedly, commercial relations and the settlement of Phoenician establishments began earlier in places neighboring the Phoenician cities with which there would already be a traditional commercial exchange. Later they spread throughout the Mediterranean:
Eastern Mediterranean
They settled in Cyprus. Egypt. Asia Minor. Palestine and the Aegean.
With Cyprus (producer of copper, as its name Ciprus indicates) less than 100 km. from the coast of Ugarit (Ras-Shamra) commercial relations would begin very early. Remains are found (seal-cylinders, ceramics and other objects) with characters that already indicate a mixture of Phoenician and indigenous styles dated around the 15th and 16th centuries BC. C. which indicates that the Phoenician contact was already much earlier. Phenicia's relations with other peoples were frequently carried out through this island, in which Kition would be the most important center.
In Egypt The Phoenician colony of Memphis is well known , whose antiquity has not yet been well established and which must have centralized the commercial transactions of the Phoenicians with Egypt mainly in Egyptian metals and manufactures. A temple to the goddess Astarte was founded on it. . Also the Phoenician presence in the Nile Delta.
In Asia Minor they settled, especially on the southern coast (Cilicia ), although there must have been relay establishments. In addition to mythology, there is no reliable news of the Phoenician colonization in the area. Bilingual Phoenician-Hittite documents only exist from the 7th century BC. C. that indicate the existence of a trade.
In South Palestine , Phoenician pottery of burnished red color, dated around the 9th-8th centuries BC. C. testifies Phoenician presence in Gaza.
In the Aegean , the Phoenician civilization developed in different places:
In Rhodes , the Phoenician influence succeeded the Mycenaean. The myths refer to a Falas or Falanto (early Greek name) who led the Phoenicians there from the Trojan War. By the 6th century Greek influence predominates and any Phoenician colonial effort should have ceased altogether.
The main centers were lalysos and Cameiros, on the north coast.
In Crete and the one that was the diffuser center since the Aegeans brought the Mycenaean colonization to the Phoenician coasts, for which it would welcome their mercantile successors, the Phoenicians.
Itannos it is traditionally considered a Phoenician foundation. There is no news of a true colony, but objects from the 9th-8th centuries BC have been found. C. that testify to a trade or Phoenician artists, of whom especially their metallurgy became a luxury object that made them welcome.
In the Central and Western Mediterranean
Settlements stand out in Italy, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands.
Italy
The Phoenicians settled on the east coast of Sicily, before the arrival of the Greeks. That is, before the 8th century BC. c.
In the western part of the island they founded Motya , Panorama (Palermo) and Soloeis (Selinunte).
Phoenician emporiums existed at Syracuse and Thapsos and then retreated towards Panormo before the 8th century BC. c.
Similarly, the Phoenicians settled on the islands of Malta. Pantellaria and Sardinia where they founded important establishments such as Caralis (Caller), Nora, Bithia, Tharros and Sulcis (the Etruscans prevented their settlement in the northern half and Corsica).
On the other hand, there is no evidence of Phoenician establishments on the coasts of the Italian peninsula, possibly because the Greeks and Etruscans were already established.
In North Africa Phoenician settlements on the coast are very early. The first were Utica and Carthage (founded, according to legend, by the queen Dido of Tire in the year 814 BC). and then Hadrumetum (Sousse) and Leptis Magna on the central African coast, Lixus, Mogador and Tingis (Tangier) to the west.
Iberian Peninsula
Gades (Cádiz) was founded in the 12th century BC. C.. according to tradition, and therefore considered the oldest foundation of all those in the West, except for the mythical foundation of Carthage .
But, archaeologically, the Phoenician presence in Spain was only attested from the 8th century, so the traditional date of the foundation of Gades is very doubtful.
Gades It was a key settlement not only because of its geographical and strategic location, but also because it was used to trade metal (tin brought from the Cassiterides Islands) and the riches of Tartessos (Lower Guadalquivir).
From Gades, the Phoenicians settled on the southeast coast of the Peninsula:they are important factories Sexi (Almuñécar, whose necropolis Laurita is the oldest in the West) and Mainake (Malaga).
Later, the Carthaginians settled in Hispania, but the First Punic War annihilated almost the entire Carthaginian domain until Hamilcar revived it in 238 BC. C. and founds Cartago Nova (Cartagena) and Akra Leuke (Alicante).
The Second Punic War marks the end of the Carthaginian Empire in Spain (218-201).
In the Balearic Islands
The Carthaginians founded Ebussus (Ibiza), according to Diodoro, although its origin is Phoenician and much older. Similarly, the name of Mahón (ancient Magus) is Phoenician. This was and is one of the largest natural harbors in the Mediterranean.