Phoenicianstw

About 1100 B.C., after Crete's decline, the most powerful traders along the Mediterranean were the Phoenicians. Phoenicia was mainly the area now known as Lebanon. Phoenicians never united into a country, instead they founded a number of wealthy city-states around the Mediterranean that sometimes competed with one another. The first cities in Phoenicia, such as Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, were important trading centers.The Phoenicians were remarkable shipbuilders and seafarers. They were the first Mediterranean people to venture beyond the strait of Gibralter.

The Phoenicians most important city-states in the eastern Mediterranean were Sidon and Tyre, both known for their production of red-purple dye, and Byblos, a trading center for papyrus. Phoenicians built colonies along the northern coast of Africa and the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The colonies were about 30 miles apart (about the distance a Phoenician ship could sail in a day). The greatest Phoenician colony was at Carthage, in North Africa. Settlers from Tyre founded Carthage in about 814 B.C.