The Phoenicians in the central-west Mediterranean and Atlantic between 'precolonization' and the 'first colonization'

The purpose of the following article is to assess when and how the Phoenicians first ranged across the central-west Mediterranean and Atlantic. This writer believes that the Phoenicians used the skills and knowledge of other sailors in their progressive expansion in the Mediterranean and Atlantic markets. Initially the strongest bond was with the Cypriot element, through which, between the end of the 10th and the first half of the 9th century BC, the Phoenicians managed to penetrate the Cretan, southern Tyrrhenian Italian and Sardinian markets. Then, thanks to the political/economic power achieved by Tyre under the reign of Ithobaal I (887-856 BC) and the close collaboration with Sardinian sailors, the routes towards the metalliferous districts of northern Etruria and Elba, and especially Atlantic Andalusia were opened to the Phoenician ships. Recent discoveries have allowed us to build up a picture of the contacts between Sardinia and southern Spain which is very different from the one we could have imagined until recently. In fact the relations between these two regions were already consolidating in the Final Bronze Age II and III thanks to the dynamism of the indigenous sailors. The merchants from Tyre inserted themselves into this network of contacts in the mid-9th century BC. They had the insight to understand the importance of the metalliferous districts of Riotinto and to implement trade in silver, sold at a good profit on the principal Mediterranean and Eastern markets. The huge income made through the selling of silver enormously increased the Phoenician presence in the region leading, in a few decades, to the foundation of the first colonies. According to the most recent discoveries the main stages on the route to reach the port of Huelva, where many of the minerals extracted from within the country were conveyed, were the Bay of Cadiz and Malaga. The Phoenicians concentrated their efforts on these safe harbours around the end of the 9th century BC, initiating that complex and articulated phenomenon that modern historians have defined "colonization".