Carthage did not dominate the Mediterranean. Her trading network was in the western basin of this sea. Trade in the eastern Mediterranean was dominated by the Greeks and her Phoenician cousins. In the western Mediterranean Carthage’s hegemony was in the southern part: the North African coast from northern Morocco to western Libya (Tripolitania), southern Spain, Ibiza, Western Sicily and Sardinia. Trade in the northern part (the coast of France and Spain’s eastern coast) was controlled by Greek cities headed by Massalia (Marseille). Trade in Eastern Sicily and southern Italy was controlled by the Greek cities there, especially Syracuse, the most powerful city in Sicily (eastern and southern Sicily were Greek). Trade on the coast of central Italy was shared between the Etruscans, the Greeks and Carthage.
Carthage may have dominated the western Mediterranean in the early days, but there is very little historical record for this period. The expansion of the Greeks into the western Mediterranean led to the situation described above. Carthage developed as a military power from about 550 BC. She fought a war against Massalia in the 530s BC and three Sicilian Wars against the Greeks in Sicily (480 BC, 410-340 BC, and 315-307 BC) but more of these changed the described balance. A combined Carthaginian and Etruscan fleet (the Etruscans became allies at this time) defeated a Greek fleet off the coast of Corsica sometime between 540 and 535 BC. The allies agreed that Corsica was to become Etruscan and Sardinia Carthaginian. This was the only significant gain Carthage made. She lost Sardinia, Corsica (she had gained this island with the decline of the Etruscans) and her possessions in western Sicily at the end of the Frist Punic War (241 BC). She lost her possessions in southern Spain and her allies in Algeria at the end of the Second Punic War (202 BC). She was destroyed in the Third Punic War.
Carthage may have dominated the western Mediterranean in the early days, but there is very little historical record for this period. The expansion of the Greeks into the western Mediterranean led to the situation described above. Carthage developed as a military power from about 550 BC. She fought a war against Massalia in the 530s BC and three Sicilian Wars against the Greeks in Sicily (480 BC, 410-340 BC, and 315-307 BC) but more of these changed the described balance. A combined Carthaginian and Etruscan fleet (the Etruscans became allies at this time) defeated a Greek fleet off the coast of Corsica sometime between 540 and 535 BC. The allies agreed that Corsica was to become Etruscan and Sardinia Carthaginian. This was the only significant gain Carthage made. She lost Sardinia, Corsica (she had gained this island with the decline of the Etruscans) and her possessions in western Sicily at the end of the Frist Punic War (241 BC). She lost her possessions in southern Spain and her allies in Algeria at the end of the Second Punic War (202 BC). She was destroyed in the Third Punic War.
