Carthage Empire The origin of the Carthaginian Empire can be traced back to 814 BC, North Africa where Carthage was situated towards the east of Lake Tunis where we can locate Tunisia today. Carthage was basically founded by Phoenician settlers which came from Tyre city which is now known as Sur in Lebanon. Queen Dido was credited with being the founder of this city and since the establishment of this empire; there are numerous myths that can be traced back to the association with Romans and Greeks, essentially their literature (Bowman).

Success of the Carthage Empire

The Carthage city was famous for trade and that proved to be the means of their survival and helped the Carthaginians gain massive amounts of power and spreading the trade routes and networking all along the Mediterranean. In the early 6th century BC, Hanno, a famous Carthaginian explorer went on his trip sailing till the coastline of Africa and reached as far as Sierra Leone. During this time, the Carthaginians were slowly gaining control of different cities under the leadership of Malchus. They successfully captured the coastline areas as well as the central parts in Africa. By the 5th century, Carthage was gradually gaining power in terms of being a region of commerce for the areas near the Mediterranean and was also establishing its own power in the military.

The Phoenician regions and the tribes of Libya had now fallen under the control of the Carthaginians. The Carthage Empire had full control over the North African territories and the parts that lay between Morocco and the borders of Egypt. The influence of the Carthaginian Empire had reached parts of Mediterranean and they conquered the areas of Malta, Sardinia as well as the Balearic Islands and most of the Western side of Sicily. The rapidly expanding empire also soon gained...

Carthage was like the younger state born of Tyre which made them follow the routes of the parent city. Carthage had very good links with Tartessos in the city of Iberia before Carthage experienced its downfall. The states that Iberia usually traded with were those who were highly rich in silver and tin ore which were the two main elements used to produce bronze. After Tartessos fell, the Carthaginians started shifting their trades to the other cities in the north west of Iberia and then went on to extend these in parts of Britain. Some ships even went far enough to reach the African region of Senegal. The Etruscan cities became strong military alliances of the Carthaginians during this period. These were basically the sole reasons for the success of the Carthage Empire and how they became so famous and successful.
In the central Mediterranean, both Greece and Carthage empires were rapidly spreading their empires and conquering as much land as they could and this eventually led to a clash between the two. There were several wars fought, one of the first of which was the Sicilian War where both the empires wanted to gain control of Sicily. The Carthaginians had some outstanding leaders who helped the empire back up on its feet after the losses that it faced up till 410 BC.

The harshest effects were therefore faced by the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars that were fought against Greeks and the last one against the Romans which eventually led to the downfall of the Carthaginian Empire. These Punic Wars were fought under the leadership of the famous ruler Hannibal. After the Third Punic…