Most didn’t – they continued as trading station, which meantthat they were regarded as useful but not a threat to localgovernments and peoples. The exception was Carthage in North Africa(today’s Tunisia) which became a powerful city, establishing itsown trading stations, and when confronted with opposition in Spainand Sicily, began to turn them into colonies for defence andpermanency, which brought it into collision with a Rome in Sicily,which was expanding its influence westwards.
Initially they kept their trading stations as just that, soavoiding becoming involved in local problems. Then the station atCarthage became so prosperous and populous that it developed into acity-state and established its own trading stations. Their warfleet supported and protected these stations. After the face off inSicily with first the Greeks and then an expanding Rome, in whichCarthage lost its sea dominance in the First Punic War, landcontrol became an imperative, and the Barca family in Spainestablished colonies. This had the negative effect which thePhoenicians had tried to avoid, of embroilment in local wars, andfor Carthage, ongoing open competition with Rome for control of theWestern Mediterranean, and eventually to the losses of the SecondPunic War.
Initially they kept their trading stations as just that, soavoiding becoming involved in local problems. Then the station atCarthage became so prosperous and populous that it developed into acity-state and established its own trading stations. Their warfleet supported and protected these stations. After the face off inSicily with first the Greeks and then an expanding Rome, in whichCarthage lost its sea dominance in the First Punic War, landcontrol became an imperative, and the Barca family in Spainestablished colonies. This had the negative effect which thePhoenicians had tried to avoid, of embroilment in local wars, andfor Carthage, ongoing open competition with Rome for control of theWestern Mediterranean, and eventually to the losses of the SecondPunic War.
